If you grew up in the 80's, you probably remember Gauntlet. For those who don't, the simplest way to describe it would be: an overhead maze shooter. In other words the action takes place in a maze, viewed from an overhead perspective, and it involves shooting, along with the odd puzzle. It was a big success and - unsurprisingly - it spawned a lot of variants. Some of them were good (the Druid trilogy) and some of them were not so good (Dandy). Thankfully, Into The Eagles Nest is one of the better ones.
The action takes place in in four different floors of a WWII German castle. You access these by using the lift, but in order to use the lift you must first find the lift-pass. Some searching is in order then. Your mission is to free the three prisoners that are located in the basement, first and second floors, and then blow up the castle. In order to blow up the castle you need to set the four detonators, one in each floor. An awful lot of searching is in order then. And it's not easy. For starters, ammunition is limited. There are supplies in the castle, but not excessively so. So don't waste your ammo. Furthermore, the place is crawling with German soldiers. You can take a lot of hits, and there are medical supplies here and there, but things are far from effortless. And finally, there's the maze. While not labyrinthine, you won't get far without a map.
All in all, that's good stuff. Almost. There's two faults which - annoyingly - spoil what could have been an exquisite gaming experience. Firstly, the scrolling isn't that good. Instead of the screen moving seamlessly, it works so that first you reach the limits of it, and then it moves abruptly to the next section. Not so easy on the eyes. Secondly, the game structure is a bit rigid. You start with the ground level, find the lift pass, proceed to one of the other floors, find the prisoner, escort the prisoner to the exit in the ground level, find the lift pass again, proceed to one of the other floors.. See what I mean? You have to go through the ground level every time you rescue one of the prisoners. That's just bad game design.
Despite these flaws, the game is quite good. So check it out.
7/10
Ocean was, arguably, the most popular software house back in the late 80's and early 90's, and their specialty was movie conversions, often labeled as "the Ocean tie-in". So here is the game that started it all, Batman The Movie (along with The Untouchables).
What Ocean did in these two film licenses was to present a mix of gaming styles, the most prevalent of which was the platforming shoot-em-up. Ιn Batman, that is the case for levels one and five, which take place in the Axis Chemical Factory (where Jack Napier becomes the Joker) and in the Gotham Cathedral (where the final showdown occurs) respectively.
These two sections are by far the best in the game, offering solid platforming action with a twist: Batman can swing from platform to platform using the batrope, Bionic Commando-style.
To add spice, levels two and four offer isometric-3D racing action, the former featuring the Batmobile - which allows you to drive in a fast and precise manner, the latter utilizing the Batwing - which is slower but more difficult to maneuver. Finally, level three is a minor puzzle sub-game. All good stuff, which follow the plot of the film surprisingly well. As a fan of the movie back then, I wasn't disappointed. However, what really sets this game apart is the fantastic music by Matthew Cannon, which really gives it an atmospheric edge, particularly in the later levels.
So that was it, with an enormous hit on their hands, Ocean had a mold, which they used to shape later conversions like Total Recall, The Terminator 2 and Darkman.
8/10
What we have here, my friends, is one of the best (if not the best) puzzle games ever made. Forget about Tetris and Bejeweled. These games are only puzzle games in the vaguest sense of the term. Sokoban is the real deal.
So what is Soko-Ban anyway? Soko-ban stands for warehouse keeper in Japanese. And that's what the game is about. As seen from an overhead view, you push crates in a maze, and you're supposed to put them in specific places. That's it. It doesn't sound like there's much to it, does it? Think again. Try the game and you'll see what I mean.
So what about this Commodore-64 version? Well, it's as good as any. Admittedly, it's a bit on the slow side, and the turquoise graphics are not exactly state of the art, not to mention that the sound is practically non existent. But the playability is there, and that's what matters.
There are 50 levels in total, but in the cracked version that I have tried there is a bug in level 42 which prevented me from proceeding any further. Apart from that, there is a level editor so that you can come up with your own designs, should you feel like it. Personally, I have never bothered with designing by own stuff, but you can't really complain about such a feature.
8/10
Remember the Bruce Willis movie "Hudson Hawk"? No? Can't say I blame you. Nobody seems to, seeing as it was a huge flop in general. It did spawn this noteworthy game though, released in 1991 by Ocean. Now, back then, Ocean had developed a reputation for producing worthwhile movie conversions. The problem is, following the big success of Batman The Movie and The Untouchables, Ocean's record seemed to get stuck in a groove, as far as movie conversions went. They featured the same formula again and again. That is, a bit of platform action, a bit of driving, a puzzle mini-game, some Op Wolf-style shooting etc.
Thankfully, Hudson Hawk escaped this treatment, going instead for a full-fledged platform game in the vein of Rick Dangerous. One notable difference with Rick is that the levels in Hawk are more horizontally structured, whereas the levels in Rick are more vertically orientated, but apart from that the comparisons are very apt.
The great thing with Hudson Hawk is how cinematic it is. There is a clear plot that is being followed, advanced by neat cut scenes, and the levels have their own unique character as Mr Hawk goes to various different locations to steal the works of Leonardo Da Vinci.
The gameplay is also pretty good. This is not your bog standard platform fare. Every level features it's own little surprise, whether that is crates that have to be used in creative ways, elevators, spikes, slides, alarms that can be set off, machines to be deactivated, and so on. It's only at level three that the game seems to run out of breath, and settles for a rehash of what has been seen previously. Oh well. The controls could be a tad sharper, although I feel that they've been intentionally done like this, to compensate for what would otherwise be a very easy game.
My verdict: cool game, check it out.
8/10
Right. And after another one year absence (oops!) I got the urge to post something..
Here's a platformer released by Codemasters in 1992, in the later stages of the C64's commercial life.
There's two things to note here. The first is that in the early nineties platformers were extremely popular, with Mario on the SNES and Sonic on the Mega Drive leading the charge. The other thing to notice is that Codemasters had a hit in 1991 with the cute platformer CJ's Elephant Antics, and so started releasing more games in exactly the same style (CJ in the USA, Stuntman Seymour). DJ Puff is also like that, a CJ clone in all but name.
What this all boils down to is that you're running around throughout the various levels (5 in total) shooting (not jumping on) enemies. The graphics are pretty good, colorful and well drawn. The music is also very good, catchy and jolly, the SID chip making us proud once again.
Imho the gameplay is not as hot as in the first CJ game. There's something about it which feels a bit off. It's a bit on the slow side, which can make you miscalculate your jumps every so often. The level layouts are not particularly inspired either. There's something about them which feels a bit un-smooth, they don't flow that good. Also, levels one and three are clearly superior to the much blander levels two and five. And let's not forget that often jumps into the unknown might not appeal to everybody.
That said it's not a bad little game and if you're into 8-bit platformers you should check it out. Just don't expect the stars. Oh, and one other thing, should you want to try the game out, get an original tape or disk image. The cracked versions all feature a bug in level 4 which makes it impossible to proceed to level 5.
7/10
So here's one from the golden era of C64 arcade-adventures. In this game you come across a magical book, which makes you travel to the dimension of Heartland. Therein you have to find the missing pages of said book, while also destroying six evil duplicate pages.
C'mon, they stole the plot from The NeverEnding Story.
Anyhow, this is the kinda game where you have to explore each level in search of certain items (in this case book pages). Apart from that, you need to collect protective spells, cause there's lotsa enemies lurking around. Also, stay alert for evil spells, which can hit you and deplete valuable energy. Oh there's a time limit too!
This game isn't exactly what you'd call terribly ambitious. In many ways it's a typical arcade-adventure from the mid 80's. Mind, it's still a lot better than, say, a shoot-em-up.
Where the game scores highly is in the atmosphere department, with five graphically brilliant levels, each carrying it's own distinct theme. Check the longplay and if you like what you see, check the game too..
7/10
Breakout games were extremely popular for a brief period during the late 80's (roughly 1987 to 1989), yet they all originate from much earlier, namely Breakout, which was released way back in 1976, and in turn was influenced by the grandfather of all computer games, Pong. All the classic C64 Breakout games come from this period in the late 80's (Arkanoid, Krakout, TRAZ, Batty), while we've rarely heard from Breakout-land ever since (although it seems to have staged a comeback in the indie PC-gaming scene lately). The concept is extremely simple: you control a bat at the bottom of the screen, with which you must fend off a ball, which bounces around, destroying blocks.
For my money, Batty is the second best Breakout-type game on the C64 (after Krakout). While it has the fatal flaw of most Breakout games, namely that the ball gets too fast too soon (resulting in a frantic but also impossible gaming experience), apart from that it's a classy game. The graphics are colourful and vibrant (including cute enemies which shoot at you and momentarily stun you), the sound is appropriate, the controls responsive, and the ball movement has believable physics. But there's also a bonus, a simultaneous two-player option. To be honest, that's Batty's real trump-card. Without that, it would be just another Breakout game, OK, but not exceptional. With it, it's a good game.
7/10
OK, technically this isn't a retro game, rather a new game for a retro system. Now, I don't mean to be hard on people who keep on making new games for systems like the C64 (their efforts are much appreciated) but seeing as this is not a business anymore and purely a hobby, most of these new games are pretty basic, and wouldn't even qualify for budget titles back in the day. Nevertheless, every now and then a game comes along, which is up there with the best of them. We've had It's Magic 2, Newcomer, Zoomania, and now we have Knight 'n' Grail.
I don't think there's any need going over the specifics of the plot. Knight 'n' Grail is an arcade-adventure (an exploration shooter if you like), whereas you play the part of a knight getting along some quest in a castle. You find new swords, new armours, and new power-ups as you progress, each with different abilities. These items can be either accessed by pressing the space bar, which brings up the inventory system (along with a map), or by using the F1 and F3 keys.
The settings of the game might remind you of something along the lines of Ghosts 'n Goblins, though the actual gameplay and atmosphere resembles more of something like the caverns in Shadow Of The Beast. Also, the way you use your firepower (each sword has a different direction of shooting) reminds of Creatures (which also used the same method).
But enough with the past. What sets Knight 'n' Grail apart is it's mesmerizing atmosphere. If you isolate any of the game's elements, they don't seem so special by themselves. The graphics are very good, but not extraordinary. The music is lovely and adds a lot to the haunting atmosphere, but it's a bit simple. The gameplay is fun, but nothing we haven't seen before. But here's what happens, somehow, when these elements get combined, they form a magnificent game, with an unrivaled magical atmosphere, whose only fault I can think of is that it's a bit short and easy. Check it out.
8/10
Omg, second mini review in a row. How can this be. Ahem. Anyway, Microprose Soccer is generally considered one of the two best football games on the C64 (the other one being Emlyn Hughes). For the record, I consider Emlyn a superior game, but overall my favorite C64 footie game is Liverpool, which came out very late in 1993, so not a lot of people are familiar with it. Now, I hadn't played Microprose Soccer in a while, so it was interesting coming across it once again. I used to like it a lot back in the day, but then I sort of recognized all the flaws it has.
The thing is, Microprose Soccer has a very rigid structure. It doesn't have the chance factor which all the great football games have, like Sensible Soccer. Tackling and scoring in Microprose Soccer are very formulaic affairs, very robotic I should say. Nevertheless, as you progress against superior teams, the game works this disadvantage to it's favor, by getting really hectic, and you rushing to implement even what they are very formulaic tactics. So, I'll give it a positive score, because you can have fun playing this, just as long as you don't play it for too long.7/10
Catalypse is a horizontal space shooter which came along late in the C64's commercial lifetime, and as a result is not that well-known, something which was hardly helped by a Zzap review which slated the game. Commodore Format was far more favourable, even giving it a corker. Did those two mags ever agree on something? Catalypse also got a reputation for being influenced by Armalyte, though I don't see that much of a resemblance, to be honest.
I don't see any point in getting involved with the plot either, as it's sure to deal with the usual space liberator scenario, so let's just take a look at the game straight away. Now, if there's an immediate criticism about Catalypse, is that it's a very difficult game to get into. We played this recently in the Lemon-64 gaming competition, and I was getting nowhere, until a fellow Lemon member posted longplays on YouTube. Only after seeing them I got into the game mechanics and realized that you should use the drone ship bonus, not as a shield, but as an extra weapon.
Prior to that, I was trying to make ends meet by using my own ship and just firing at the enemies. It was pretty clear that this wasn't the way to go, because some enemies just wouldn't die with your normal firing range, but if you use the drone ship as a weapon, you can kill pretty much everything.
Another turning point is when i realized that if you just keep the fire button pressed, it acts like an auto-fire switch. That made things a lot easier because before that I was getting the thumbs blues by pressing fire like a maniac. Well, that was it, after discovering these two little tricks, I got hooked. Catalypse transformed from a really frustrating experience to a frenetic and speedy shoot-em-up ride.
That said I still don't consider it a classic. It lacks a bit in atmosphere. Even though the levels feature nicely drawn graphics, I've seen these kind of backgrounds so many times before that they don't have an effect on me. I also don't find the music that special, even though it's nice that there's sound effects and music simultaneously.
I've already made the point in previous reviews, on how important music can be to a game, case in point, Rob Hubbard's spectacular tune for Lightforce. It's that tune alone which makes Lightforce a great shoot-em-up. So, overall, Catalypse just lacks that bit of atmospheric edge to make it really special.
7/10
This is a great game. No surprises there since this is generally considered one of the flagship C64 titles. Sadly, it's one of the classics that I missed back in the day. There were only so many games you could have, even if you were buying pirate copies. But having recently played it extensively thanks to the monthly Lemon-64 gaming compo, I can say that it fully deserves it's reputation.
On the surface, this is just another arcade racer. Usually, in arcade racers (especially the retro variety) you somehow run much faster than your on-screen opponents, so the focus is into avoiding other vehicles, all the while you try to stay in the circuit managing those nasty corners effectively. Buggy Boy takes a different approach, whereas you only encounter few and far between enemy-vehicles. Instead, you slalom your way across the circuit, ski-style, in-between poles that contain bonuses. In the meantime, the circuits are littered with obstacles: walls, rocks, bends etc. Some of them can "interact" with your vehicle. There is this certain type of rock for example that makes your buggy run on two wheels, or this mud-like thing which makes it jump. Others simply make you crash.
What basically happens is that the game tempts you into chasing bonuses (some of them quite surreal, like the football which you can kick with your buggy), before throwing a hazardous number of obstacles at you. It's a good idea to memorize the trickier parts of each circuit then, especially since some circuits require you to perform faultlessly and pick those time-bonuses in full. In that sense, the best strategy is to deal with one circuit at a time.
Now, I've heard some complaints about this game, that it's not fast enough. I think this is poppycock. The speed is just perfect for what the game offers. Any more fast and it would've been unplayable with so many obstacles scattered around. Besides, the thrill is there. And also, since when is speed all there is to an arcade racer? In my opinion, too much speed can make a game frustrating as hell, as in the case of, say, Outrun Europa. Instead, the reasonable speed, great action and grippy controls make Buggy Boy a winner.
8/10
I suppose most retro-maniacs are already familiar with Maniac Mansion, Lucasfilm's flagship graphical adventure. It represented the next step in adventure gaming, whereas the traditional text input commands and static screens were replaced by a point 'n' click interface and animated action. It was enough to woo arcade-orientated gamers that were previously ignoring adventures. And it's not hard to see why. Simply put, Maniac Mansion plays a mean game.
At the heart of the game lies a wacky and comical plot, whereas a group of teenagers goes to this creepy mansion to rescue this female friend of theirs that was last seen in the area. During the course of the game they're gonna encounter the seriously oddball Edison family, alien tentacles, evil meteors, nuclear reactors, not to mention the inter-galactic police-force. Not bad, eh?
You actually get to play with three (out of five in total) characters, and according to what characters you choose there are also different solutions, as well as different endings. The point 'n' click interface works really well, and it was something new back then. Nowadays it can get a bit tiresome, especially when using a joystick instead of a mouse, as in the C64's case. That's one of the reasons this sort of game worked better in the 16-bits. The other is that it involves a hell of a lot of loading, though it's not that bad; I've played tape games that were much much worse.
The action is really cool. It's not hard getting started, exploring the house and figuring out what objects to use where, but it will be quite complicated putting the solution together. One of the problems I had is that the game involved a hell of a lot of walking across the three floors of the mansion, so, say, if I was in ground-level and needed to get to the third floor, it got quite boring slouching there time after time. Some sort of elevator would be real handy.
Apart from that I think it's a really good game. Personally, I like the humongous second adventure (Zak McKracken) Lucasfilm did on the C64 better, but you can't deny this game is great as well. Unfortunately, since only a minority of C64 users had disk drives, it didn't really catch on, which is a shame. The C64 market was always tape based, and it'd be impossible to convert this on tape.
8/10
Hmm, what do we have here? It's a coin-op conversion of a classic early-90's run 'n' gunner. You're some kinda commando type, and some bad dudes have kidnapped your family. Naturally, you get your guns and go after them in a multi-level killing spree. You know it makes sense.
So anyway, it's a shoot-em-up platformer. Mind, it's not your average walk-left-to right affair, rather a multi directional, multi weapons (from flame-throwers to rocket launchers), and multi enemies (from tanks to helicopters, and from enemy-commandos to F-16's) extravaganza. Cool.
Not being familiar with the arcade original, I actually sat and watched an Amiga longplay in YouTube, to see how the good ol' C64 compares with a 16-bitter. And I tell you what, it's pretty damn good. Naturally, 16-bit graphics fare better, but the action is pretty much the same, if not superior.
Indeed, there were times when the Amiga game looked a bit stuffed and rigid, whereas the C64 version looked more flexible and playable. And when I say that the 16-bit graphics fare better, don't assume that the graphics in the c64 version are bad. Far from it. Most levels have beautifully drawn backdrops, while variety comes aplenty. Just look at those screenshots.
The action is fast and furious, mean and addictive. Occasionally hard, but never frustrating. And if you spend some time playing it, you're guaranteed to be able to finish it. No problem. But hey, it's such a cool little game that you might want to do it again.
8/10
Remember the spy from Saboteur 1? It seems that he has a sister, and that his sister is a spy too. Must be something in the family DNA. Or maybe they watched too many James Bond movies when they were kids. Anyway, you take over the sister in this game and there's a number of missions she has to go through in this huge complex, which must belong to terrorists or something. The missions range from the relatively simple - i.e. just kill enemies you encounter and escape the complex - to the definitely steep and hazardous - i.e. kill enemies, disable electric fence, collect evidence (in the form of tapes), redirect the huge missile that the terrorists have obtained etc. You get the drift. Rats, there's a time limit too.
So what we have here is an arcade adventure. The adventure part has to do with mapping the whole thing - and it is a huge playing area; especially getting to know where the tape evidence lies and where the terminals are - with which you can operate the electric fence and the missile direction; and last, but not least, planning your route in such a way so that you make it to the end within the time limit. The arcade bits have to with the beat-em-up encounters between you and the enemy guards - and their pet pumas - that populate the place! There are crates which contain weapons - like shurikens or swords - and they help a lot in dealing with them, but you can only use them once. Thereafter you have to pick up another weapon from another crate.
The graphics and sound are minimal, to say the least. There's definitely a Spectrum-esque twist to the palette and, to be honest, whenever I played this I had some piece of music playing in my SID player - seeing that the game doesn't feature much sound. Yet this bare bones approach does manage to convey a nice sense of atmosphere, what with the varying parts of the moody landscape et al. So let's give the programmers the benefit of doubt.
Beneath the simple exterior lies a meaty game in any case. The first mission might seem fairly simple, but as you progress to more complicated tasks, you find that there is much to love here. There's real skill involved in choosing your route and things get quite hectic as time runs out. The beat-em-up part could be better, and the loose collision-detection gives combat a somewhat, well, loose feeling. But all in all this is a neat little game which got me pretty absorbed. I give it the thumbs up.
7/10
Heeeeeere's Johny!! Oops, sorry, I meant to say here's PP Hammer. So here's PP Hammer, placing you in the role of an Indiana Jones type archaeologist. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to travel around the world in several ancient temples - find whatever treasures there and flee for dear life. Flee for dear life? Why? Well, that's because there's traps galore, as well as the odd enemy. And they're out to get you!
Ahem, let's take things one at a time. Essentially this is a puzzle-platformer. It ain't your average walk left to right, kill all enemies, face the boss and get done with it type of game. The main catch is this: you've got a pneumatic drill, and with it you can demolish blocks of stone. Usually, the treasure (in the form of gold) is hidden in these blocks, or the blocks obstruct the path to the gold. The thing is, once you demolish those blocks, they don't stay demolished but reform after a while. This means that they can trap you - if you don't get out the way soon enough, or even kill you. Now, consider this, there might be a pile of four lines of blocks obstructing your way to the desired treasure, and they can be intersected with solid stones which cannot be demolished. That's the part of the game where you have to think carefully about how to proceed - and all the within the time limit.
As if that wasn't enough, the game slaps you in the face with an eclectic mix of level design - ranging from the chaotic maze to the tricky logical test, as well as an arsenal of additional elements. There's keys with which you can open doors, there's teleports, as well as essential power-ups like jumping boosts, drilling boosts, invisibility potions and so on.
Make no mistake, PP Hammer is an addictive game. Whenever I started playing a level, I had difficulty putting the game down. I'm not exaggerating here, this really is addictive stuff. It's not the kind of game you will finish in an afternoon - but that's okay because each level has it's own password so you can continue from where you left off without repeating earlier levels frustration.
There are criticisms. First of all there seems to be a tendency towards invisible elements later on: invisible ladders, invisible teleports and even invisible blocks. There's also the odd bug, with enemies getting trapped in walls for example. Also, while the original 16-bit version has over 60 levels, they only bothered to convert 38 for the C64 version - which is a bit of a shame. Nevertheless, this is really playable, with solid graphics and tunes, and did I mention the humorous Legoland bonus-level? Well, now I did!
8/10
Hello! Hope you like the re-decoration. That too much white was getting on my nerves, hence the change. Anyway, check out Zaxxon, an ancient shooter from 1984. It's a 3D isometric shoot-em-up, similar to Blue Max, albeit set in space. It's plot no-doubt involves the usual sci-fi nonsense. It's pretty certain that you're the good guy and you must liberate a planet - a galaxy even - from the bad guys. But hey, if you're feeling foul today, why not take the role of the villain? It's up to you.
The gameplay consists of basically two sections, one where you fly over what seems to be a space-base, and one where you're just shooting enemy ships in outer-space. The cool thing about Zaxxon (and Blue Max in that sense) is that it works in three different axes. See, not only you have to move left to right and backwards and forwards, but also up and down - change altitude in other words. That works quite neatly, even though it can result in a few clumsy moves with the joystick. This is a kind of shoot-em-up that is more sophisticated than your average vertical or horizontal shooter. And just look at those lovely shadows and explosions. Great for an 1984 game, no?
Wait a minute, did I say sophisticated? The main problem with Zaxxon is that it doesn't have enough levels. There's basically two space-bases and two outer-space sections. Finish those and you play them again - with slightly increased difficulty. Finish those and the game loops ever after. See, that was quite common in 1984. Games just weren't that complex back then.
In that sense, Zaxxon is a bit of an oxymoron. You have quite a sophisticated structure - and it is my opinion that this is a more sophisticated game than, say, all the R-Types out there; but you don't get enough of it cause there's not enough levels.
6/10
This time around you're a metallic ball named Bobby Bearing. Sadly, your four brothers have gone missing in the Metaplanes and you have to go and save them. That was the plot done with, so let's move on to the game. Take a look at the screenshots. That's right, it's a Marble Madness variant and it bears more than a passing resemblance to Spindizzy. And honestly, it does play like something in between these two games.
But first things first. You won't get far in this without a map. So either you make one, or you download one - here's one published in Zzap aeons ago (thanks Dohi). Now, when you start playing this you'll probably think that it's a bit pointless and there's not much happening. It's true. As you wander round the 3D landscape trying to locate your brother balls, your only worries is trying to avoid moving-blocks (that can crush you), and not getting lost. So you do need that map. All the while, it's not a bad idea to familiarize yourself with the tricky elements of this 3D world, like lifts - usually activated by floor switches, air ducts that lift you off the ground, enemy balls, magnets that can trap you temporarily etc.
The game really comes into it's own when you do find one of your brothers and you have to guide him to safety, aka to the start of the game - which is also the exit. Suddenly, it's not so straightforward choosing which route to take. Say, what do you do when you're at some crossroads of passages? You might just have to leave your brother there in the middle - with some block moving threateningly towards him, while you take some other road and join back the room where you left him from the opposite side so that you can push him and move on. All of a sudden, what seemed like a pointless exploration game turns to an intriguing little puzzler. Oh, and did i mention the time limit? That's right, there is one. At first it seems generous, with 999 seconds to spare, but you might start to panic when there's 300 seconds left and, say, two brothers left unsaved.
It all sounds like an excellent game, doesn't it? A thinking man's Marble Madness? A more easy and less complex Spindizzy? It could well be but sadly there's two big problems to deal with. Firstly, the C64's eternal malaise when it comes to isometric 3D games. Busy screens slow the game considerably. So much that it makes it a chore. Secondly, and more importantly, the sluggish controls. They're so bad that it's a nightmare having to push two balls in more difficult rooms.
What a shame! It could have been a star if only it was better programmed. But it seems that for the time being, Red LED is is no danger of being dethroned as the best Marble Madness variant on the C64.6/10
I don't know why exactly they decided to do a Dr.Who game in 1993. The original TV series had ended in the late 80's anyway. But I'm glad they did! It was a brave decision to do C64 and Spectrum versions as well, seeing that their respective commercial markets were pretty much deteriorating. So, cheers Admiral Software.
Is there really any point going through the plot? The Daleks are at it again. I don't know what they've done exactly but I know that they're bad and you should kick their ass. -) Basically, apart from the first level which is a simple horizontal shoot-em-up, the rest of the levels require you traveling around the world, rescuing hostages and, well, kicking the Dalek's ass.
I have to say, I didn't really like the game at first. It seemed a bit too difficult, with complex level maps to negotiate and with Daleks that were a bitch to kill if you didn't have the right weaponry. Basically, it took me a while to get into the groove. Most of the time it's easier avoiding the enemies, all the while you explore the various doorways and passages trying to find where the hostages are kept. After you have freed all the hostages, you can proceed to where the end-of-level guardian is and get rid of him.
Dalek Attack is mostly an exploration action game: a platform shoot-em-up with arcade-adventure overtones. It is very polished. The graphics are a delight to watch and the music is lovely. Like I said, at first it didn't grab me, but once I got into the groove it became immensely fun and I didn't stop until I finished it. It's a shame that not a lot of people seem to be aware of this game just because it came out in 1993. It seems that for most retro fans, the C64 is all about the 80's, which is plain wrong.
8/10
