Originally posted here: https://cultclassiccornervideogames.wordpress.com/2023/07/28/198x-2019-pc-ps4-xbone-switch-review/
Welcome to Suburbia, just outside the City, some time in the 1980s. This journey follows Kid, a teenager stuck between the limitations of innocent youth and the obligations of inevitable adulthood. Their story unfolds when they happen to stumble across a local arcade – an arcade that shows them new worlds, new meanings, all through the lens of video games. With each vidit to the arcade a new game is uncovered, the Kid grows stronger. Soon the lines between the games and reality starts to blur….
198X pitches itself as an homage to the golden age of 80s games, covering a swathe of the genres that were popular at the time, such as brawlers, shoot ’em ups, racers, side scrollers, and even RPGs, and it makes for a good sampler pack of what the decade had to offer. None of them last all that long nor are they all that difficult, requiring nothing more than some level memorization. The only downside is that while each section has checkpoints for when you die, if you have to quit the game for any reason you have to start the entire section of the game over again. I wish there was some option to choose between “Classic/Retro” or “Modern” in which you could jump back into whatever part of each section you were in before you quit the game.
Plus the game’s presintation is mixed with other things that were popular in the 80s, such as coming of age family and adventure movies along with the anime that was popular in Japan that was also seeing a rise in popularity in the West at the time. But it ends up being incredibly basic, for reasons that I’ll get to in a sec.
Unfortunately there isn’t much more to the game outside of showing off what people find nostalgic about the 80s, as the game as a whole is pretty short. When I say that this games comes off as a sampler pack for the decade, I do mean sampler pack, as it’s only a small offering of what each of the genres it’s showing off look like. Not that its necessarily a bad thing, but it the game was centered around something more substantial.
But I guess this was due to the fact that it was funded through Kickstarter means it was too limited by it’s budget to really do much more than what is presented here.
There is a lot to like here, as brief as it is, but the result is a game that has only the bare bones of an interesting concept. And unfortunately there isn’t going to be a sequel that could iron out any of the issues or expand on it’s good points since the company that developed the game went under. And considering that the digital storefronts for this game claim it as ‘Part 1’, they clearly had plans for more games.
I wish that the studio had the chance to put out at least a second part to iron out some of the issues here, as 198X feels more like a prologue or extended demo of something larger.
I also briefly want to compliment the soundtrack, with tracks ranging from something that would sound right out of a game from the decade it’s making homage to to tracks that give a nice sense of nostalgia. It’s not much but it makes it feel more like a complete package.
I know the game’s length is probably going to put a lot of people off, but I would recommend it on a decent sale, even if it’s too little to late for there to be a sequel.
Welcome to Suburbia, just outside the City, some time in the 1980s. This journey follows Kid, a teenager stuck between the limitations of innocent youth and the obligations of inevitable adulthood. Their story unfolds when they happen to stumble across a local arcade – an arcade that shows them new worlds, new meanings, all through the lens of video games. With each vidit to the arcade a new game is uncovered, the Kid grows stronger. Soon the lines between the games and reality starts to blur….
198X pitches itself as an homage to the golden age of 80s games, covering a swathe of the genres that were popular at the time, such as brawlers, shoot ’em ups, racers, side scrollers, and even RPGs, and it makes for a good sampler pack of what the decade had to offer. None of them last all that long nor are they all that difficult, requiring nothing more than some level memorization. The only downside is that while each section has checkpoints for when you die, if you have to quit the game for any reason you have to start the entire section of the game over again. I wish there was some option to choose between “Classic/Retro” or “Modern” in which you could jump back into whatever part of each section you were in before you quit the game.
Plus the game’s presintation is mixed with other things that were popular in the 80s, such as coming of age family and adventure movies along with the anime that was popular in Japan that was also seeing a rise in popularity in the West at the time. But it ends up being incredibly basic, for reasons that I’ll get to in a sec.
Unfortunately there isn’t much more to the game outside of showing off what people find nostalgic about the 80s, as the game as a whole is pretty short. When I say that this games comes off as a sampler pack for the decade, I do mean sampler pack, as it’s only a small offering of what each of the genres it’s showing off look like. Not that its necessarily a bad thing, but it the game was centered around something more substantial.
But I guess this was due to the fact that it was funded through Kickstarter means it was too limited by it’s budget to really do much more than what is presented here.
There is a lot to like here, as brief as it is, but the result is a game that has only the bare bones of an interesting concept. And unfortunately there isn’t going to be a sequel that could iron out any of the issues or expand on it’s good points since the company that developed the game went under. And considering that the digital storefronts for this game claim it as ‘Part 1’, they clearly had plans for more games.
I wish that the studio had the chance to put out at least a second part to iron out some of the issues here, as 198X feels more like a prologue or extended demo of something larger.
I also briefly want to compliment the soundtrack, with tracks ranging from something that would sound right out of a game from the decade it’s making homage to to tracks that give a nice sense of nostalgia. It’s not much but it makes it feel more like a complete package.
I know the game’s length is probably going to put a lot of people off, but I would recommend it on a decent sale, even if it’s too little to late for there to be a sequel.