Retro Golden Age Review (Steam)

by Jim Smale · Published March 31, 2023 · Updated March 31, 2023

We go back in time with our Retro Golden Age Review, not content with one game we in fact get three! Goody, the original SPECTRUM action, platform, and puzzle game from the eighties, puts you in the shoes of an expert bank robber, and then we have Livingstone I Presume David Livingstone, a famous English missionary and explorer, went to Africa on a sanitary and cartographic mission to establish the Zambeza and Nile river basins when he disappeared… and finally Operation Alexandra which is an arcade video game that takes place inside an abandoned Nazi base in Alexandra Land, within the Arctic Circle, inhabited by unknown beings.

Retro Golden Age Review Pros:

Beautiful graphics.
Three games in one – Goody, Livingstone I presume, and Operation Alexandra.
Download sizes –
- Goody – 713.22MB.
- Livingstone – 584.88MB.
- Operation Alexandria – 678.28MB.
36 Steam Achievements. (12 in each game)
Own in-game achievements that are different from the steam ones.
Seperate downloads and entries in your Steam library.
Full controller support.
Important note on how this came to be:

This production is a partnership with the studios (Operasoft and 4Mhz) and Zerouno Games. They have provided us (Zerouno Games) with the original materials needed to start the reverse engineering process that has allowed us to develop the improvements you can find in these versions.

80s-style opening screens.
Instruction manuals act as a tutorial.
Real-world desktop menu design.
Achievements earned are displayed as trophies on your room shelf.
The extras menu shows off original box art, scans of loading screens, and scans of the original game cassettes and floppy discs.
Two ways to play – 80s experience (no saves), and new experience.
Rewind the system for each game.
Save when you want.
Four save slots.
3 screen types – original, no border, and fullscreen.
The rewind system creates snapshots/slides so you can be precise.
At any time you can flip the view and filters instantly.
The filters include CRT and that fuzzy one.
The manual isn’t available actually in the game but it pauses and allows you to go back into your room.
Controls are shown for both keyboard and the controller.
Restart button option.
Difficult.
Each game has its own desktop layout and design.
Music for each game has two options.
Achievements pop us as they are earned in the game.
Supports both analog and d-pad controls.
Excellent nostalgia trip.
Solid controls.
Offers a mix of the original games and a more lenient version with saves and rewinding.
Excellent soundtracks.

Retro Golden Age Review Cons:

Cannot rebind controls.
Takes a lot of getting used to as it is just how I remember games like this… Hard.
The rewind system is fine but a handy hold-down button would probably work better.
Difficult.
Cannot skip the opening screens.
No graphics settings.
It’s a bit annoying that the games are not one package in terms of being able to jump between them.

Related Post: Deceive Inc Review (PlayStation 5)

Retro Golden Age:

Official website.

Developer: Zerouno Games

Publisher: Zerouno Games

Store Links –

Steam

7/10
Graphics - 7/10
7/10
Sound - 7/10
7/10
Accessibility - 7/10
7/10
Length - 7/10
8/10
Fun Factor - 8/10

7.2/10

Summary

Nostalgia is always welcome, When you get a group of games in one package it’s hard to complain. The only thing that kind of determines if an old game is worth playing is if it is a good game at the start and if the devs put work into modernizing but keep the material pure. Here we have three games I remember reading about but never playing or I might have. Memory is a bit on the hazy side these days. Anyway, the devs have done a good job here by making the original games untouched and… also added a version where it plays the same but you get mod cons like rewind time and the state save that to make it all a bit easier and you are going to need it. The three games on offer cover a range of titles from puzzles to exploration to platforming. Going through these games was tough yet very satisfying mostly in part to the tight controls and the fact I can use a d-pad or the sticks to move around. My favorite game was definitely Operation Alexandria as it’s a lot easier to get into with a more traditional shooter platformer with light puzzle elements. The other teo games are fine but they are a lot harder to get into especially if it’s all new to you. The package you get is three separate downloads so all the games have their own set of Steam achievements, game achievements that are different, and their own desktop room ensemble for the menus. Bit of a shame you can’t have all games housed in one app so you can go on a deep dive into the extras menu or swap between games but hey il take it. The extras are the original box art and the way in which the games came to you via cassette and discs. Overall I found it to be a worthwhile purchase as the devs have done a really good job of balancing the old and new, The games play well, and being able to change the screen size and filters with a button press is brilliant. Overall a fantastic trip back to when games were hard and soundtracks were from the tunes of the chip variety. A must-own for retro fans and gaming historians.