Back in the day (1986), when Elite took on this prematurely aged Capcom shooter, you would have been forgiven for thinking there was a good chance of a nigh on perfect conversion to the home micros. Vertically scrolling shoot em ups were ten a penny on the C64 and the original was no 'state of the art' cabinet. I mean, it was just River Raid with bells on, right?
At first sight and sound, it actually quite impresses. The title tune is a jaunty, militaristic romp and the graphics appear to be well drawn and colourful. The high score tune is worth leaving on for a while to bend an ear to as well. Sadly, it doesn't take long to find the flaws and end any possible enjoyment you may have been expecting. The attack waves are predictable, yet infuriating. Getting randomly rear ended by an enemy plane will never cease to grate. The collision detection is also pretty grim, penalising you for getting a pixels width too close to an enemy or enemy fire. Shooting other planes is also a frustrating affair, gunfire frequently ghosting past the oncoming enemy. Forgive me if I don't get excited about losing life after life for no reason.
So, there it is. One to try out if you're a masochist or you like a complete lack of variety, like eating beans on toast every night for tea. The original arcade game wasn't up to much anyway, but you can't help thinking more could have been done to make it fun to play for more than half an hour.
Screenshots
Sunday, 10 February 2013
Monday, 4 February 2013
Lady, Love Your Commodore
I know this is going to sound terribly limiting in terms of writing about computer & video games, but try as I might, I can't seem to get that excited about anything other than Commodore's ancient 8 bit powerhouse, the C64. Doesn't matter what system it is, I can't seem to find any satisfaction from using an emulator for anything other than the C64. I will confess that I am partial to the odd excursion onto Vic 20 & C16/Plus 4 emulation, but beyond that...............
Spectrum? I did have a decent library of stuff on emu for the Speccy, but there always seemed to be something missing. There was always that weird sort of ennui playing those games. Every visit to the home of a childhood friend was re-lived. The monochrome, the bleepy sound & colour clash, too much getting my ass kicked on 2 player games.....
Amstrad? ROFL! LOL! PSML! No offence....
Atari? Very similar to the C64 in style & game content up until about 1988. Also, not exactly a hotbed of homebrew activity. That said, the recent Atari 8 bit Space Harrier conversion is to die shagging for.........
Amiga/ST? Love them, just can't be bothered with the complex emulation.
Consoles? Do we have to mention these idiots?
OK, this is where we get to the crux of the matter. It's about what you owned or what you played most. I had a C64 & played a lot of Amiga, Speccy & ST games. If all you owned was a Megadrive, it's unlikely you'd re-visit Amiga games & vice versa. Some folk (Games mag journos in the main) will be able to attest to a love of a huge number of games over a range of machines, but for most of us, our gaming allegiances are based upon what we owned.
I owned a C64. It's what I remember with affection. It's what I will, in the main, write about here. Problem?
Spectrum? I did have a decent library of stuff on emu for the Speccy, but there always seemed to be something missing. There was always that weird sort of ennui playing those games. Every visit to the home of a childhood friend was re-lived. The monochrome, the bleepy sound & colour clash, too much getting my ass kicked on 2 player games.....
Amstrad? ROFL! LOL! PSML! No offence....
Atari? Very similar to the C64 in style & game content up until about 1988. Also, not exactly a hotbed of homebrew activity. That said, the recent Atari 8 bit Space Harrier conversion is to die shagging for.........
Amiga/ST? Love them, just can't be bothered with the complex emulation.
Consoles? Do we have to mention these idiots?
OK, this is where we get to the crux of the matter. It's about what you owned or what you played most. I had a C64 & played a lot of Amiga, Speccy & ST games. If all you owned was a Megadrive, it's unlikely you'd re-visit Amiga games & vice versa. Some folk (Games mag journos in the main) will be able to attest to a love of a huge number of games over a range of machines, but for most of us, our gaming allegiances are based upon what we owned.
I owned a C64. It's what I remember with affection. It's what I will, in the main, write about here. Problem?
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