AtariAge Forums: AtariAge Forums -> Planet Bob

Hi there!

Heya! Finally a movie license game based on a movie I liked!



Of course I was only watching it because it has my name hidden in the title

Same with the game, obviously. Otherwise it's a prime example for a game gathering attention by other means than gameplay. I remember that in school everyone agreed that it sucked, but still somehow everyone I knew had a copy and was playing it at the time ...

Hi there!

Six years after Choplifter, Dan Gorlin returned to form with Typhoon Thompson:

http://home.arcor.de/cybergoth/xype/typhoonthompson.gif

The full title is "Typhoon Thompson in Search for the Sea Child", which is also a good summary of your mission already. The sea child was kidnapped by a bunch of sea kobolds, so the sea spirits equipped TT with a boat and weapons to fight them, sending him out to return the child.

In an inevitable comparison with Choplifter, the gameplay actually does share some aspects, even when considering that TT happens in a full blown 3D environment: First you shoot the kobolds sea homes, then when they're coming out, you shoot their vessels. Succeeding here has them dropping into the water, where you can collect them. After clearing a level of all kobolds, you can exchange them for goods stolen from the sea spirits.

The game has excellent and very precise analog mouse control. Once you get used to it, it's pure fun to zip...

Hi there!

Coming a long way from Zyron, Kingsoft did another vertical shoot'em up in 1988, this time for the Amiga:

...

Hi there!

The second game powered by Incentives Freescape engine:

http://home.arcor.de/cybergoth/xype/darkside.gif

I always regarded those Freescape games a fascinating technical achievement, albeit I never really played one of them. On the C64 they simply seemed to run way too slow, IIRC at 2-3 frames per second. And later on the Amiga I had better games, I thought

I always loved the C64 soundtracks of Driller and Dark Side though. They're backed by incredibly epic 10-15 minute psychedelic tunes which do an impressive jobs of creating ambient atmospheres. Even if one hates the games, I at least recommend listening to those tunes once ...

Hi there!

Right in the middle of 1988 the power of the new 16-Bit computers was finally put to good use with this:

http://home.arcor.de/cybergoth/xype/strippoker2.gif

Albeit not really pretty, this was graphically still a significant step up from the games I grew up with, like e.g. Samantha Fox Strip Poker

The games audio consists of a single sound effect, so there's been lots of room for improvement left for the Strip Poker games coming after it.

The Poker game itself is solid. The ladies aren't playing that stupid, but well - the games only motivation still comes from the kick of undressing women, which kinda worked when I was a teenager, but is more fun nowadays when playing with a real woman ...

Hi there!

Cinemaware making yet another offer I can't refuse:



Like S.D.I. was King of Chicago a game that was announced for the C64, but never came. Once again Cinemaware had me waiting years - for nothing

20 years after the fact, I was now finally playing the Amiga version and again I'm wondering what all the fuss was about

As indicated by the games title already, the twisted story is fulfilling every single mafia movie cliche, right down to the cheesy dialog-lines of the characters. And of course there's also a woman you're after

The core of this Cinemaware game...

Hi there!

Considering how much I love Encounter, I always wanted to have a look at this one:



I'm not sure if it was really advertised as Encounter sequel, but well - it basically is. As the legend is told, Paul Woakes wanted to write an Encounterish 16-Bit game as soon as he had finished the Atari ST port of Mercenary, resulting in Backlash.

Well, Backlash became a very fast 3D Shoot em up, much faster than Encounter. It's also pretty chaotic. There's zillions of things moving on the screen, like dozens of your own shots, enemies and their shots, explosions and other dots and particles (see screenshot above).

Instead of helping the player, the HUD radar right in the center of the screen also seems to add more to the confusion of the player than anything else.

Gone are the waves and warp scenes inbetween them (not necessarily a bad thing ...

Hi there!

Thanks for looking if you came for the Sega game, but this is about the Cinemaware one:

http://home.arcor.de/cybergoth/xype/sdi.gif

Oh boy, I sure thought this should've been released for the C64 in 1987. Happy Computer tested the Atari ST version in their 4/87 issue and also listed the C64 as target platform. I really, really, really wanted it these days, being such a die hard Defender of the Crown fan then, but after waiting some 2-3 years even I gave up hope

It actually was really in the works for the C64, it seems it basically died from feature creep when they were trying to enhance it way beyond the 16-Bit versions. Here's some info about it:
http://gtw64.retro-n.../Review_Sdi.php
http://gtw64.retro-n...Article_Sdi.php...

Hi there!

Two fast ones in a row, of course a handful of Karatekas couldn't keep me busy for long:

http://home.arcor.de/cybergoth/xype/karatekid.gif

Some clever programmer named Steve Bak once figured that there was no 16-Bit version of International Karate availble and so teamed up with artist Pete Lyon to create one.

Some clever publisher named Microdeal then bought a license for Karate Kid 2 to spice it up some.

Karate Kid 2 was the first of many 16-Bit Bak/Lyon games. Most of which were of dubious quality, but they all had pretty good graphics ...

Hi there!

Not to be confused with "Sentinel", the Starmaster like shmup from Synapse, this is about The Sentinel:

http://home.arcor.de/cybergoth/xype/thesentinel.gif

This game always was a tough one for me. I understood the rules, I knew how to play it, yet I never really got into it. So this will probably be my final serious attempt at this one.

It is a rather simple game. You're residing on an isometric 3D landscape and can absorb everything in there. "Everything" being a bit of an exageration here, because we're basically talking trees here.

Well, trees and 1-4 guardians, the name giving Sentinels. Now, you can absorb trees and sentinels when you can see the tile they're standing on, which ususally means you have to reside on a higher spot. Of course, the Sentinels can also absorb you, when they can see the tile you are standing on. Once you're running out of energy, you guessed it - Game Over!

Getting higher is pretty easy, as you...