Back in 1995 review for PS4, PC, PS Vita, Switch, Xbox One

As someone who spent the entirety of both the PS1 and PS2 generations playing more or less only sports games (and only on Nintendo consoles at that), I?ve always wondered if and when we?d see a revival of early 3D gaming along the lines of what we?ve had with the 8- and 16-bit generations. While I?ve tried playing some classics of the era — Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Dino Crisis — they?ve never done much for me, so I was curious to see whether some enterprising modern-day developers might want to revisit the period with the kind of love and attention we get for classics of the NES/Genesis/SNES era.

Now that I?m getting to experience what that?s like with Back in 1995…I?m not nearly as curious.

I mean, credit where credit is due: Back in 1995 looks, sounds, and plays exactly like you?d expect a game from the PS1 era to look, sound, and play. You can almost see every single polygon on the screen. The music and sound effects are tinny. The voiceover acting is atrocious. Moving your character around the screen is a constant struggle, between controls that you?re fighting against and a camera that has a mind of its own. Even the loading screens have little discs on them to fully complete the illusion.

And, in all honesty, If you have nostalgia for the era, I could see this game appealing to you. While my only exposure to games like Dino Crisis and Resident Evil has come via PS1 classics, Back in 1995 certainly seems to fit right in with those for all the reasons listed in the previous paragraph.

As I said, though, I don?t have nostalgia for the era, which means that Back in 1995 just feels oddly antiquated. It?s entirely possible that some enterprising developer can still revive PS1-era gaming for the better, but this game is very clearly not that.

Ratalaika Games provided us with a Back in 1995 PS4/Vita code for review purposes.