Ladies and gentlemen, start your emulators! It is time for another episode of RetrOS, the show where we recommend a dose of nostalgia by reviewing games from your childhood.
As a gesture of thanks, we take a look at one of the most underrated titles of the PlayStation One's launch in PAL territories. Is this game worthy of remembrance? Or should it be lost forever in the pages of gaming history?
Let's find out!
Now, guys, riddle me this- what does an ancient castle in the British heartland, responsible for the education of young witches and wizards, and a terrorist hijacking of a high-rise office building in Century City in Los Angeles on the eve of Christmas have in common? Quite a lot, actually!
The Die Hard Trilogy is regarded as a masterpiece of American action films. It featured an all-star cast, including Bruce Willis as the franchise's protagonist, John McClane, and the late Alan Rickman as the leader of a German terrorist group, Hans Gruber. The first film was released in cinemas on July 15, 1988.
The film was a massive success, generating a total revenue of $143.6 million at the box office worldwide. To put things into perspective, the allocated budget for creating the first film was $28 million. The film's box office earnings made that production cost back five times over!
The massive success of the first film created two sequels, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, released on July 4, 1990 and Die Hard with a Vengeance, released in May 1995.
When a film becomes massively successful at the box office, especially in the 90s, video game adaptations are sure to follow.
In 1996, the video game adaptation of the first three titles of this iconic movie franchise was released for the PlayStation, just in time for the launch of the console in Europe. A few months later the game was ported to both the Sega Saturn and Windows PC in 1997.
In all three games of this compilation, you play the part of NYPD detective John McClane, as you shoot and raise your way through the events of the first three films of this iconic movie franchise. The first game of this compilation was a third-person shooter as you fight your way through the Nakatomi tower, gunning down terrorists, and saving hostages floor by floor.
The second game of this title is a rail shooter similar to Sega's House of the Dead and Namco's Time Crisis series. You shoot through Dulles Airport, located in Washington. The final game of this compilation is a driving game, as you race through the streets of New York City, defusing bombs before they detonate.
The accessibility scores are as follows –
Visibility 9
Due to the game's age, there are no colourblind modes available, but, in saying that, there are no elements that will cause issues for players with visual impairments. This applies to all three games of this collection. So, a player with a visual impairment should be able to play this game with very few issues.
Audibility 9
Again, due to the game's age and space limitations, there is very little spoken dialogue in this game. When an enemy spots you in Die Hard, targets will appear on the screen. This is a very effective way of making this title more suitable for a player with a hearing impairment.
Also, in Die Harder, when an enemy on the screen is about to shoot you, icons will appear around the enemy who is about to shoot you. This is another good way to make a rail shooter more accessible for a player with a hearing impairment.
In the last game of the collection, the next objective is displayed on your compass. This is extremely useful for a hearing-impaired player, as you are against the clock. So, all three games of this collection are very accessible for a player with a hearing impairment.
Mobility 10
Due to the launcher-style interface, before selecting a game, you can change button layouts on a per-game basis. This is advantageous as a player with a mobility impairment can choose whichever button layout is more suitable for his or her impairments.
On the other hand, due to the game's age, i.e. how early on the console's life cycle the game was released, there is no support for analogue sticks, so you will be stuck with the d-pad. Due to the small size of the very first controller that was shut with the console, this can be very difficult to control. However, you can use a DualShock controller regardless.
In my honest opinion, this seems pretty pointless as the biggest selling point of using a dual shock controller, at the time was to use the controller's two analog sticks. But, hey, that's just me!
Gameplay 10
As I have said numerous times in this review, this little gem is three games in one. A third-person shooter, and rail shooter, and a driving game. Gameplay-wise, this can be very addictive and is worth revisiting once in a great while. In my honest opinion, the game is very underrated. The developers have done an excellent job making use of the console's limited hardware. It seemed as though they had decided to take a leaf from Konami's playbook. Use the darkness to keep performance reasonably high.
Another convenient feature of this collection is that you can use additional peripherals to play the on-rail shooter. For example, if you have the mouse for the PS one (yes, guys, that was a thing!) To control the cross-hair. In summary, Die Hard Trilogy is an excellent title for the PS One catalogue. Sure, it might not hold up to the defining games of the era, for example, Final Fantasy VII, Driver, and Time Crisis, but it still holds up pretty well.
retail copies are very cheap to buy on online marketplaces, for example eBay and Amazon. If you are retro game enthusiast, this game is worth digging out that all PS one console from your basement to play!
OVERALL SCORE 95%
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