Originally released in 1994, the first game in the series – Cruis’n USA – was a fixture in a lot of arcades I visited in my teens and I was instantly drawn to the twitchy handling, energetic music and pure arcade gameplay.
The home ports were decent and got better with each iteration, meaning that Cruis’n Exotica was the highlight for me, despite the pop-in, smoothness always wins the day!
I was very sceptical going into Tormented Souls, thinking that maybe this type of game should be left in the past, so I don’t have to watch my love and nostalgia being quickly eroded by games trying to recapture their spirit.
Luckily, I love Tormented Souls, it did exactly what it was supposed to do - first and foremost, allow me to enjoy the experience but also fired up my nostalgia and transported me back to the early days of survival horror.
As a big-time fan of Kentucky Route Zero this isn’t exactly unwelcome, but when you’re a tiny indie developer with the freedom to make whatever you want cribbing heavily from someone else’s aesthetic feels like a creative lapse. Then, late in the game, you walk into a room to find a computer with Kentucky Route Zero on it and you’re asked if you want to name your dog Blue or Homer.
Well, fair enough then. At least they aren’t being subtle about it.
