Captain's Blog: 8-bit

Showing posts with label 8-bit. Show all posts

Sunday, June 30, 2019

Game Covers - Amaurote (Commodore 64)

All alone in a city infested with killer insects - not a particularly enviable position to be in, but you have been selected to sort out the 2500 hi-res screens of the capital city of Paradise.

So get on with it...

JOYSTICK OR KEYBOARD
DESIGN BY JOHN PICKFORD OF BINARY DESIGN

Amaurote - The Cover

Amaurote - The Inlay

Amaurote - The Tape

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Sunday, June 23, 2019

Game Covers - Space Hunter (Commodore 64)

A fun romp in space, featuring two styles of game play (3D space flight simulator, and 2D maze/map exploration). Well worth the £1.99 which I paid for this back in the day.

"The world is starving and the only food available is in space. You must search through 15 star systems to feed the world. This complex 3-D simulation takes you from rookie pilot to the hero of the world... If you're good enough!"

Space Hunter - The Cover

Space Hunter - The Inlay

Space Hunter - The Tape

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Game Covers - S.O.S. (Commodore 64)

Despite getting not-so-great reviews in the computer magazines of the time, I thoroughly enjoyed this fun little isometric 3D adventure, although it is highly recommended to turn the sound off as it has one of the most annoying songs in a computer game playing throughout.

"One way to lose a good droid is to send it out to do something it isn't programmed for. Biomech 1 (Sydney to his friends) is marooned in a very weird place all because his creator, the eccentric Foley, has a terrible memory. If Sydney can't get back intact, Foley's boss will remove his kneecaps (Foleys not Sydneys that is). Tell Syd how to get home in this 3D arcade adventure and save the taxpayer one billion dollars in the bargain! 3D ARCADE ADVENTURE FROM GEOFF FOLEY.

Wow, what an exciting back story! Try it... The game isn't bad at all, and was a bargain back in the day.

Interesting bit of useless information - The game was originally called "The Game With No Name"

S.O.S - The Cover

S.O.S. - The Inlay

S.O.S. - The Tape

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Game Covers - Strike (Commodore 64)

"Superbly playable, addictive and challenging. This game will have you hooked in minutes and playing for hours trying to achieve that elusive STRIKE".

More like...

"Completely unplayable, dull and impossible. This will have you bored in minutes and throwing your controller at the screen within hours before switching off the computer because you cant be arsed to achieve the elusive and near impossible STRIKE"

What could have been a fantastic game, ended up being rather 'meh' with awful controls. The graphics look great, but the king of Commodore 64 bowling simulators has to stay with the amazing '10th Frame'.

Oh well, what did I expect for £2.99

Strike - The Cover

Strike - The Inlay

Strike - The Tape

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Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 25 : Dorks Dilemma (Commodore Plus 4)

Dorks Dilemma is a fun one player game that was released by Gremlin Graphics in 1985. You control "Dork", an alien who awakens after crashing his space ship on an alien planet inhabited by Zobwats. The Zobwats have dismantled your ship and have scattered the parts across 25 different rooms. As Dork, you must explore each room, destroying the Zobwats with your bombs and reconstruct your ship so that you can escape.

Each room is a small maze consisting of various walls, with a spaceship part located in the middle. In order to collect the ship part, you must destroy a set number of Zobwats using an infinite supply of bombs. It sounds simple, but when you drop a bomb you only have a few seconds to get as far from it as possible. If you're too close, you'll be killed too. Once the Zobwats have been destroyed, move on to the next room, and the spaceship part appears in a jigsaw on the right of the screen.

Once you have collected all 25 pieces, you have to rearrange the jigsaw pieces to properly display a picture of your ship taking off from the planet.

The finished jigsaw

You're free to enter/exit the rooms as you please and although the 25 rooms are always the same, they are re-arranged in to a different order with each game, adding a bit of variety. However, if you destroy some Zobwats and leave the room before destroying the required amount, you have to do it all over again when you re-enter the room.

One good way to kill the Zobwats is to let them come to you, then drop a bomb and run! (or roll)

Just let a bomb go off.

Each room has four respawning Zobwats that appear in each corner of the screen. They gradually follow you, moving closer and although they can touch you, you must be careful not to move in to them. It is possible for them to trap you in a corner or surround you, so be very careful, especially when planting a bomb. Once you drop a bomb, you have a few seconds to get away before it goes off. You then have to wait several seconds for another bomb to regenerate

Don't get trapped.

If you enter a room where the ship part has already been collected, you get this.

AND should you finish the game and escape the planet... You get to do it all over again from the beginning! The only difference is you have more Zobwats to destroy in each room, and they move faster too.