Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

TopWare Interactive’s Best of Games: Role Playing compilation delivers a diverse buffet of gameplay styles drawn from six distinct RPG adventures. Knightshift offers an engaging blend of real-time strategy and role-playing, tasking you with managing troops, fortifying castles, and personally dueling foes. Gooka: The Mystery of Janatris leans more toward classic point-and-click adventure puzzles, peppered with RPG elements like stat progression and branching dialogue choices.

Meanwhile, Jack Orlando: A Cinematic Adventure (Director’s Cut) immerses you in a detective-noir thriller, where exploration, puzzle-solving, and inventory management take center stage. Another War transports you to a turn-based RPG set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution, featuring character customization, skill trees, and tactical combat. Gorky 17 (also known as Odium) shifts the pacing again with squad-based tactics, action-point mechanics, and a tense sci-fi horror atmosphere.

Rounding out the compilation, Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator presents a classic single-character, side-view combat system reminiscent of JRPGs, complete with a multi-tiered world map and elemental magic. While each title exhibits its own learning curve, the sheer variety ensures players rarely feel stuck in a repetitive mold. Occasional dated controls and interface quirks remind you of their early-2000s origins, but for enthusiasts of retro RPG design, these idiosyncrasies only add to the charm.

Across the six games, pacing varies widely—from the leisurely puzzle dialogues of Gooka to the high-stakes tactical decisions in Gorky 17. Quests can range from straightforward “fetch-and-deliver” missions to multi-part story arcs with moral dilemmas. Though some mechanics feel clunky by modern standards, the compilation’s breadth means you can always shift to another title if one style doesn’t quite click.

Graphics

Graphically, this compilation is a time capsule of late-90s and early-2000s PC artistry. Knightshift and Another War employ an isometric engine with pre-rendered terrain and 3D character models, giving them a slightly gritty but cohesive aesthetic. Gooka and Jack Orlando rely on richly detailed 2D backgrounds, with hand-painted scenes that pop with color and characterful animations.

Gorky 17 stands out for its use of dynamic lighting and atmospheric effects, lending the game a dark, moody feel that enhances its sci-fi horror theme. Septerra Core’s visuals combine 2D sprite work with full-motion anime-style cutscenes, crafting a vivid, cartoon-inspired world. Though resolution and texture fidelity cannot compete with modern titles, each game’s unique art direction still shines through and evokes a strong sense of nostalgia.

Screen layouts, HUD elements, and font readability vary from title to title—some menus feel cramped on widescreen displays without manual scaling. However, if you’re willing to tweak resolution settings or launch older games in windowed mode, the compilation’s visual quirks become part of its retro appeal. Overall, while not uniformly high-definition, the graphical diversity itself is a selling point for players interested in gaming history.

Whether it’s the quaint medieval villages of Knightshift, the noir streets of 1930s New York in Jack Orlando, or Septerra’s floating continents, each environment delivers distinct charm. Textures may appear pixelated up close, but step back and you’ll appreciate the creative artistry that defined these classics.

Story

The narrative scope across this compilation is impressively varied. Knightshift thrusts you into a tongue-in-cheek medieval conflict, complete with quirky NPCs and castle sieges. Gooka: The Mystery of Janatris spins a whimsical yarn about a cursed pig-turned-hero, blending humor with occasional dark overtones as you unravel ancient conspiracies.

Jack Orlando delivers one of the darker, more mature experiences—an engrossing detective story filled with red herrings, noir dialogues, and multiple possible endings based on your choices. Another War weaves a fictionalized take on the Russian Revolution, with a cast of companions each bearing personal motivations that enrich the overall plot. Gorky 17’s story unfolds in a secret military base overrun by mutants, using environmental storytelling and scattered logs to build tension as you investigate a bizarre outbreak.

Septerra Core offers perhaps the most expansive epic of the bunch, thrusting you into a shattered world of seven floating spheres, each ruled by different factions and philosophies. Its storyline features a diverse cast of heroes whose interpersonal relationships drive much of the plot’s emotional weight. While some dialogues can feel stilted by today’s standards, the ambition on display—multiple party members, side quests that influence the main storyline, and world-building details—is admirable.

Individually, each game’s script has its strengths and weaknesses: occasional translation oddities, uneven voice acting in Jack Orlando, and pacing hiccups in late-game chapters. Yet the compilation as a whole demonstrates a broad spectrum of RPG storytelling techniques, ensuring players with a taste for classic narratives will find something to enjoy.

Overall Experience

As a package, TopWare Interactive’s Best of Games: Role Playing offers tremendous value for fans of retro RPGs. Six full-length titles deliver dozens—if not hundreds—of hours of gameplay, spanning genres from strategy-RPG hybrids to point-and-click adventures. While the compilation lacks polish by modern AAA standards, it more than makes up for that with sheer variety and historical significance.

Installation and compatibility on contemporary systems may require minor tweaks or compatibility mode adjustments, but online guides and community patches are readily available. Once running, the nostalgia factor kicks in quickly, especially for players who grew up during the turn-of-the-millennium RPG boom. Even newcomers can appreciate the creative risks and experimental design philosophies these titles embody.

For collectors and enthusiasts, this compilation is a convenient way to own six cult classics without tracking down separate physical copies. The mixed bag of genres means you can rotate through experiences—one day tackling strategic battles in Another War, the next immersing yourself in sepia-toned detective work in Jack Orlando. Though it won’t replace modern blockbusters, it stands as a fascinating tour through RPG history and remains a compelling purchase for anyone drawn to classic gaming experiences.

In summary, Best of Games: Role Playing is a unique anthology that showcases the breadth of early 2000s RPG design. Its imperfections are part of its charm, and the collection’s overall ambition makes it a must-see for retro RPG aficionados and curious newcomers alike.