Katakis | カタキス
Reviews
Kong (VIC-20)
A poor clone of <i>Donkey Kong</i> from Anirog
The Good
The sound effects are good. I quite liked the startup sound that plays. Also, when the game loads up, the high scores are displayed, and the list of controls are handy. Keyboard and joystick is supported. The standard VIC-20 text is double-heighted, and this also looks good.
The Bad
The cover is poorly designed, with a bland title to kick it off; it looks like someone designed this in the Seventies. I also have an issue with the gorilla. He looks like he doesn’t belong in the game at all. His right fist, in which he is holding ”Mario’s” girlfriend, is sticking out of his chest instead of being separated from him.
Gameplay wise, the first thing I noticed is that the sprites don’t look like what is on the front cover; “Mario” and the princess look exactly like each other, and the gorilla doesn’t look aggressive at all. The whole game is choppy, and there are hardly any animations. “Mario” doesn’t even turn right when he holds the hammer.
As far as the levels are concerned, the first two are the same, except the platforms are different colors. There is a lift on level three, but it is quite difficult to get on and off without falling down and losing a life. I can’t comment on the remaining levels, as I didn’t get beyond level three.
The Bottom Line
When Nintendo’s popular game hit the arcades in the early Eighties, smaller companies like Anirog scrambled to make unofficial versions before actual ports were released on a multitude of platforms, and these unofficial versions went under strange names. Krazy Kong is one of these and it is a poor attempt at Donkey Kong, featuring a bad-looking cover, poor graphics, and no animations. Its behavior resembles that of Coleco's handheld version, and its only saving grace is the sound and the information screens at the beginning. If you want a real DK port, you might as well save your money up and buy the actual arcade machine.
By Katakis | カタキス on February 7, 2023
Hunt the Wumpus (TI-99/4A)
The subterranean beast is revealed
The Good
Hunt the Wumpus is a text-based adventure game created by Gregory Yob in the early Seventies, in which the player hunts the most dangerous creature ever to take refuge in a cave system. They would move through the caves and take heed the warnings the game gave regarding hazards such as bats, pits, and the Wumpus itself. Since Yob’s creation, several versions of the game were released that improved on the original; some of these included additional hazards and cave layouts. The more advanced version of the game, however, came out for the TI-99/4A computer, made by Texas Instruments and released in 1980.
Instead of answering multiple-choice questions that ask you which cave you want to go into, you move your hunter by using the arrow keys, mapped to the E, S, D, and X keys. As you do, the network of caves is eventually revealed. Although you don’t know where the Wumpus actually is, there are clues to his whereabouts. If you know what cave he is hiding in, you can press the Q key. Your hunter will turn blue, and you can press an arrow key to fire in that direction, or cancel your shot if you change your mind. There are two other hazards to worry about. The most deadly one are the pits that reside in some caves. The bat will take you to somewhere else if you disturb his sleep twice. The game ends if you fall into a pit or get eaten by a Wumpus.
When the game is over, a tally board is displayed showing you how many kills you made, the number of times you were eaten, and how many times you fell into a pit. Below the tally board are options that let you view the whole cave network, revealing the location of the Wumpus, bats, and pits; replay the game with the same settings; start again with different settings; or end it.
There are three difficulty settings (Easy, Hard, and Pro), with the Hard and Pro difficulties having a different network with more passages and less caves. Several variations of the game are also included. In “Blindfold”, the map will only display one cave or passage at a time, making it easy for you to forget where everything is. In “Express”, you can only venture through random caves. “Blindfold & Express” is a combination of the two, and it is considered the difficult variation.
The 17-page manual caters for both TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A computers. The keys you need to use are similar to both computers, except the ones used for canceling your shot and returning to the title screen. It also goes into detail how to play the game, as well as the dangers and variations. I think the front cover is well done, depicting a creature that looks more dangerous than the one in the game.
Hunt the Wumpus for the TI-99/4A excels in the graphic department. The caves are color-coded to indicate the dangers lurking inside them. (Green outlines indicates pits, while caves with red dots inside them means a Wumpus is nearby.) As a result, the map can be quite colorful depending on whether you survive without being eaten. The game also boasts great animations, with my favorite being the arrow moving across the screen. You get to see both of these animations as soon as the game begins. Although the music is not original, I don’t think I care about this as it is a thing with most early ‘80s games that I reviewed recently.
The Bad
In much earlier games of its kind, you are supplied with three arrows; if you miss once, you have two more tries. Not so with the TI-99/4A version.
The Bottom Line
Out of all the Wumpus games I played so far, the TI-99/4A version is my favorite. It boasts colorful graphics and great animations. It can be replayed so many times due to the number of variations it has to offer. The manual is also excellent and worth a read at least one. If you own TI’s machine, then this deserves to be in your collection.
By Katakis | カタキス on February 6, 2023
Olympic Skier (Commodore 64)
Practicing your skis while being home-bound
The Good
If you keep toying with the idea of participating in the Winter Olympics, you could always go down to a ski resort or, if you rather be home-bound, pick up a copy of Olympic Skier (or Ski64, according to the tape loader). Although Epyx made the event famous with Winter Games, it was Mr. Chip that got there first. However, the game only features three courses – Slalom, Ski-Jump, and Downhill – compared to Epyx’s nine.
In the first course, you have to ski through flags scattered through a vertically-scrolling slope, and you get disqualified if you miss three. You are also aiming to finish it in the fastest time possible, by pushing the joystick down to speed though the course, but you can push up to slow down. If you crash into any trees, rocks, or logs, or get disqualified, you proceed to the next course where timing is crucial in making a successful jump off the ramp. If you land at the right time and at the right distance, you’ll see yourself skiing off the screen. If not, you’ll tumble down.
The third course is similar to the first, but without the flags. Once again, you are aiming to complete the course in the fastest time possible. The controls are also similar, but this time you can press the fire button to jump over any obstacles in your way. At the end of each course, you are given a score which adds up to a total of 1000, and if you are good enough, you have the chance to enter the top six. Mr. Chip has added the rating system for one purpose: to mock the player if they perform badly. When I had achieved a rating of under one hundred, the game thought my performance was “hilarious”; otherwise, I would be classed as “rubbish” or “awful”.
Out of all the courses, I never did manage to complete Downhill, since this is the same event that I crashed the most. Having said that, I am glad Mr. Chip has added some humor in the game, in the form of a huge, red helicopter that carries your injured player away to the hospital. Graphically, each obstacle is quite large, so there are plenty of opportunities to crash into them if you don’t time your jumps properly. Static is heard as you ski towards the finish line, and this gets louder the longer you push the joystick down. There are a few good melodies that play when you complete a course, and what you hear will depend whether you crash or actually reach the finish line.
The Bad
The second course has been gimped; no matter how correct my jumps were, I always got close to zero points.
The Bottom Line
Olympic Skier is an early sports game where you participate in three courses, and although you do the best you can, you are also mocked for your performance. The game itself is very good, in terms of sound and graphics, and it is addictive. There are some nice little pieces of music thrown in as well. Until Mr. Chip’s offering, not one company ever thought of doing a sports game based around the Winter Olympics.
By Katakis | カタキス on February 3, 2023
Gorgon (Apple II)
Gebelli has done it again
The Good
Defender is a successful arcade classic from the Eighties, ported to popular systems such as the Atari 2600, Atari 400/800, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Intellivision, and VIC-20. An Apple ][ version may also have been released, but that didn’t stop Nasir Gebelli from creating his own version of the game, long before he worked for Square. Gebelli earned a good reputation for creating top-notch games for Apple’s system, and Gorgon was no different.
You control a spaceship which must zoom across a landscape killing four types of Gorgons while protecting humans they are trying to kidnap. These Gorgons usually skim across the landscape, looking for humans to grab onto. When they do, it is your job to kill them before they reach the top of the screen. If you manage to make a kill, you need to catch the falling human with the spaceship. If you succeed, you are awarded 100 points, but if you let it fall all the way down, fifty points are subtracted from your score. If you come into contact with any Gorgon, you will lose one of your three lives, and the game ends when all of them get depleted.
The game is well presented, with the majority of information contained in boxes. The necessary readouts, such as the radar and life counter, are at the top of the screen. Your position on the radar is represented by a crosshair, and having it wrap around when it touches the edge is a nice touch. Graphically, your spaceship looks brilliant, as do the Gorgons. The game behaves the same way as its arcade parent, with Gorgons warping in near your vicinity instead of just appearing out of nowhere. Your hands are spread out on both sides of the keyboard, making the game easier to control.
The Bad
I was sure if I killed a Gorgon skimming across the landscape, the game would sometimes take fifty points from my score. Occasionally, they would warp in right on top of me.
The Bottom Line
Having played the Apple ][ version of Defender, I think Gebelli’s version is much better. The presentation is excellent, as are the sound and graphics. If you don’t like the Apple ][ version from Atarisoft, you could try this one out.
By Katakis | カタキス on January 25, 2023
Kaktus (Commodore 64)
An addictive, frenetic shooter that keeps you on your toes
The Good
Kaktus is a refreshing change from the many clones of various arcade shooters, such as Space Invaders and Scramble. It is an addictive shooter by Brian Cotton, who also programmed the VIC-20 and Plus/4 versions.
The player controls a missile base that must go above ground through two holes in the soil and shoot insects that threaten to destroy the base of a cactus. They defend themselves by releasing droppings. Although these are lethal, they can actually be used to your advantage if a mole comes along and seals the holes. If you are too slow to act, you will be trapped above ground and have to wait until the droppings deteriorate the soil until a hole large enough to get through is created. Coming into contact with any of these critters or allowing the cactus to fall over will result in a loss of one of your lives, and the game ends when all of them are lost.
From level two onwards, things get much harder, with buzzards flying past and releasing “super-droppings”. These are the same as the droppings the hornets eventually release, but they are capable of ricocheting off the soil. If you happen to be in their way, this will also result in a loss of life. Moles also appear more frequently than usual. I found myself going under ground every five seconds to deal with them.
Graphically speaking, sprites are not just random characters stuck together. I just found two of them questionable. One is the missile base, which looks like more of an octopus than the base in Space Invaders. The other is the cactus itself, which opens up like a flower if the base has been destroyed instead of falling down. There is only one piece of music, and that is the nice classical piece on the title screen. The sound effects are not bad, with telephone rings (?) that serve as missile fire, and a low hum that plays when a mole appears.
The Bad
I can’t think of anything; Cotton has made sure that there are not any programming errors.
The Bottom Line
Kaktus is an original game that ought to have made its debut in the arcades. Rather than shooting aliens, you are killing insects that destroy the base of a cactus. You also have to deal with other creatures that prevent you from achieving your goal. The game is addictive and frenetic, and anyone fed up with clones of arcade games should give this game a go.
By Katakis | カタキス on January 25, 2023
Jumpin' Jack (Commodore 64)
Isometric <i>Frogger</i>? What an idea!
The Good
In 1982, LiveWire released Jumpin’ Jack for the VIC-20, which was a decent Frogger clone that used the same top-down viewpoint as the actual coin-op. It is a very good clone, but the only thing I didn’t like about it is the out-of-tune theme song that couldn’t be turned off. Now, the company has ported its own creation over to the Commodore 64, implementing features that couldn’t be done before, such as giving the game a pseudo-3D feel to it along the lines of Zaxxon.
As someone who has never tried Jumpin’ Jack before, it took some time for me to find out how everything works. The visuals are slanted to the right a bit, and how the frog moves is different. Pushing the joystick left or right moves him in the respective direction. However, moving the frog upwards causes him to go in a northeast direction, and moving downwards causes him to go southwest. During my first few goes, I got into the habit of missing the first log that flowed down the river, but once I got used to it, completing levels was a breeze. Not only can you control the frog with the keyboard if you haven’t got a joystick handy, but you can also redefine each key if it is not to your satisfaction. If you attempt to reconfigure a key to one that is forbidden, the words “Key not allowed” will appear.
The game is well presented, with several flick screens showing the instructions (complete with animations), high score table, keyboard configurations, and the options that can be set such as the number of players and the game level. Jumpin’ Jack even has an attract mode where the frog knows he has infinite lives, so he gets himself killed on purpose. The high score table has a great animation of a moving car that reveals some text mentioning a “magic number”. I assume this was used as part of a competition in which the first prize was a Commodore 1541 disk drive.
Game-wise, the graphics are fantastic, especially for a 1983 game. LiveWire actually took the time drawing a face on the frog, mouth and all. Its hopping animation is impressive, so is the animation of the fly hovering into one of the five homes at the top of the screen; it just doesn’t appear suddenly in them like Frogger or its clones. The cars and trucks are well designed, as well. The background music is catchy and plays non-stop, even if you lose a life or complete a level. You can turn it off if it becomes annoying.
The Bad
LiveWire ironed out all the bugs in the game; not one problem can be found.
The Bottom Line
Jumpin’ Jack is an interesting take on Konami’s game, giving the graphics a 3D look. It plays the same, but individuals who are familiar with the coin-op may have to get used to how the frog moves. The presentation is excellent, the animations are fantastic, and the music is memorable. The game was also used for a competition held by LiveWire themselves. If you enjoy a game of Frogger every now and then, get this game so that you can experience the arcade classic in a different light.
By Katakis | カタキス on January 17, 2023
DinoCity (SNES)
A colorful platform game based on a cheesy teen movie
The Good
If you happen to live in the US, UK, or France in the Nineties, you would know about a teen movie called “Adventures in Dinosaur City” released in 1991. Three friends go into Timmy’s parents’ lab to watch an animated TV series known as ‘Dino Saurs’ on the big screen TV. Little did they know that the screen serves as a portal to another dimension. Intrigued, all of them jump in and find themselves in Saur City. The following year, the guys at Irem America saw how successful this cheesy teen movie was, and released the platform game of DinoCity for the SNES.
The game’s intro is consistent with what happens in the film, with the teens being sucked into the TV and being instructed to find the fuse if they want to go home. There are six stages in the game, and you can control two of the teens, Timmy or Jamie. Both of them are joined by Rex or Tops, depending on which of them you select. The stages consist of small areas, and you always do something interesting in these, including destroying some stones blocking your path, staying on a spinning wheel without being pushed off, and riding a car while changing tracks. A two-player game is also available, with each player taking turns.
The first couple of areas are easy and you should be able to complete them in about two minutes. Later ones, however, are difficult to get through. For a start, there are puzzles requiring Timmy or Jamie to dismount from their dinosaurs so they can clear any obstacles blocking their way. If something happens to the two and the dinos are left behind – and vice versa - you lose one of your lives. Getting hit by a Rocky or an obstacle results in you losing one heart. If no hearts are left, you also lose a life. You may be lucky to get a heart floating around somewhere. Scattered throughout the level are dino eggs; get fifty of these, and you earn an extra life. You also get eggs by jumping on a Rocky’s head about five times.
Each area ends by going through either a brown or gold door. The gold doors let you tackle each area in order, while the brown ones let you fast-forward through a specific area. Some brown doors lead you to bonus stages, where the object is to collect as many dino eggs as you can before time runs out. When you go through enough of these doors, you have to face a boss, which have their own attack pattern and take a few hits to kill. Once you defeat them, you will see your team going back and forth across the screen, giving you the opportunity to write down a 12-character password until you press Start.
DinoCity is a colorful game with gorgeous graphics, and the effects are well done; I like how the first area of stage one changes from day to night. Although you can admire the backdrops, there is a time limit which you must adhere to; if you let this run down, you will lose a life. (The sudden speed-up of the music serves as a warning.) The background music is excellent; I enjoyed listening to the marching theme when you complete each stage. If there is any music you love, you are free to access the sound test and play it again from there. The four characters are seen doing nothing, but when you play some music, having all of them bop to the beats is a nice touch.
The Bad
I found the game a bit difficult. One of the puzzles I talked about earlier mentioned hitting some stones blocking your path. This was frustrating considering that there is a Rocky behind you pushing a pillar, and if you don’t destroy all the stones in a reasonable amount of time, you are crushed to death. Also, it takes more than one punch for a Rocky to go down.
The Bottom Line
This is a colorful platform game featuring four characters from Brett Thompson’s movie. The sound and graphics are excellent, and throughout the game you can do many fascinating things. Although the game is aimed at teenagers, I feel the game is difficult, due to certain sections of the game requiring both time and patience. That aside, DinoCity is enjoyable, even if you haven’t seen Thompson’s film.
By Katakis | カタキス on January 16, 2023
Games 1 (ZX81)
Six basic games for the non-expanded
The Good
It is quite challenging for developers for the ZX8x to make sure their programs fit into 1K, so that they can cater for those people who don’t even have expansion packs. Sinclair themselves threw down the gauntlet and created six games, three on each side of a C12 tape. These games contain only one word in the title, and they are “Golf”, ”Meteor”, “Wolfpack”, “Life”, “Sniper”, and “Orbit”. The inlays contain detailed descriptions of the games, explaining what the object is and the controls for that game. They also tell you how long it takes for each game to load (about 15-20 seconds).
I enjoyed “Wolfpack” more than the others, mainly because it is a more challenging version of Destroyer (Atari, 1977). You have to time your shots right so that you hit the conning tower. Anywhere else will cause your depth charge to go straight through them. Another challenging one is “Orbit”, where you chase a cargo around a star. I also liked giving “Meteors” a go, in which you need to dodge meteorites for as long as you can. For games such as “Golf” and “Sniper”, I found it easy to visualize boxes holding a number, and then typing that number in.
The Bad
“Life” wouldn’t run due to errors in its program code. I am not a programmer, so I can’t fix the offending line myself.
The Bottom Line
ZX8x users without an expansion pack should find this series of games by Sinclair entertaining. Some of them are easy to get used to, while others are quite challenging. The instructions are excellent, with detailed descriptions of each game, control configurations, and wait times. If you have just bought a ZX80 or ZX81 and can’t afford an expansion pack to run bigger games, then you should hunt this down.
By Katakis | カタキス on January 15, 2023
Hunter (Commodore 64)
The grid game where you get better and better
The Good
Targ is an addictive game where the object is to go around a grid destroying eight wedges with your laser before they ram into you. It never made its way onto home systems, so it was up to game companies to create clones for them. One such company was Terminal Software, who released Hunter for the Commodore 64. In Terminal’s version of the game, the wedges are referred to as RoboShips, and there are six of them. They also go around in a 6x6 grid.
I like the way these RoboShips travel around the grid slowly in the first few levels. Not only do they eventually speed up the further you progress, they chase you around the maze as well, and that is when accurate firing is essential. When you shoot a projectile, the sound effect that plays gets louder as it makes its way across the screen, which is a nice touch. The graphics are on par with Exidy’s arcade game.
I got better and better with each game. I could just take my time getting through the first few screens, but I had to keep moving in the later ones. Also, if there are three or more RoboShips in a straight line, I had to fire immediately as soon as I killed the first one. Not that I care, but you can “score-attack” this way; your last three scores are listed on the start-up screen. Below this are the controls you need to use.
The Bad
The developers made no effort of adding a tape loading screen or putting the title elsewhere. Also, the game is awkward to control with the keyboard, and there is no two-player support.
The Bottom Line
Despite the lack of a loading screen and two-player support, as well as the unusual keyboard controls, Hunter is a very good clone of Targ. It also has a built-in attract mode that activates if you leave the game idle for a few seconds. The graphics and sound effects are excellent, and you will get better the more times you play it. If you enjoyed playing Exidy’s game in the arcades, Hunter is worth a go.
By Katakis | カタキス on January 8, 2023
3D Asteroids (Atom)
This original game needed more work on it
The Good
You are trying to survive an asteroid field, using four keys on the Atom keyboard (<, >, A, Q) to navigate through it. You lose if any one of them stays in the center of the screen and gets larger, and when it’s game over, the game will tell you how long you survived (about 15-20 is required to get through the asteroid field).
The asteroids look fantastic; they are not made up of basic circles that look jagged. It really shows you what the Atom can do if developers such as Program Power exploit the graphic capabilities of the machine.
The Bad
There is hardly any sound; only a beep is heard on the game over screen. Also, the game didn’t hold my attention for very long.
The Bottom Line
3D Asteroids is an original game when it was released in the early Eighties, and a disappointing one at that. The asteroids themselves look fantastic, but that’s about it. There is no sound, and no excuse to continue playing if you lose. This is a game that you would have a few goes of and then stop playing.
By Katakis | カタキス on January 6, 2023
One to One Match (Amiga)
Concentration, plus
The Good
When you were just a child, you probably played a game with someone where rows of cards are presented face-down, and you take turns taking two cards. If both of them have the same picture, you get to keep them. Computer Sight has brought this game to the Amiga in the form of One to One Match (distributed by Electronic Arts in the UK as Match Pairs). The program is accompanied by nice pieces of music, composed with EA’s “Deluxe Music Construction Set”.
The title screen is impressive, giving you a taste of the tiles you can expect to be in play. The number of options are also quite extensive. You can select how long each game is; whether you want to play without competition, against another opponent, or against three types of computer opponents; the theme of the tiles (shapes, flags of the worlds, music, solar system, etc.); and the language to be used (English, French, German, or Italian).
The Amiga’s speech narrator is put to good use. You hear it speak to you on the title screen, and especially during a game, where it will cater for non-English speakers as well. The tiles are even modified to reflect the chosen language. You can quit a game if you chose the wrong options. In this case, a traffic light taking up the entire screen - flashing lights and all - allows you to quit the program, go back to the options, or replay your last game. If you choose to quit a game, you don’t get to see the scoreboard.
The Bad
I have a problem with the second picture on the options screen; the kid(s) posing with the computer looks hideous. Although it is good that the narrator can speak different languages, non-English speakers should have had the option of selecting their native language before the program loads.
The Bottom Line
If you loved the game of Concentration as a child growing up, this version for the Amiga is worth a try. It has a number of options that make each game interesting. Excellent music is thrown in as well, and the Amiga’s speech narrator is heard throughout, catering for those that don’t speak English. One to One Match is not available on other systems, so people who want to try it out have to buy an Amiga, and why wouldn’t they, it is the greatest system of all time.
By Katakis | カタキス on January 5, 2023
Encounter! (Commodore 64)
People who loved <i>Battlezone</i> might want to get this
The Good
Encounter is a 3-D shoot-‘em-up that plays similar to Battlezone. Now, everybody remembers Atari’s popular game back in the day; you commandeer a tank, shoot enemy tanks one at a time, and try not to crash into obstacles. It featured an infinitely large playing area and had vector graphics. Paul Woakes took this concept and expanded upon it. The game is split into two parts, but no matter which one it is, you are looking at the view from the cockpit, in which the most prominent feature are the warning lights at the bottom, indicating the presence of two enemies. A radar next to them displays any incoming dangers represented as a white dot.
In the first part, you are skimming along an open landscape littered with pylons, and your object is to destroy flying saucers that emerge from a white gate. This is done by maneuvering your craft until you are facing them and then firing a sphere. Saucers that appear much earlier in the game are cannon fodder, but later ones defend themselves by shooting back. There are even those that explode, sending a lot of spheres your way that are very difficult to avoid.
You can put the pylons to good use by ricocheting a sphere off them in an attempt to hit the saucers. Occasionally, a missile will appear out of nowhere and home in on your position, and you must quickly deal with it before it does any damage. Coming into contact with any projectiles means the loss of one shield, and the game is over if you have none. Once you have destroyed all the enemies, a black gate will appear and you can drive through it. If you don’t drive through this gate as soon as it opens, it will disappear.
The second part has you driving through a tunnel, avoiding spheres that approach you. When you have just entered this tunnel, the spheres take their time coming at you. They will, however, eventually come at you at the blink of an eye. If you touch any sphere, you also lose a shield and are jettisoned to the last landscape you left. When you have passed enough spheres, you are able to leave the tunnel so that you can tour the next landscape, and as soon as the gate closes, you are faced with the next lot of enemies. Navigation through the tunnels becomes harder the further you progress.
Do you know what I like in the game more? Having the possibility of a white gate opening right next to your craft, so that you can face it and shoot the flying saucer before it has the chance to escape. I like how the eight landscapes have their own color schemes and how some of them are set in space. (I think the second landscape looks brilliant!) Since you go back to the first landscape after all eight have been visited, this gives you the opportunity to “score attack” until you run out of shields. The graphical effects are stunning; the way the gates open to reveal the next landscape and that the player has to drive through them brings some realism to the game. The sound effects are also excellent, with different warning sounds letting you know what dangers you are about to face. There are three difficulty levels, and die-hard players may get the thrills at playing the hardest.
The Bad
I can’t think of anything bad about this game. No programming flaws here.
The Bottom Line
Encounter is a 3-D shooter set across various, beautiful landscapes and shares a lot in common with Battlezone; the only difference being the inclusion of tunnels you have to drive through to reach the next landscape. Woake’s game is also a refreshing change from the plethora of shooters that graced the Commodore 64 until the mid-Eighties. If you are not afraid of giving Battlezone a go from time to time, then this game is highly recommended.
By Katakis | カタキス on January 3, 2023
Astrobirds (Atom)
Excellent clone of <i>Galaxian</i>, with a few extras thrown in
The Good
If you have played Galaxian back in the day, you’ll know what this game is about. Namco’s popular coin-op received ports to popular consoles and microcomputers at the time, but never made its way to the Atom or any other Acorn system. This all changed when Program Power took it upon themselves to create an unofficial clone for the Atom, simply titled Astrobirds. Although it looks and feels like Namco’s game, PP’s version uses a monochrome display and the aliens have been replaced by killer birds.
The game is nicely presented, with instructions telling players how to control the game and the score advance table displayed below this. Big, blocky versions of the birds also accompany this last set of information. Users are also given the option of what speed they want to run the game at; I recommend new players pick the “Slow” option so they can get used to the game, and pick the “Fast” option later, if they want.
As far as the game is concerned, everything looks good. It looks and feels like the arcade game, despite the monochrome display. The scores are listed above the aliens, as you’d expect. The font used to display them looks impressive. The number of lives are next to these scores, but for some reason they count up, not down. Although only one alien can swoop down at you, that is understandable considering the machine’s limited hardware. The sound effects are also fantastic, with most of them matching those of the original arcade game.
The Bad
There is no such thing as explosions in the game; when you are hit by a bird the screen border flashes green repeatedly, and these flashes get worse as one of the sound effects go up in pitch.
The Bottom Line
Program Power did an amazing job creating an impressive clone of Galaxian, mimicking the look and feel of the arcade game. Instructions and speed settings are also thrown in for good measure. The graphics may be in monochrome, but each sprite is drawn nicely and has smooth animations. The sound is also excellent and pushes the Atom’s built-in speaker to its limit. If you are an owner of this machine and love shooters, this one is highly recommended.
By Katakis | カタキス on December 30, 2022
Barney Bear Goes to School (Amiga)
The first in a series of educational game featuring a cuddly bear
The Good
Barney Bear is a series of games from Free Spirit Software, a US company that once specialized in educational software, but later delved into adult games. There are four other games in the series, in which Barney explores a farm, wanders around a camp, goes into outer space, and meets Santa Claus. For now, I am focusing on Barney Bear Goes to School, in which the game is set inside Barney’s school. Designed for 3-8 year olds, it teaches children about letters, numbers, colors. counting, and shapes.
The program consists of two parts, and children can start at any one by pressing the left or right mouse button. In the first part, Barney must be nudged into waking up, getting dressed, having breakfast, and crossing a busy road. This is achieved by clicking on the spot with the mouse, as instructed by the Amiga. For example, in his bedroom (the first scene), you need to click on his shoulder to wake him up. In this scene, as well as the ones that follow, there are many objects you can interact with. However, the game cannot continue until you click the right object.
The second part takes place inside the school classroom, where the child can participate in a range of activities by clicking certain objects on the screen. One of the activities, for example, requires them to enter a word displayed on screen, while another asks them to count how many times the same object appears. Clicking on either of the two strips above the blackboard causes the program to say the alphabet or count from one to ten, with no opportunity for interaction.
I like the coloring book to the left of Barney’s teacher, in which children can color in up to sixteen pictures using a sixteen-color palette. The picture is displayed to the left of the available colors, and buttons below cycle between the pictures, restore them to their original black-and-white forms, make each picture flash pretty colors, and go back to the classroom.
The Amiga’s speech narrator is put to good use, giving children an overview of each scene and telling them to click on an object. It is amusing to hear how it gets the story of the Three Bears wrong. Each scene has its own sound effects, and there are two melodies included in the program; one of them is the carousel-style music heard on the title screen. The hand-drawn backgrounds look brilliant as well.
The Bad
Since the programmer probably comes from Germany judging by his surname, he decided to add a German-language version, but this version is inconsistent. The narrator speaks in German, yet there are several written words that were not translated at all, including (but not limited to) “Yes”, “No”, “Dog”, and “Cat”. The fanfare music on the title screen is rather long and cannot be bypassed.
The Bottom Line
In Barney Bear Goes to School, children must guide the titular bear to school where they can participate in short activities helping them learn about numbers, letters, shapes, colors, and counting. This is all done with the mouse. If they get sick of learning, they can always color in pictures. The program makes great use of the Amiga’s narrator, which is used to tell children to click on a specific object in each scene. The sound effects and graphics are also good. A Commodore CDTV version is also available, but it isn’t an improvement over the original version.
By Katakis | カタキス on December 27, 2022
3-D Glooper (Commodore 64)
First-person <i>Pac-Man</i>
The Good
In the early Eighties, we were introduced to Pac-Man,
In Supersoft’s game, which uses a first-person perspective, the ghosts are known as Gloopers. A much dumber version of their Namco counterparts, they roam around the maze at their own free will and have no interest in trapping you at all. Also replacing the Power Pellets in the maze are either blue or red tokens. You need to get a required number of these according to the right-most figure at the top of the screen. (It is 300 on the first level, but this number is increased on subsequent levels.) Getting a red token will cause the Gloopers to change color from brown to orange, allowing you to eat them. A tiny map will appear below the status area for a few seconds, showing the location of the tokens and Gloopers.
The maze is well designed, with plenty of dead ends and long, gray corridors. The Gloopers are drawn exactly like ghosts. Having them display one eye when they are about to turn a corner provides some realism. From my experience, you only encounter them in these gray corridors, not anywhere else. I like the suspense; you don’t know where the next Glooper is until it is too late.
The Bad
The only sound effect worth mentioning is a low-tone warning letting you know if a Glooper is in your vicinity. However, since it is very quiet, you have to turn the volume up quite high if you want to hear it.
The Bottom Line
3-D Glooper is an interesting take on the Pac-Man concept, in which players are given the opportunity to go around a maze eating as many tokens as they can without bumping into the aforementioned critters. Since this is played from a first-person perspective, you don’t get to see everything at once. A tiny map is displayed when you are near something important. The graphics and sound in this game are good, and anyone who has played Namco’s game who feels like a challenge should hunt this down.
By Katakis | カタキス on December 25, 2022
Death Star (Commodore 64)
Your turn to relive the “Star Wars” finale
The Good
If you saw the first “Star Wars” film, you probably would have remembered the infamous trench battle that took place at the end of the movie. Now, courtesy of Rabbit, you get to relive the experience. A pseudo 3D-shooter, Death Star is a refreshing change from the inferior arcade knock-offs the company had put out in the past.
Nine levels feature in this game, all of them selectable from the options screen. No matter which one you select, the object is the same: guide your Ford Prefect 2174 down the trench, shooting Quasar Star Fighters that approach you. Some of them fire plasma shots at you, which you need to avoid. If you’re unfortunate enough to get in the way, you lose one of your three ships. The level you select determines the speed the Fighters travel at. If the level is set at one, the Fighters will move slowly down the trench. The ninth level causes them to reach their maximum speed.
The FP2174 is able to move in all directions, but cannot touch the sides of the trench or move too close to the floor. A nice touch to the game is the shadow below the ship, which you can use to determine whether you are too close to the sides. Touching any side will also result in a loss of life, and the game ends when all lives are lost.
Unlike Rabbit’s early offerings, the title screen is colorful, showing a smooth animation of one of the Fighters zooming past Earth. This is accompanied with some nice organ music. As far as the actual game is concerned, I like the way it opens up; you touch down on the Death Star and lightning bolts give way to the FP2174, which is massive compared to the Fighters. It’s nice that it is more detailed than the Fighters, which have the same color. The trench itself is not totally gray; black lines located on the floor start small from the horizon, but get larger as they approach you. Finally, stars that serve as the background give the illusion that you are fighting somewhere in space.
The Bad
Everything on the screen remains the same size regardless of its position. The Fighters could have started small when they first appear at the end of the trench, but get bigger as they come down toward you. Likewise, the shadow under your ship could have gotten smaller when you are close to the floor, but get bigger when you move farther away from it. Also, the Fighters are able to travel down the sides of the trench, but you can’t?
The Bottom Line
If you fancy yourself going down a trench battling Star Fighters, this is your opportunity. Sound-wise, the organ music on the title screen is excellent and the sound effects are your standard battle sounds. As far as the graphics are concerned, the title screen looks excellent, but the rest of the game could have been better. The repetitive gameplay and lack of variety meant that I put this game back down after a few goes.
By Katakis | カタキス on December 16, 2022
Chinese Juggler (Commodore 64)
Cute little cabaret starring a Lego man dressed in Oriental clothing
The Good
There are some games that you pick up and try one day only to put back down, because you were never good at it the first time around. Then, you have a go at the same game at a much later point, and suddenly you find yourself being hooked. Chinese Juggler, which I received just months after I was also given Mr. Wimpy, is one of those games. My father obviously knew if you saw a game bearing the Ocean logo, you knew it was going to be good.
The setting is a stage show and your character is a man wearing an Oriental costume. Eight poles are arranged in a pyramid, and your job is to collect plates from the four racks at the bottom of the stage and place them on each pole. At the same time, you have to keep an eye on each plate, making sure one of them isn’t wobbling. In that case, you have to adjust the pole it is on until it starts spinning again. If you allow one of them to wobble for too long, it will fall off the pole and you’ll need to replace it. Each plate is assigned one of five colors – purple, green, white, yellow, and cyan. Of these, the white ones cannot be collected from the plate rack, but can be obtained by tossing.
There are ten levels, and the first one of these might be easy since you can put any colored plate on any pole you want. On later levels, however, you are told what color to put on next. If a plate of that color isn’t available, you can toss a plate up in the air until the plate turns to the color you want. The hardest levels, in my opinion, are the ones where all the plates you put up have to be the same color.
Instructions are provided, both during the game and on the inlays. What these instructions don’t tell you is that you have to align yourself with the base of the poles as close as you can, otherwise you may struggle trying to get the plates on them. The status bar displays the current level, the two scores (current and high), and a timer. This last counter consists of four digits, and if all of them reach zero, the show is over. If you manage to get all the plates on before it expires, however, your little Oriental man moves to the front of the stage, jumps up and down, and waves to the audience before the next level commences. This animation can’t be bypassed, but it only lasts for about ten seconds.
The cover art for the game looks fantastic, showing a different side to your character; he looks more like a psychopath rather than an entertainer. Bob Wakelin, the illustrator, was impressed with his own artwork, he actually etched his signature onto it. As far as the game is concerned, the graphics look quite colorful and your character’s walking animations are impressive. I like how the palette changes every level. Everything on the screen gets faster the more plates you put on, keeping you on edge. The main music doesn’t get boring, and different melodies play when you finish a level.
The Bad
When you have to toss a plate up in the air to make it change to a specific color, the game can deny you that color until a fair amount of time has elapsed. When tossing plates, the game sometimes gives you a black plate, which is tossed into the air. There is no mention of a black plate anywhere in the instructions. When I accidentally picked up the wrong plate, I couldn’t dispose of it, even if I tried to put it back on an empty plate rack.
A nifty feature of the game is the ability to record your own games, which you can by pressing a function key while viewing the instructions, but I couldn’t find any way to play it back.
The Bottom Line
Chinese Juggler is a game released during Ocean’s infancy. The object is to get all eight plates on the poles and make sure one or two of them don’t wobble. The graphics and music are very good, and some people like me who didn’t like the game in the first place will become addicted to it. The instructions could have had more information telling you how to dispose of unwanted plates, as well as how to playback your recorded games. If you are a collector of Ocean games from back in the day, this one is highly recommended.
By Katakis | カタキス on December 6, 2022
Bugaboo (The Flea) (Commodore 64)
An original, well presented game offering lots of replayability
The Good
The early Eighties saw the rise of Spanish software houses, and the first one of these was Indescomp (headed by programmers Paco & Paco). Their first game, Bugaboo, is well presented. It was original at the time and was a breath of fresh air from the many clones of various arcade games. It was also one of the first games to feature cut-scenes. Publisher Quicksilva made it clear on the cover that Bugaboo is the flea you control in the game. Various home computer ports were produced under different names, and the Commodore 64 version was called Booga-Boo.
Booga-Boo decided he would rather cruise through space than move around in the fur of cats and dogs. One day, he beams down on Cebolla-7, an unknown planet full of life, and upon exploring, he accidentally stumbles onto the wrong spot and falls down to the bottom of the cavern, and this is where you come into the picture. Using the joystick, you need to guide Booga-Boo to the top by hopping onto the various platforms and ledges. This is achieved by pushing it in the desired direction to make a red gauge appear on the screen, and then holding it for as long as you can to make him hop higher than normal. Both timing and position are crucial; try to hop onto a platform or ledge from the wrong position, and you’ll likely ricochet off them. Don’t gain enough momentum, and you’ll miss. Fortunately, the flea is very strong and can withstand long falls.
You can press the fire button while holding the joystick left or right. This lets you scroll the screen in the respective direction and find out for yourself if there are any dangers nearby, such as Venus flytraps and yellow pterodactyls. Contact with any of these creatures, and you’re out of the game. I found that unlike the other ports that also feature a pterodactyl, the C-64 variant is the more dangerous; it always homes in on your position, and it is rather difficult to evade when you are in close proximity with it. A timer is located at the bottom, but this counts up instead of down. It is there so that you can write down the time it took you to reach the top - if you wish - and beat that time when you play your next game.
Judging by the YouTube clips I have seen, Booga-Boo only has one level. Once you complete it, you see a cut-scene, and then you are asked to enter your name. Because there are different routes you can take to the top, the game is worth playing more than once. The way the graphics are presented reminds me of those from BC’s Quest for Tires. The developers took a lot of time designing the environment; there are mushrooms, plants, trees jutting out of the platforms, and even blinking eyes that don’t pose a threat to you. I like how the background music suits the gameplay and doesn’t get boring the more times you hear it. Outside the game, the credits are well presented; I like watching both the QS and Indescomp logos get drawn on the screen.
The Bad
When you start a new game, you have to watch Booga-Boo as he jumps down to the bottom of the cavern, and watching this scene again and again every time you start gets tedious. Why couldn’t the developers let players bypass this by hitting a key? Also, the title screen looks hideous.
The Bottom Line
This is an original game where the object is to get your flea to the top of the cavern without running into any creatures. Both timing and placement are required to jump onto the platforms and ledges, and a little trial and error is necessary. The graphics and animations are excellent, and so is the sound. But the big plus for the game is the replayability it has to offer. If you are into the kind of games where timing is crucial, then this game is worth a try.
By Katakis | カタキス on November 29, 2022
Burger Chase (Commodore 64)
Kids love playing games and eating burgers, so why not?
The Good
Back in the Eighties, there were some arcade games that were so successful, they warranted official ports to most of the popular home systems at the time, and BurgerTime was one of them. Commodore systems were not included, and so three smaller companies created clones of the game, including Supersoft.
You are the chef of a fast food restaurant, and your job is to make four burgers and put them on their individual plates. This can be achieved by walking over each of the fillings - which include cheese, lettuce, and beef patties – as well as the burger buns, causing them to drop a level. You keep doing this until each component drops on the plates. Sounds easy? Live sausages, eggs, and pickles will appear from the edge of the screen and chase you down, but they can be frozen in their tracks with a sprinkle of pepper, but only for a few seconds. Once all the burgers have been made, you will be taken to the next level.
Supersoft’s attempt at Data East’s popular arcade game is very good. The core gameplay is there, along with the added bonus of starting with seven peppers at the start of the game instead of five. The ingredients don’t chase you like they do in BurgerTime; instead, they backtrack in your direction when you are about to drop an ingredient. The sprites are well designed, and their animations are smooth. There are a few good pieces of music thrown in as well. I like how shooting sounds are heard when you drop an ingredient down to the next level, and I certainly enjoyed hearing a lot of these when two or three ingredients are dropping down at once.
The demo mode, accessed from the title screen, is ideal for players who haven’t played BurgerTime before. It is also hilarious because the chef doesn’t know what he is doing, and it takes him a long time to run over an ingredient. After you complete four levels, the game loops back to the start. In other words, you can get as many points as you can before you run out of lives. (An extra one is awarded every 10,000 points). A high-score table is provided, listing the five previous scores and allowing you to enter sixteen characters for your name. A two-player game is available, with players taking turns.
The Bad
The initial screen shows how many points you get for killing each ingredient. I thought there was more than this given that it states to press [F3] to display more instructions. Also, the rungs on each ladder are too close to each other; I ended up going down instead of getting on the nearby platform.
The Bottom Line
Out of all the clones made for the Commodore 64, I think Burger Chase is the best. The object is to make burgers without coming into contact with the rogue ingredients, but you can use your pepper shaker if you have to. The graphics and sound are quite good, and you can build up quite a score if you play your cards right.
By Katakis | カタキス on November 28, 2022
King's Quest: Mask of Eternity (Windows)
Who cares if the final KQ game is a <i>Tomb Raider</i> clone?
The Good
In the mid-Nineties, a new 3-D action game called Tomb Raider was released, and many triple-A companies capitalized on its success. Sierra was one of these companies, and in 1998 they released Mask of Eternity. It is the first and last KQ game not to feature a single member of the royal family. Sure, there is King Graham, but it isn’t long until he gets turned to stone courtesy of Lucreto, along with the rest of the kingdom. You see, Lucreto, the head of the Archons, was once the protector of the Mask. Now, he has turned to dark magic and shatters it. A young knight named Connor, who for is some reason completely immune to all of this, is Daventry’s only hope of recovering each piece and finding a way to restore the kingdom back to normal.
You start the game in Daventry itself and need to find two important items to proceed through the game; one of these is the map. Although this appears blank, you can start filling it in by venturing into unexplored territory. I like the heavy use of exploration Mask of Eternity has to offer. Besides exploration, you also have to talk to people and do jobs for them in order to proceed through your quest. I guess the game is set in a historical period, given that Connor uses words like ‘tis, ‘twas, and forsooth.
You also fight monsters along the way, and more often than not, any dispatched ones will leave behind a potion or two you can retrieve. If Connor is hit by a monster, he loses health but can restore it by eating magic mushrooms found lying on the ground in each region. The game ends when Connor is killed by monsters, falls off cliffs, or goes up in flames. There are seven more regions to explore, and a chest in each region is hidden somewhere containing a mask piece. Once Connor takes it, he will have to kill a brute that emerges behind him. You leave each region by activating a teleporter.
One impressive bar is on both the top and bottom of the screen. The top bar is hidden, but can be accessed by pointing the mouse cursor somewhere along the top edge. It includes all of Connor’s inventory items, the number of coins he has, and the mask pieces he has obtained. I like how the inventory items are laid out nicely, with each individual item having their own sections. The bar at the bottom is much bigger and lists Connor’s weapons he has picked up, available potions, armor, and spaces for the grappling hook and rocks. There are also counters for health and experience, and a small portion of the map. This bar can be hidden with a keyboard shortcut.
You use the mouse to perform some actions like selecting inventory items and using them on objects, activating spells or potions, speaking with people, fighting monsters, and rotating the camera (with the right mouse button). Like King’s Quest VII, the cursor is dynamic. It starts with just an ordinary cursor used for fighting, examining objects, and talking to people. Select an inventory item, however, and it morphs into a miniature version of that item. Choose a weapon, and it changes to a weapon cursor. The keyboard is used for walking or jogging, jumping, centering the camera, and opening and closing the interface, among other things. The game uses a third-person view as the default, but it offers a first-person view as well.
Graphically speaking, both the buildings and terrain are well designed, and the 3D models look amazing. I enjoyed looking at the sketches that appear when the game is loading the next region. Part of the overworld map on the same loading screens is colored in to reflect the region you are about to enter, and I think this looks very good.
A three-man team including Mark Seibert created the soundtrack for the game, and most of it is brilliant. I like how a few of the soundtracks have a relaxing mood to them, then morph into something sinister (an example of this is the music used for the Frozen Reaches). A nice touch is the dynamic soundtrack in some regions. You enter houses in the first region and hear peaceful music, only for it to morph into something disturbing when you walk back out. Other soundtracks have that energetic feel to them. As for the sound effects, I really liked the one that’s heard when you are awarded points.
The Bad
A cheat mode is available, but activating it causes some side effects. For example, with god mode activated in some regions (especially the Barron Region), Connor will keep walking or jogging on thin air until you bump into a wall. I could also teleport to another room, but I couldn’t see anything and I was able to go off the edge of the map.
A tedious puzzle near the end of the game requires you to put together a huge picture resembling the Mask of Eternity. You don’t see the whole scrambled puzzle at once, so you have to walk all the way around to see where you have gone wrong. What’s more frustrating is making sure you aren’t carrying a weapon before you attempt to push a block. There was nothing stopping the development team putting the same puzzle on the wall, scaling it down to size, then having players solve it using the mouse.
Even on my P133, the loading time between regions is just too long.
The Bottom Line
Mask of Eternity hardly bears any resemblance to the King’s Quest games before it. Sierra saw how successful Tomb Raider was and, just like most triple-A companies at the time, wanted to copy the formula. But they also didn’t want to make a straight-out clone, deciding to make a 3-D action/adventure hybrid that has mouse support. This is also the last game Roberta Williams did for Sierra; she took some leave before returning to the company, only to resign as she disagreed with CUC's business practices.
In the final KQ game, you don’t play a member of the royal family, but rather someone named Connor, who has to travel between different regions full of lush environments and many interesting characters he can interact with, while looking for the pieces that resemble the Mask of Eternity and restore the kingdom to normal. The soundtrack is excellent, and some of the pieces are dynamic and sinister at the same time.
The bottom line is this: if you’re thinking of purchasing this KQ game, expecting a true point-and-click adventure featuring the royal family, then maybe you should think twice about making the purchase. However, if you have completed Tomb Raider and want to play something similar, then this game is definitely worth a shot.
By Katakis | カタキス on November 18, 2022
BMX Racers (Commodore 64)
Not the best game the Darlings have made
The Good
Before they established Codemasters, brothers David and Richard Darling worked on a few games for Mastertronic. a company known for releasing budget titles during the eight- and sixteen-bit eras. One of these was BMX Racers, a top-down racer reminiscent to the endless runners you can get on Android and iOS. Two versions were released for the Commodore 64, and the one I am reviewing isn’t as generous as the version that got pulled from shelves immediately after its release.
You are riding through the city park on a BMX that refuses to stop until you complete five courses of increased difficulty, and it also doesn’t accelerate or decelerate, either. Hazards such as bridges, fences, swimming pools, and pedestrians need to be avoided. (Funnily enough, the “Course Completed” text also counts as a hazard.) You normally would want to travel along the main road, but you can steer off it at any time and deal with trees, bushes, and shrubs. Crash into one of the hazards, and the game is over. This is a far cry from the original version, which awards you with three lives.
Even if I got slightly farther than my last attempt, I found it easy to memorize where each hazard is so I can get ready for it next time. The instructions at the beginning of the game are quite colorful, and they are more detailed than what is displayed on the inlay. The game can be played by joystick or keyboard, but I found it easy to steer my bike with the joystick. I like the way the further you go the more points you are awarded, making this the perfect “score-attack” game.
The Bad
The graphics consists of PETSCII-style characters, but given that there are two games which were released around the same time that contain much better graphics – Impossible Mission and Suicide Express come to mind - the Darlings could have done a much better job. The music, although easy to memorize, only consists of one instrument, and the same instrument turns into an annoying grating sound every second course.
The Bottom Line
BMX Racers is a budget title from two guys who would later form Codemasters. You are riding a BMX through five courses that become difficult the further you progress. As a new player, you will likely crash into one of the hazards, but it is easy to memorize where these are, so you will hopefully get a better score next time around. Unless you’re into score-attack games, this is the type that you can have a few goes at, then put back down, never to play it again. As an early Mastertronic game, the basic sound and graphics may not be on par with other games also released in 1984, but the company will make better games after this.
By Katakis | カタキス on November 11, 2022
Black Hawk (Commodore 64)
An unusual shooter that punishes you for poor performance
The Good
Black Hawk is a top-down, vertically-scrolling shooter from Creative Sparks (formerly Thorn EMI). Instead of offering a shooter that behaves like all the others, destroying aircraft that go down toward you and collecting power-ups that upgrade your weapons, what the developers did was took that formula and tweaked it. It was created by Dean Lock, who took it upon himself to include an impressive animation of a key unlocking something. On top of that, a nice rendition of Wagner’s “Flight of the Valkyries” can be heard.
You are flying the Black Hawk, a plane equipped with an on-board computer that has two built-in displays, one for attack and the other for defence. You’re passing over a group of islands containing gun positions, rocket launching sites, power lines, barbed wire, radar dishes, and an airfield. These are targets you need to destroy. Several aircraft including enemy anti-aircraft guns, helicopter gunships, SAM missiles, and missile launchers are out to get you. When you have shot down enough of these, you switch to the attack display. This is where you are given an opportunity to destroy these targets. A rocket launcher now appears at the bottom of the screen, and you position it so that it faces the target you want to destroy, then you move a white cross-hair over it and press fire. The cross-hair will now turn red, and a rocket will be launched at the target. If successful, a huge chunk of it will be demolished. Black Hawk demands your full attention to everything on the screen; being too trigger-happy without noticing the aircraft zooming past you causes the game to switch back to the defence display.
When you complete each mission, you are presented with a stats screen that shows your SLF (Strategic Loss Factor), which is the equivalent to the score in most games. Accompanying this is the OTPF (Optimal Target Percentage Figure) counter. If this is high enough, you are awarded several weapons. These include the ECM Pod, which shows radar positions and radio towers; XCannon, which provides a double shot; Blitvig, a smart bomb; and Wild Weasel, a power-up that gives you temporary invulnerability. If you perform poorly in a mission, you forfeit most of these weapons.
I was wrong to assume that Black Hawk was a flight simulator; it is in fact an enjoyable shooter where you are encouraged to watch everything on screen. I was used to the defence display immediately; but when dealing with the attack display, it took me a few moments just to figure out how to wipe out the targets. Once I did, though, I had a hell of a time destroying everything while making sure I destroyed any aircraft that passes by. The white cross-hair reminds me of the one in Xevious, another classic shooter. The more you destroy the incoming aircraft, the less chance I would revert back to the defence display. I also had to get used to the inconsistent displays (I noticed the defence display lags behind the attack one). I always knew when I reached the end of the mission if I see a body of water and hear Wagner’s piece play again. Graphic-wise, the islands are well designed, the explosions are impressive, and everything that moves is at the correct scale. It is quite rare to see the airfield, but when you do, it looks very good.
The Bad
When one of the aircraft destroys you and the Black Hawk goes into pieces, you could have respawned straight away. Instead, the game takes you back to the gray screen for a few seconds while you are told you are approaching the enemy coast. Also, music and sound effects cannot be played together, meaning that once you hear "Flight of the Valkyries" again during the mission, the sound effects cut out.
The Bottom Line
Black Hawk is an unusual shooter where you are trying to bomb specific targets on a group of islands. What’s unique about it is you are dealing with two displays, and one of them is a nod to Xevious. The graphics and sound are very good, and anyone who enjoys shooters, especially unusual ones like this, should try out this game.
By Katakis | カタキス on November 3, 2022
Spelunker II: Yūsha e no Chōsen (NES)
Why has this got the <i>Spelunker</i> name attached to it?
The Good
You have been chosen to banish the evil demon Geyla from the peaceful kingdom of Fairy Land, in which he planted his henchmen everywhere in a massive demon invasion one thousand years ago. But there is one problem: you have trouble deciding what to do. Do you want to go ahead and liberate Fairy Land, or would you rather become rich from its treasures? What you decide to do will affect the outcome of the story.
The kingdom consists of two areas. You start the game in the overworld. You may feel free to explore your beautiful surroundings, but eventually you have to descend down into the caves where there are undead creatures to kill, treasures to collect, and keys that are needed to unlock certain doors. The treasures in the game are actually bags which, when collected, award you with food and a hint on what to do later. Some of these bags tell you to do a certain task, such as protecting an injured deer from a couple of wolves. There are also crates containing bombs, which you use to break stubborn locked doors.
There are three character classes you can choose from before the game: Clergyman, Esper, and Explorer. Not only are all of them equipped with their own close-combat and projectile weapons, but they also have their own skills. The Clergyman, for example, has the ability to attack undead creatures with his default weapon, whereas the Esper can leave markers in her path and teleport back to them at a later point. The Explorer has none of these traits and is only there for looks.
When you touch any enemy in the game, your life meter depletes, and the game is over if it is empty. Some enemies in the game require certain weapons to kill, such as the rosary needed to wipe out ghosts and zombies. As well as a life meter, you are also equipped with “Toku”, which always starts out full when you begin the game. What you do will affect this meter; killing any undead creatures will raise it, while wiping out deer or fairies will not only decrease it, but also increase your chances of spending an eternity in Hell, ending the game.
I think the overworld is impressive, and I enjoyed exploring it for a bit before making my way down into the caves. I admired the lush green valleys, fields, and mountains, but its outstanding feature is the active volcano which you need to pass by eventually while avoiding rocks that are spewed out from inside it. The music is brilliantly composed; the overworld, caves, and boss battles have their own individual music.
The Bad
Part of the fun of playing the original Spelunker is going down elevators and collecting every treasure you come across. That core gameplay has now been gutted and replaced with something reminiscent to Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, minus the day/night cycles. Combat is also lousy; I found it takes a long time to dispatch enemies, no matter which weapons I used.
Crevices throughout the overworld serve no purpose in the game; if you accidentally fall through one of these, you will end up in Hell where a huge demon kicks you out and you are sent back somewhere with no idea where you are. There are ladders in some caves, which were a problem for me. If I didn’t jump off at the right spot, I fell down and lost a lot of health. You only have one life, and there are no checkpoints or passwords.
The Bottom Line
If you are a fan of the Spelunker series, don’t pick up this game expecting to ride an elevator to the bottom of a mine shaft while collecting valuable treasures along the way. This is a carbon copy of Castlevania II, where you fight undead creatures and get hints on what to do later. It is in fact worse than Konami’s offering, given you only have one life, and there are no checkpoints or passwords that are given to you if you die. At least the sound and graphics are good.
By Katakis | カタキス on October 25, 2022
Paganitzu (DOS)
As if exploring one temple wasn't good enough
The Good
If you happen to have obtained Softdisk’s Big Blue Disk #44, you might have stumbled upon an overlooked top-down puzzle game called Chagunitzu by Keith Schuler. Since completion, Keith formed a new company called Trilobyte (No, it wasn’t the same one responsible for The 7th Guest) where he worked on a sequel called Paganitzu and marketed it through Apogee.
Three long years have passed since Alabama Smith made headlines when he explored the ruined Aztec pyramid known as Chagunitzu. Sadly, with the likes of Bart Simpson and Oprah Winfrey becoming flavor of the month, the last time he saw himself in the papers was from a newspaper article that reported he had given birth to twins. (No doubt their names were Dakota and Montana, but I digress.) To put himself back on the map, Alabama travels to Paganitzu, a temple in southern Mexico that piqued his interest. The texts he read earlier told of two mysterious items that reside in the temple, granting special powers to whoever possessed them.
The game comprises three episodes, with the first two focusing on retrieving these items. In the third, Alabama has to stop an evil spirit named Omigosh which he unleashes at the end of episode one. Each of the three episodes has twenty levels, and the object of these levels is to collect all the keys (gems in episode three) and figure out a way to reach the exit, usually blocked by boulders which have to be moved. Alabama must also deal with creatures such as spiders, lizards, and fire spirits, as well as statues and snakes that shoot lasers at him when he’s in their line of sight. If Alabama touches a creature or gets fried, he loses a life.
Episode one plays more like Boulder Dash; not only can he push boulders to clear a path for himself, he can also use them to kill spiders and collect the gems they leave behind. Episode three, on the other hand, is quite an improvement over the first two. Not only does Alabama appear as a spirit himself, but enemies don’t pose a threat to him, and statues behave differently depending on the level he’s on.
Pressing the [F1] or [Esc] key during the game brings up the game menu. As well as saving and restoring games, you can access online help (nothing to do with the Internet), turn sound on or off, restart from level one, go back to the title screen, or resume gameplay. Five save slots are available, and these are ideal for keeping track of your progress and allowing you to restore if you screw up.
As I said above, this is the sequel to Chagunitzu, and anyone who has played that game should feel right at home here. As well as using the same assets for both graphics and sound, Schuler has incorporated cut-scenes, but these cut-scenes are superior to the ones in early Apogee games such as Duke Nukem and Crystal Caves, containing works of art, more text, and animations. Each episode begins with a recap of what happened in the previous ones. Having said that, it pays to explore the level fully, even if you have some time left; you might run into an inscription that will help you with a puzzle or communicate with a spirit. Another thing I like is the humor. At the end of episode three, Alabama exclaims “Oh my gosh, it’s Omigosh!” and the Commander Keen reference that tricks players into thinking they just lost a life.
The Bad
There are no flaws; Schuler tested the game multiple times before he released it to the public.
The Bottom Line
Paganitzu is a top-down puzzle game in which you must move boulders to clear a path to the exit while collecting keys or gems. There are also creatures to deal with, most of them killing you upon contact. Unlike its predecessor, the game is divided into three episodes that boast excellent cut-scenes, and these contain excellent graphics and animations. Humor is also thrown in as well. Two thumbs up, way up!
By Katakis | カタキス on October 22, 2022