Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures 1&2 Deluxe: back to the past
Freakzone's compilation looks like a re-release done right.
They've both been out for a fair while, but I've always considered Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures and its sequel ASSimilation (geddit??) to be among the best throwback games released in the last decade or so. Taking control of the AVGN himself, James Rolfe, you platform-shot your way through stages based on the popular web series - which, love it or hate it, was very much formative for modern gaming YouTube.
Excitingly, then, both AVGN games are coming to modern systems in the expanded re-release AVGN Adventures 1 & 2 Deluxe, bringing the sequel to consoles for the first time while also giving the original an extremely fresh coat of paint, to the point of being remade from scratch in the second game's engine. And a far superior engine it is. Smoother, better feeling controls, nicer graphics and effects... not to mention the myriad improvements to the level design. While I enjoyed the ramshackle nails-hard charm of AVGN Adventures in its original form, this new version seems to be a wholesale improvement.
The new normal difficulty, while still extremely tricky, has been made resolutely fairer to mitigate the less-than-ideal frustration that corridors full of disappearing and reappearing instant death skull blocks would originally cause. There are further subtle tweaks to the level design that make the whole experience just that touch breezier, and many of them can be seen in this developer walkthrough.
It's quite easy to be cynical about AVGN Adventures, but even if you tried the first game on Nintendo systems and didn't dig it, you should check out the vastly improved sequel. Also, the original being brought up to date (so to speak) is a treat I didn't know I wanted. Furthermore, Freakzone have teased some sort of third included game, or some kind of secret. Seems like this one has plenty more to offer.
Also, they took out the Nostalgia Critic! Hooray!
