Okay, I promise this is the last one. Here they clearly took some textures they already had and mirrored them to create a cobra head motif. The remaster repeats its trick of using a high res version of the original source, so instead of a cobra we get a jumble of arms and torso from a carved relief.

I realise that I'm risking being a bit "Old Man Yells at Cloud" here, but this is another example. The original graphics here have such great lighting, really evocative of vibe and place, and the mix of colours and brightness helping to pull your attention around the scene. It looks great.

I have been enjoying the remaster of these games, although simply for the convenient packaging because I'm playing with OG graphics and controls. The remastered visuals seem to generally make smart choices, but there are some really rough patches that speak to a rushed job...

'Tomb Raider II' - 1997 (captured via Remaster)

Because I'm a specific kind of nerd, here's some things you should consider reading:

Upon seeing this news I rather ungenerously thought: "I'm surprised it took this long", which is unfair of me. This really sucks for the workers, but also highlights what a hollowed out shell these stores had become thanks to digital distribution. www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...

I've been doing my holiday thing of trying to keep off screens and the Internet as much as possible, but now I'm back and feeling inspired! So today I took on a little project of installing Windows 3.1 through DOSBox (and then naturally installing a bunch of Maxis games on it... )

'SimCity 3000' - 1999

'Deus Ex' - 2000

Guess who bought something deeply stupid...

'Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity' - 1995

'Thief II: The Metal Age' - 2000

'Thief Gold' - 1999

'Thief Gold' - 1999

This 'Mirror's Edge' posting was caused by me deciding to finally play 'Catalyst' and discovering it kinda slaps? Waaay better that its reputation.

'Mirror's Edge' - 2008

'Deus Ex' - 2000

Fucking autocorrect. "well worth"

Sucks to see 'Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock' getting delisted in a week. It's a genuinely great "we go" space strategy game, and we'll worth your time.

'Theme Hospital' - 1997

My pet theory is that if you're a 90s kid you either grew up on 'SimCity 2000', 'Theme Hospital', or 'Rollercoaster Tycoon', and today you can almost always tell who had what...

'SimEarth' - 1990

'SimCity 2000: Special Edition' - 1995

'Freelancer' - 2003

'Max Payne' - 2001

'Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force' - 2000

This may have been triggered by me picking up the early access release of 'Sea Power', which I am loving so far. It's a real love letter to ships, and it hits the right balance of complexity in its simulation but with a fairly intuitive interface and good tutorials, something the genre often lacks.

Sorry to report that I'm back on my naval wargames bullshit, so look forward to that...

'Star Trek Generations' - 1997

'Total War: Rome II' - 2013

'Blade Runner' - 1997

Christ this looks grim...

'Quantum Break' - 2016

Almost a decade on and this effect still slaps.

'Midtown Madness 2' - 2000

Only just now realising how formative a moment it was to watch my dad turn the TV's saturation all the way down in order to de-colourise 'Casablanca'...

'Deus Ex: Human Revolution' - 2011

'Blade Runner' - 1997

'The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion' - 2006

Well hello! I took a bit of an unplanned break from social media for a few months. Had a bunch of life happen. Travelled South East Asia for a bit. Now I'm back! What did I miss? Are we still mad at *insert just about any common game design element*?

'1979 Revolution: Black Friday' - 2016

'The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings' - 2011

'Race Driver: Grid' - 2008

Just when I thought I was out entirely they bring out the "Ekranoplan vs Hovercraft" action sequence and I'M BACK ON BOARD!!!

Oh dear Lord! I'm sorry 'Quantum of Solace', I take it all back! You're fine! You did fine!

I had never finished this game previously, because it's actually a pretty dismal time, but I decided I may as well this weekend and, oh boy, it really is just 'Call of Duty 4' with all of the life sucked out of it. Really poor moment to moment gameplay punctuated with pointless mechanics.

'007: Quantum of Solace' - 2008

Also, if you're a 'Hitman 3' owner and you haven't yet played the new, incredibly elaborate 'Casino Royale' homage they just released (with Mads Mikkelsen!), it's really great.

Io Interactive gave Bond his scar. I'm 100% on board.

'L.A. Noire' - 2011