Before Burnout, Medal of Honor, and Need For Speed, Electronic Arts was known for hits like Desert Strike, Wing Commander, and Road Rash. Desert Strike added strategy to an isometric, arcade-style shooter. Wing Commander launched players into space from a third-person perspective. Road Rash, a two-player motorcycle racer, was one of the first driving games to incorporate a battle element (now termed "vehicular combat").

These games and more are a part of EA Replay, a 14-game collection for PSP. Each game comes from the 16-bit era – many have been ported to handhelds before, particularly the Game Boy Advance. There's no need to get a second copy. But if you're like the many gamers who sold their SNES and Genesis copies at a garage sale and have regretted it ever since, EA Replay gives you the chance to buy them back in one convenient, low-price package.

Desert Strike

Desert Strike
The 2D classic with near three-dimensional gameplay, Desert Strike puts you in control of a helicopter equipped with missiles and a chain gun. The isometric view gave players the chance to move in all directions at a time when polygons and 3D environments did not exist. More than a decade later and it's still one of the most challenging games of its kind.

Jungle Strike
Similar controls, environments, and enemies brought gamers back for more Desert Strike action in this anticipated sequel. Destroy enemies and their bases, rescue injured comrades, and land in safe zones to replenish your perishables (weapons, fuel, etc.). The awesome and highly destructive helicopter is joined by a motorcycle, hovercraft, and fighter jet.

Road Rash
The bashing classic that started vehicular combat? It's hard to say, but you know the series must've helped inspire the Twisted Metal and Vigilante series, which have gone on to inspire next-gen titles like Full Auto.

Road Rash is about one thing: speeding and attacking. You hit your opponent, hoping that they'll crash and give you the edge. There isn't much more to the game, and at the time of its release, that was all we needed.

Road Rash

Road Rash II
The original returns with slightly improved (or are they just different?) graphics and a new bike shop that allows you to tweak your bike's tires, protection, performance, and suspension. Its two-player options allowed EA to bring multiplayer to this PSP port (ad hoc only).

Road Rash III
You wanted more and EA delivered, this time with a new Snitch and Repo Man feature. People are looking for a Rasher, and they want you to give him a good bashing. Get pulled over for reckless driving and the cops might make you their snitch. You get a club and are told to go to work. If the bike shop gets to you first, they'll give you a crowbar – the tool and weapon of choice of many Road Rashers.

Mutant League Football
NFL Blitz has been credited as the first extreme football game, launching a no-rules arena of tricks and late hits. Blitz contributed a lot to the sport, but long before Midway made its first touchdown EA released a game called Mutant League Football. This violent, monster-filled romp involved attacking – not tackling – your opponent for the ball. The playbook is dated but still usable, and the moves (dives, jumps, and a jump kick) are limited by the technology of the era. Mutant League isn't as cool or as fun as NFL Street, but it's worth checking out if you'd like to know more about the origins of extreme sports.

 
Mutant League Football

Wing Commander
An original space shooter, Wing Commander thrusts you into space from a first-person perspective. The game also had an element of point-and-click storytelling. It's fun but jerky. Remember the technology that's at work here, and what few options developers had back in the day.

Wing Commander: Secret Missions
More of the same, and if you loved Wing Commander then or now, what could be better?

Wing Commander

Syndicate
This is the most interesting game in the collection. Control four characters simultaneously or individually in an isometric shooter. Syndicate is a little confusing at first, and pretty tough (ammo is not unlimited? Are you crazy!?), but also entertaining.

Budokan
Wonderful idea, bad execution. Budokan could be looked as the precursor to all the great weapon-based fighting games we have today. It attempted to cram four fighting styles – karate, kendo, bo, and nunchaku – into one game, which was unheard of at the time. The unfortunate thing is that, even in the 90s, the gameplay was much too slow and cumbersome to tolerate.

Haunting: Starring Polterguy
Play as the creepy Polterguy and scare the living daylights out of your foes. Another isometric game with little action, a bit of confusion, and not quite enough nostalgic value to sustain 10+ years of aging.

Virtual Pinball
Virtual Pinball? More like "virtually devoid of entertainment." The playing field is flat, the controls are clunky, the goals are unclear, and the tables are boring. If you want a great, true-to-life pinball experience on PSP, go with Pinball Hall of Fame.

 
Virtual Pinball

Ultima VII: The Black Gate
I always wondered why the Ultima series disappeared. Now it all makes sense. This weird, picture-stretched RPG is hard to follow, has boring gameplay, and lacks an interesting story.

B.O.B.
Created at a time when everyone wanted to have a mascot game (even if they weren't in the console manufacturing biz), B.O.B. is an unusual platformer with all kinds of mechanical abilities.

Gameplay: 7.0
Road Rash, Desert Strike, Wing Commander, Mutant League Football – EA Replay represents the third-party publisher and developer’s finest of the 16-bit era. Not all of the games live up to their legacy (this was my first experience with B.O.B. and I am not eager to return). The aforementioned classics, however, are just as I remembered. Desert/Jungle Strike are still fun in spite of their nightmarish difficulty, and the Road Rash series never fails to give the most entertainment possible from a drive-by motorcycle basher.

Graphics: 5.0
EA’s classics look good on PSP’s wide screen, better than they did on the GBA. However, that doesn’t take away from their 15-year-old appearance, which could’ve been improved with a polygon facelift (a la Ghouls ‘N’ Ghosts).

Sound: 5.0
While many soundtracks of the 16-bit era are regarded as the best ever composed, none of these 14 games were well-known for their music.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The Strike series is challenging, but the rest are pretty simplistic by today’s standards.

Concept: 7.0
Includes 14 of EA’s retro hits: Desert Strike, Jungle Strike, Road Rash I, II, and II, Syndicate, Wing Commander, Wing Commander: Secret Missions, Mutant League Football, Ultima VII, Virtual Pinball, B.O.B., Budokan, and Haunting: Starring Polterguy.

Multiplayer: 6.0
Multiplayer (ad hoc only and for just two players – the max number allowed that era) is available for Road Rash II, Budokan, and Mutant League Football. Road Rash II was fun for its time and has some nostalgic value today, but there were much better fighting games than Budokan and better sports games than Mutant League 15 years ago. It’s doubtful most players will acknowledge their presence in this collection.

Overall: 7.0
EA Replay is a good collection of once-great hits – some that have stood the test of time, and some that have not. Most are going to buy this for one game or one series (Road Rash is likely to be the biggest draw), which is what I’d recommend doing. I’d also recommend this game to anyone who wants to know what the old EA was like. But if you’re into more modern gaming experiences, you should probably pass.