OLDIES OR GOODIES
?
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I don't quite remember why and how but the other day on IRC we started talking
about "old" ST games we had played and loved for so many hours ! Of course
everyone has his fave games in mind, most of them about 10 years ago, but this
was when I started wondering about how true my memories could be... Well it
reminded me of ROBOCOP I had once played on an Amstrad (or was it a C64 ?) and
I thought the game looked good and truly liked the sampled voice in the intro.
Truth is that I happened to see the game some years later and was VERY
disappointed by what I had thought to be an awesome game :( Could it be the
same with those games we had cherished so much ?
Being at my parents, I decided to dig up a few oldies and took them home to
face the truth : were there still any good ? Would I radically change my mind
and put them back in the attic ? Well just read what follows to find out :)
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Oh and before we get started, I'm only talking of ORIGINAL copies here, that's
why I'll also have a closer look at packaging and manual. Now we can go !
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EPIC (published by Ocean, developped by DID)
Released in 1992, 2 floppies
Type : 3D shooter
Requirement : basic ST
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Ocean has never been known for producing good games, they were better known
for releasing a game after any blockbuster movie had scored well. But this
time we were given an original game from the makers of F29 Retaliator and
Robocop 3, back then two very nice games in 3D.
First it proved quite tricky to launch the game though my floppies had been
safely secured in their original package. More than once, I ended up with a
red screen clearly meaning that the floppy couldn't be read at some point. It
seems I had met the problem quite early since I also have a hacked copy of
that first floppy... and of course this one worked :)
I remembered the intro featuring sampled msx from some space movie and showing
many detailed screens with 3D ships. Erm, the music is still here, quite okay
and backgrounds look more than decent tho their artists didn't know much about
true dithering :) However the 3D scenes look SO slow that I wondered when I
could have thought it was fast and smooth, hey memories from another time :)
Choose a pilot nick and get started. The game looks and plays like any flight
simulator except that you are in outer space :) Not some many ennemies, damn,
cannot even find them ! Mouse controls seem a bit awkward too and it all goes
not so fast... After shooting at anything for some time, I decided to stop
here. I'm not going to play that game again now :(
Packaging included a silverlike booklet in different languages and also weird
3D glasses, you know that kind with a red and a blue lense. I seem to remember
that the game included some space inspired poster that was to be seen with the
glasses, hence creating 3D resemblance.
Bottom line : thanks to my copy I managed to run the game but soon got bored
to death and not that impressed anymore. I believe that 3D was okay for the
90s tho I've seen much better in other games or demos from the same time. Not
going to the trashcan but almost :(
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THE CHAOS ENGINE (published by Renegade, developped by the Bitmap Brothers)
Released in 1993, 2 floppies
Type : overhead 2 players arcade game
Requirement : basic ST but is said to use STe specs (blitter and palette)
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No one can decently forget about The Bitmap Brothers who brought us so many
great games like both Xenon, both Speedball but also Gods, Cadaver, Magic
Pockets and their last ST game, The Chaos Engine. They were mostly known for
their greast artist Marc Coleman if I remember well and also for making fun
and addictive games. Let's see if that still proved true now.
As with EPIC, my first floppy refused to run, doing that wellknown reading
noise that means it's no use trying anymore :( Again, I found a hacked copy of
boot disc and hence managed to run the game. The intro shows nice gfx coming
with a module that sounds not so good to my hears and below the quality of
other BB games. Hard to tell if the gfx use the STe extended palette, you
would have to run the game on a simple ST instead. But from snapshots I saw on
the internet, there SEEMS to be quite a bunch of differences !
As the intro ends, you are prompted to insert disc two and soon the main menu
appears. That game requires 2 players but you ask for a CPU guided partner if
you have no friend at hand. This help proves smart and very useful.
Then we reach the first level : gfx are again of good quality but nothing a
mere ST could produce in my humble opinion. It all moves fast enough including
a multidirectionnal scroll that could have been smoother if truly relying on
the blitter... but I'm no coder :) As for sound, well there's almost none,
maybe a few tasteless fx here and there but no ingame music as with too many
games from that time. Too bad.
I played until the end of the first level and found that action was not that
thrilling, nothing in comparison to a game like Turrican (tho maybe I should
have it started again and check for myself :). Move forward, shoot, shoot,
pick up a few coins and items and you make it till the first gate quite
easily. Then this review stops as I only get an error message of the kind
"can't read file blabla". No luck trying again :(
Bottom line : I wasn't disappointed by the game overall quality as it still
shows the skills of BB gfxmen. To speak the truth if my original floppies
still worked I think I would have gone further into the game. Maybe then I
ould have grown bored very fast, that I'll never know :)
I was happy when having a look at the packaging to find the usual booklet but
also 6 cards of very nice quality showing every character specs ! Something
quite unusual and very cool to keep ! But ST owners also find a last minute
sheet reading that "due to the ST limitations, all speeches are missing but
are replaced by specific sounds or additional messages". Hey wasn't the game
supposed to use STe features ? Since there's no ingame music, I believe
sampled sounds could easily have been implemented... But we're not going to
write history again :(
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STARDUST (published by Bloodhouse, developped by Aggression)
Released in 1994, 3 floppies
Type : asteroidslike but with a lot of enhancements
Requirement : STe or Falcon only
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I'm not sure whether that game was released in 1994 as printed on the floppies
or the year after that... Anyway there is no need to introduce this game that
was ported to the STe by greatly skilled coders of Aggression, famous Finnish
democrew. I remember playing thru the whole game with a lot of fun, let's see
if that's still true.
I was happily surprised to notice that the original floppies still work !
After some loading, the star wars scroller got displayed with a nice module
playing at the same time. You quickly reach the main menu using extended
window with upper and lower borders removed. Also there are more than 16
colors displayed tho the flickering effect is kinda rough to the eye. Don't
waste more time and get into the fight !
Choose the first level and get ready to blast asteroids off the screen. As
before the window is extended, very nice gfx, a cool module playing, sampled
sfx and raytraced sprites both for your ship and all asteroids, not to forget
bosses at the end of each world.
It goes fast and smooth, plays good from the very start ! I remember a few
slowdowns in the last levels featuring a lot of big sprites but these are very
scarce. It's a bit hard to get into controls again but with a little training
you become a fierce defender. The tunnel sequences between two worlds still
look and play very fun too, tho we get back to the usual 320*200 window.
The package looks kinda poor compared to other games reviewed with only a slim
booklet, the 3 floppies and nothing more. But if I'm not wrong, that game was
distributed with little money as no publisher thought an STe game could sell.
Well I don't think the guys of Aggression actually grew rich with sales :(
Bottom line : still looks gorgeous and making full use of STe specs as only a
talented democrew could do ! Extended screen, up to 320*240, sampled fx and
several modules make it a sky rocket even though it only features 16c (truly
don't think the ingame gfx use more). Gameplay is almost perfect as you only
need to use 'space' to reach the weaponary, what kills a bit of the game
tension. But I think I'm gonna play the game AGAIN and AGAIN because it really
rocks ! Now I only wish someone could make it hd installable as swapping the 3
floppies between some sequences is a bit boring for an old donkey like me :)
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STS signing off
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