Mastertronic - What if? (Part 2) - Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3

Mastertronic brings you "Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3" for £1.99, only for the Playstation 3 - Available from all good newsagents, chemists and game shops!

If only..... :o)

Because I have WAY too much time on my hands, I thought I'd mess around with putting together some fake Mastertronic covers for modern computer games.

Incase you are not aware (or can not remember), Mastertronic were big in the mid to late 1980s and were a major budget software label in the United Kingdom and produced a large number of cheapo games and re-releases for the Commodore/Spectrum/Amstrad/Atari 8-bit computers (and some 16-bit too) - most at a pocket-money-friendly £1.99!

Just a bit of fun really, but what would modern games look like if Mastertronic still released games like the good ol' days? Well, here you can find out!

 

Click to enlarge

 

To see more of my user-created Mastertronic covers, click here.

 

Stuart's Panoramic World 10 - Tower Bridge

Another 360° panorama. This is Tower Bridge, in London.  This view was taken on the east side of the bridge, beside St. Katherine's Dock.

 

Use your mouse (or cursor keys) to look.  Your mouse wheel allows you to zoom in and out.

Location : Tower Bridge, London Date : 3rd April 2013 Camera : Fujifilm HS30EXR Notes : Located near the entrance to St Katherine's Docks. Download/Enlarge : Click here to enlarge

 

Stuart's Panoramic World 9 - Chancery Lane Underground Station

Another 360° panorama, and another railway station.  Chancery Lane, located on the Central Line on the London Underground (and my Dad's old station where he worked!)

 

Use your mouse (or cursor keys) to look.  Your mouse wheel allows you to zoom in and out.

Location : Chancery Lane Underground Station Date : 3rd April 2013 Camera : Fujifilm HS30EXR Notes : Railway Station, located on the Central Line of the London Underground. Download/Enlarge : Click here to enlarge

 

Stuart's Panoramic World 8 - Southend Central Railway Station

Another 360° panorama, and another railway station.  This time, it's Southend Central, located on the London, Tilbury and Southend line, currently run by c2c.

 

Use your mouse (or cursor keys) to look.  Your mouse wheel allows you to zoom in and out.

Location : Southend Central Railway Station Date : 19th April 2011 Camera : Fujifilm S6000FD Notes : Railway Station, located on the c2c line. Download/Enlarge : Click here to enlarge

 

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 20 : Trailblazer (Commodore Plus 4)

Whoa, this was a hard game.  In fact, I would like to shake the hand of any person who has actually finished this game from beginning to end, in one go, and WITHOUT cheating!

Trailblazer was written by Shaun Southern, and released originally for the Commodore 16/Plus 4 by Gremlin Graphics in 1986, and then for most 8-bit computers not long after.  Although I had the game for the Commodore 64, it was the Commodore Plus 4 version which I remember the most.  To be honest, both games were almost identical, however the Commodore 64 version had a split screen two player mode, whereas the Commodore 16/Plus 4 version limited you to one player (albeit full screen).

You control what looks like a football across a gridded road in space which hurtles towards you at breakneck speed.  The road is made up from different colour squares, and some of these colours have various effects on your ball if you touch them.  You also have holes in the road which you must avoid.

Red Squares - Slow you down.
Green Squares - Speed you up
Blue Squares - Makes you jump
Cyan Squares - Reverses your control (Press left to go right, and right to go left)

Difficult jump - plan your approach and speed to get across.

There are 16 levels in total to negotiate.  The first few are relatively easy, but they get increasingly more difficult as you progress through the game.

Don't fall down the holes!

To help you complete the courses, you have a limited number of jumps which you can use to cross gaps in the road, but use them sparingly.  There is also a time limit on each course, and once your timer reaches zero, then it's game over.

The graphics are simple, but very effective.  The track moves at an incredible speed which does mean that the player needs to strategically plan their jumps.  Also, it's not always necessary to try and complete the track in the fastest time - sometimes slow negotiation of the holes can reward you with completing the course with the highest score.

The "Cyan Zone" reverses your joystick controls

And what do you get when you finally finish the game?  A boring message, and a chance to start the game all over again from level 1...  Oh joy! 

After all that hard work, you are greeted with this - The finishing screen!

It is a good game, and although I don't play it as much these days, I do have fond memories from playing it when I was young.  Well worth a go if you have never played it before

The cover

Full cover

Inside cover (complete with cheats and codes written by my Dad - no doubt copied from the cheats section of Commodore User)

Instructions

The tape

Fortunately you can jump straight to a level by typing a secret code on the main screen. 

Level 1	N/A
Level 2	DARES
Level 3	WAXED
Level 4	RAZED
Level 5	CARDS
Level 6	CRAZE
Level 7	WEARS
Level 8	CARES
Level 9	WEEDS
Level 10	DAZED
Level 11	ERASE
Level 12	CRESS
Level 13	WARES
Level 14	CEASE
Level 15	REARS
Level 16	DREAD

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 19 : Astro Wars (Grandstand)

My Mum and Dad bought me my first computer game in 1983.  It was a mini table top electronic arcade console called Astro Wars, released by Grandstand.  The game was a simple shoot 'em up and I remember spending hours playing it as a young child, (and getting through quite a few C size batteries in the process!)

These style of games were quite popular in the early 1980s, although out of all the ones I've played, Astro Wars was (and still is) by far the best.  The console looks like a mini arcade machine, with a small joystick, fire button, select and start buttons, and a large LFD (Vacuum fluorescent display) screen.

As mentioned earlier, the game is a typical shoot em' up, in the style of Galaxians and is made up of three sections :-

Section 1 : - You control a space ship at the bottom of the screen and can move left, right and fire.  Squadrons of enemy fighter ships attack you from the top of the screen, and occasionally one will fly towards you.  You must shoot all the enemy ships, while at the same time avoiding their fire.  Apologies for the poor pictures, but it is extremely hard to play this game, and hold a camera at the same time!

Section 1 - Check out those awesome LED graphics!

Section 2 : Three enemy ships remain at the top of the screen and fire a stream of lasers at you.  Avoiding the lasers is one thing, shooting the ships is another (and is quite difficult) because they keep moving from left to right.

Section 2 - It gets a bit crazy now!

 

Section 3 : Bonus stage - Your space ship separates, and the top half of your ship launches to the top of the screen.  Using the fire button and the joystick, you must guide the top of your ship so that it docks perfectly with the bottom half.  Holding the fire button gives your ship thrust, and left and right moves your ship.  There is a timer so you must perform the docking manoeuvre before it runs out.  If it does, your ship falls, causing it to crash.  If you manage to successfully complete this section, the game then returns back to the beginning again.

Section 3 - Not as easy as it seems.  Using your thrust to dock your space ship

One good feature is that the game features several difficulty settings (press the select button at the start of the game to choose your skill level).  This extends the lastability of the game since it is very easy to complete on the easiest setting. 

The game ends once the player has lost all of their 5 lives, or when their score reaches 9999, at which point the game is won and the player is treated to a very basic electronic fan-fare as a reward!

Astro Wars was a marvellous game, and is still fun to play 30 years after it was released!  They go for good money on eBay too, which is good to know since I have two of them - although I don't think I'd ever sell.