First, a big thanks to Oyn who found this game for me. I was looking for it for many years. I used to play this game at Intermediate school on the class computer, because we were there earlier than school started. After all these years I could only remember a game set in the middle ages, and that there was arm wrestling, archery and galloping a horse between towns. So I described this dream game to Oyn and he went hunting, and sure enough he found it – he finds everything. Thanks Oyn! (k)

This game was way before it’s time. It was enthralling, stunning, fun and adventurous. I have always had a fascination with all things medieval.

So, where to start? You are a knight who has returned from afar, only to find that your uncle has an army approaching to conquer your lands and your home has been ravaged. Your castle is a ruin and you need to amass an army to defend the lands. A bit like the Robin Hood movie with Kevin Costner? The problem is that you’ve been gone so long that nobody really cares who you are, so you need to go around doing archery and arm wrestling and other things to gather enough respect and money to get the army together.

So you get on your faithful steed and face the county map. You ride your horse from town to town and other inhibited areas and do all that is required to save your land from the oncoming slaughter.

The first town you’ll come across is Chatany Malabry, where you spend most of the game trying to conquer the annual archery contest. I totally sucked at the archery. You have to gauge the angle up, down, side-to-side, force etc. You get 6 rounds. It was quite difficult! I also managed to pick up some supplies from the store to aid me in my quest.

The town of Lorando is to the west, where there is a used-car salesman and an optimistic barman. It’s a quaint town, where people are friendly and they have a lot of… shrubbery.

Knights Templar Abbey isn’t a town, but it’s another area you can visit. I was confuddled here, seemed a good place to just purchase things. I thought it was awesome that there were Knights Templar, very medieval. Shame they weren’t ready to rally to my cause just yet.

The best place to visit though is Torantek, the restless city of scoundrels and people without morals or faith. Wow, careful not to be mugged I say. People tend to stare at me and don’t like me. I did find some mercenaries but they didn’t like me either. It was a very interesting place to be. Some nice shady characters for you to take your moods out on.

But that’s not all, there are many other places to visit and see, other challenges, people to meet and talk to, buy things from etc.

I really recommend this game, it’s just brilliant. So popular it was ported to nearly any platform you can think of!

This is another one of my bought ‘games’. Its not really a game, its more of an educational application. In Cartooners its all about making cartoons. There are no real game elements in this application, its just letting your creativity flow.

When you start Cartooners, you get into the main menu where you can choose a couple of options. Look, Play, Create and Quit.

Look
In ‘Look’ you are at the theatre, you can click on the tickets to play a short movie. The movies already listed are the default movies which came with the application. These movies show off what you can do with the software.

Play
‘Play’ is about the same as the ‘Look’ option, however when the movie ends when you just watched one, you dont return to the theatre, but you stay in the editor where you can edit the movie and add bits.

Create
‘Create’ is the most interesting option, here you can do whatever comes to mind, to make the ultimate cartoon. When you start ‘Create’, you’ll start in a blank screen where you can start making your cartoon. First of all you can load scenes. The scenes can be anything from the default list, but you can also load your own pictures, saved from LBM files. I just loaded the ‘graveyard’ setting and added a bunny to the scene. You can place the bunny everywhere in the scene, but it makes the most sense when you put him/her on the ground. You can set it just far right, one pixel away from the border and you can make it ‘Act’. For instance, you can make the Bunny hop into the view. Then press record and it starts recording frame for frame in (faster than) real time. When it has hopped past from right to left and off the screen, you can slide the frame marker back to the beginning and press play. Now you see the bunny hop from right to left, your first cartoon has been made! To add music go back to the first frame and select a tune from the ‘Music’ menu. Select the ‘spooky’ music and press record again until your bunny has hopped out of the screen again. Now when you slide the frame marker back again and press play, your cartoon will play with spooky music playing This is just an example of what you can do with Cartooners.

There are lots and lots more actors to play around with, that can do (act) different things, like dancing and flying and landing and walk and move in all sorts of ways. You can load more than one scene, switch scenes as you go, add sound effects and music, work in multiple layers and add scenes and actors of your own. Speech and exclamation balloons help you with clearing up things. Its just a program to let your creativity run wild.

Its lots of fun making your own cartoons, but its too bad you cant add digital effects and the program only supports LBM files. However the program does support CGA, EGA, VGA, Tandy and various soundcards: Adlib, CMS Gameblaster, Roland MT-32, PC Speaker and Tandy.

It will keep you entertained for a while, but it wont last long anymore these days.

Eye of Horus is an excellent platform game. I remember my mum buying it for me when it first come out – this was the only game we every bought when we were young, and I think it was a worthwhile purchase. I remember copying it for my friends! (Wow, I was a warez freak and never knew it :O.. hell, I wasn’t even 10 years old, how was I supposed to know!).

I have included an excerpt from the manual to better explain the story line of the game (it’s a pretty powerful and beautiful one you see):

The story, chiseled in stone, is about a once powerful king names Osiris. Osiris was a benevolent King, loved by all – except for one: his half-brother, Set. Set tricked Osiris into lying in a chest. Set then nailed the chest shut and sent it down the Nile, hoping to end his brother’s life.

But just as the captive Osiris was about to breathe his last breaths, his beautiful wife the legendary Isis found the chest with her dying king. In the joy of their reunion they conceived a son whose name was Horus. Osiris never lived to see his son – for he died in Isis’s arms. She ried to hide his body, for fear that Set would find it. But to no avail… Set did find it. And he tore the corpse into seven pieces, scattering them throughout the tomb. Now it is well known that a soul can not lie in peace unless his orpse is whole and properly placed in its arcophagus. Even his loved ones are unable to est until his body has been restored.

And so it is that neither Osiris, nor his family – Isis and Horus – is depicted on the final aintings inside the labyrinth. And not until orus reclaims the scattered bones, returns them to the sarcophagus and defeats the evil Set, will Osiris and his family reclaim their rightful place on the eternal sandstone of the burial chamber.

The unfinished legend is now up to Horus. And up to you.

So it’s your task to journey around the pyramid. One cool thing about this game is that as shaman, you have the ability to transform into a bird at by pressing the upward arrow key. This ability allows you collect items that are out of reach, and also avoid many of the dangers. That was one thing I noticed about this game, a great variety of dangers.

To get the real understanding of this game you have to play it. It’s a lot of fun, and a great challenge. Might take a while to understand the order of things and they way you have to do them, but I thoroughly enjoyed it

This makes me want to cry.

Archer MaClean’s Interntional Karate (and it’s update, IK+) was without out a doubt the best and most fun game available on 8-bit systems. Argue with me on this and I will set fire to your house!

But THIS, this is a travesty. The graphics have gone straight to CGA hell, replaced by awful blue and magenta tones, the sound is quite frankly awful – it does retain the same fluid control system as it has on other platforms.. but the presentation spoils the whole game.

I suggest that you download this game, play it for five minutes and then go get an Atari ST or Amiga emulator and a copy of IK+ (or even a C64 or speccy emulator).

The difference between the two is extreme.

Such a let down =(

Jetpack was great! I remember this being one of the games I would never delete off my computer. There were hundreds of levels, which meant that you were entertained for a long time. Some of the harder levels made my head hurt =

It’s a really fun little puzzle game, which is easy to get the hang of right away. You are this cool lil’ dude with a jetpack on. Your task is to collect all the emerald gems and then move onto the next level. At first it’s easy as you get used to your jetpack and phase shifter that lets you burn holes through specific walls. Some walls are denser than other walls, and therefore take longer for you to get through. Some walls you cannot go through at all. There are other items to collect, like gold and jetpack fuel. You’re gonna need fuel on the bigger levels, as the jetpack doesn’t come with a bottomless supply unlike McDonald’s coffee.

As the levels increase the difficulty does to (What? You expected something else?), and things such as ice, and ooze are there to add another bit of a challenge. No game is complete without evil homing bots that love to follow you and springs things that want to zap you dead. Once hit you are dead and have to restart the level, which can get annoying, but there are continues galore (bonus!).

The level creator was very cool, and came included with the game. I spent ages making levels for my friends that were really hard, and they did the same for me. You are given all the elements of the game, and can create your own levels to play. “Some teachers bought Jetpack because they considered the editor to be educational, encouraging their students’ creativity” (quoted from www.adeptsoftware.com). It was pretty popular . There are a lot of fan websites out there with levels they have made. You can download and play these for more challenges still.

The sound and the graphics are what is to be expected from that time, standard PC Speaker beeps and pretty colourful squares for graphics. It is a tad outdated now, but if you love old games then you would expect what you got.

Overall, it’s a fun game, enjoyed by all. I’ve seen quite a few Jetpack fanatic sites out there, so it must have some kind of crazy phenomenon thing going. Definitely worth a play, and don’t forget to have a go with the level editor.

Visit the homepage of the developers: www.adeptsoftware.com

P.S. Oh yeah, did I mention the Christmas edition Jetpack? Kickass!

Having defeated his enemies in the first game, Mr Last Ninja rebuilds his ninja school… then something happens and he is transported to present day (well, 80′s) new york.. and theres a baddie and… oh I can’t be bothered.

If you’ve played the first game then this is more of the same, with slightly improved graphics and a more interesting setting.

That’s about all I can be bothered to say about it

Can you do better? Then bring it on!

You start off with some cash, to buy supplies for your adventure to find the Lost Dutchman Mine. Looking for information on this game, I was rather surprised that there was such a place around the state of Arizona. Go figure? So where was I? Yes, you start off in town, and you have to buy supplies, such as mining equipment, weapons, food etc. You can make more money panning for gold in the rivers, being a bounty hunter etc.

Apparently there are donkeys to help you carry stuff, as you are only one mere man remember. This enables you to take more food. You can also find more food by going fishing in rivers and stuff.

There are always dangers when on a journey to find a goldmine, mark my words! Well, actually I lie, because I’ve never actually been on an adventure such as this, but I did once pan for gold in the South Island of New Zealand, and I did find some but my sister flushed it down the toilet – but that’s a whole other story. Back to the review! I was talking about threats, such as snakebites (you’re gonna need a doctor), Indians, and other people with big guns that want to kill you dead.

This is a pretty unheard of game, and you can’t really find any information on it! It rates pretty well as an adventure game, you should play it just to get it a bit more well known

I wish that i’d never added this bloody game, because now I have to endure bunny and her NZ cohorts whining about how “that looks nothing like a kiwi” and “the south island looks to big”.

Moan moan moan, that’s all I get.

Anyway, the reason that I DID add it is because New Zealand story is one of the only straight platform games that has managed to hold my attention for a decent length of time. I can’t put my finger on the reason why this is, it must be down to good design but anyway, there is something indescribably fun about the game and it definately has that “just one more go” factor.

Story is never a big thing in this type of game, but for those of you who are interested :

“New Zealand is a peaceful place to live – if you’re a kiwi, particularly in the Auckland zoo – Tiki is as happy as can be.
Trouble turns up in the guise of psychotic walrus who has an enormous appetite for fresh Kiwi and kidnaps Tiki and his relatives to stock the larder.
The walrus hides his captives around the island in 20 hazardous locations and our hero escapes and sets about rescuing his buddies. Watch the feathers fly as Tiki escapes his plan, for the walrus has some very strange companions and their out for blood.”

Graphicaly the game is not impressive at all – functional at best so this is not what draws me to the game. It’s the gampley that keeps me coming back. The game features nice simple level design, interesting enemies (especialy the big boss creatures) and some nice touches such as the ability to fly around the level on a baloon. There are also many weapon power-ups to suppliment the default bow and arrow, these range from bombs to invulnerability pills.

A simple, very very fun game that appeals to the big kid in me.

Recommended

The predecessor to other “shooter-on-rails” games such as Time Crisis, Virtua Cop and House of the Dead. If I recall correctly I can remember three games of this type being released on the ZX spectrum when I owned it – Opertaion Wolf Operation Thunderbolt and The Untouchables. Operation Thunderbolt was without a doubt the best, but this game is the classic.

The game is a first person shooter that scrolls slowly from left to right. Use the mouse (or if your a sadist, the keyboard) to move the target indicator around the screen, shooting enemy soldiers, tanks and helicopters (and the occasional turkey – play the game, you’ll see ). The game is best played with a lightgun.. but since that option isn’t available for the PC (hehe losers) you are stuck with the mouse.

Thr game is great fun, but after the third level or so it gets slightly repetitive. However, if you want a game that is easy to get into and involves lots of frantic shooting, this very well may be the one for you.

This game used to keep me occupied for hours. Going through the different pieces of the puzzle trying to build pipes before the goo got spilt everywhere.

The aim is to keep the goo from coming out the end until the timer runs out. If you want a good puzzle game, that can pose quite a challenge when you get up to the harder levels. As the levels increase the goo will start sooner, and you will be expected to keep it going for longer. The goo comes out a lot quicker and you have to work really hard to keep ahead of it. They start placing obstacles in the way, like bricks and walls etc. You can get bonus points for making the goo cross over itself using the + shaped pipes.

You should try this one out just for a bit of fun Everyone should be able to say that they have played this game.

Populous is an almost perfect mix of looks, charm and gameplay. It can be credited with starting a whole new genre (the ‘god’ game) and is indeed a true classic.

To put it another way, it fricken rocks!!!

In Populous you play a god, in fact you play a Good God. And of course if there’s a good God, it stands to reason that there’s gonna be a bad God kicking about the place somewhere. Anyway, you have followers, he has followers and you have to make sure that your guys come out on top. First of all you need a way to communicate your wishes to them, and throwing lightning bolts isn’t very concise so you need to appoint someone to speak for you, a high priest will fit the bill nicely. Right, now that you can talk to your followers you are gonna want them to do some of that “go forth and multiply” stuff.. but alas, the land is not flat enough to build upon.

But you’re a God, you can soon take care of that

So your people are settling across their newly flattened world, worshipping you and increasing your godly powers through ‘mana’ (more worshippers = more mana = more power). On the other side of the world Mr Bad God and his followers are doing the same thing, and sooner or later your two sides are going to meet and there’s gonna be trouble. So it’s upto you to get rid of him before he gets rid of you. Fortunately being a God means that you have some very nice weapons at your disposal: earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, you get the idea. You play the game across 500 worlds/levels starting at “genesis” and working through until you and your people have annihilated all opposition.

I haven’t really scratched the surface of the game yet, I havent talked about how you can transform your priest into a huge psycopathic knight who slaughters your enemies, or about the custom game mode. So I guess it’s up to you to download it and find out for yourself.

I promise you that you wont be disappointed. Populous is a wonderful game, good for a quick ten minute bash and long all night sessions.

Just do it

Ah, there is nothing like the feel of cold steel impaling you in rather interesting places to really get you moving. Trust me, this game has its fair share of ‘cringe moments’.

You’ve got three guesses to tell me the name of the evil dude who kidnapped the princess. Grand Vizier Jaffar you say? Well, you’d be exactly right! Aladdin here we come! But no, sorry you are not Aladdin. You are trying to rescue the princess who is your love; you have an hour to get to her. If you don’t get to her in an hour, then she will be forced to marry Jaffar or be killed.

I have to say that does take some skill to play this game. It is quite important that you know how to jump, otherwise you can end up either impaled on spikes or a big pile of broken bones at the bottom of a pit. They have those lovely jumps, where you have to do a flying leap and end up hanging off the edge of the other side * shudder *. There are other scary things too, like some of the floors fall in, whilst others are moving floors. There are guards placed around, and as you move up from the dungeons, the guards get harder to fight. You do nice little sword battles that take a while to get used to, thrust, dodge etc.

Overall, I had some fun playing this game, even if I did always end up with a big spike impaled up my arse. And I kind of couldn’t play it without cheating either * blush *. It’s a classic game, loved by many – give it a shot

Don’t let looks fool you. This game is great! I have spent a good many years playing this game, and it’s been on ALL of my PC’s.

You can be one of four little cars in standard colours. Go blue!!! Your task is to race around the enormous number of levels, and win. Some levels are easy and have no checkpoints and no horrible things, yet some have do have them. You will have levels with checkpoints. You have to drive your car through the checkpoints (that can be in the darndest places!), and you have to go through the checkpoints in order. There are also directional arrows, that will give you a boost if you are going in the same direction, but also make it a little bit hard if you are going in the opposite. You will also see tornado’s, the tornado’s are evil and spin you around and spit you out, giving your other racers ground on you. There are other obstacles too, but you will have to wait and see

The multiplayer aspect is similar to Slicks ‘n’ Slide. You have one keyboard and up to four players (mayhem!), and you use your skill or brute force on those around you to win.

As you race around the track little white spanners appear. You want the spanners! You crazily try and control your car towards them, ramming all the other cars, pushing the other players off the keyboard. YES! You get to the spanner first, you can therefore get better parts for your car, or rather, add points to the certain areas you have. You crash into the side and you bounce off the walls, you crash too hard however and you will end up bursting into flame. Helicopter, enter stage left! It zooms past you on the screen replacing your car with a nice new one. Of course at first this helicopter is damn slow, and the other racers gain on you, but as you collect spanners, you can increase that part of your setup, then before you know it that helicopter is zooming through the screen at breakneck speeds! (It’s a real laugh to see them zooming in real fast when you have all four of you ramming walls non-stop). You can also with the help of these magical spanners make your car faster and easier to handle! Yay, as these cars can be a bit much sometimes.

Did I mention that whilst there are more levels than you can count with the game, there is also a level editor? Yes, that’s right, you can make your own kickass levels, with as many obstacles as you want. It’s a great level editor to use as well, really easy. Just another sweet as function in a sweet as game!

The graphics are, umm, no comment . Admittedly they are not the best for the year this game was made, but the game itself more then makes up for it. I mean its small and fun!

This game is another in my top 10 kickass games of all time. Give it a shot, it’s a great laugh for multiplayer, and will provide endless fun.

A little history lesson before we get started. How many of you know who the Gollop brothers are?

….

Ooook um… hands up who here has played any of the first three X-Com games…

Cool, everyone who didn’t put their hand up should sod off and play X-Com (UFO: Enemy Unknown for you yanks) then come back so you know what i’m talking about. The rest of you can sit comfortably and listen because you are about to be educated.

Y’see, many many MANY years ago (nearly 20 in fact) a lad by the name of Julian Gollop created a simple strategy game for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC by the name of Rebelstar Raiders. It was a fun little turn based game which spawned a whole new genre – the arcade strategy game.

Then a few years later came the more sophisticated update entitled simply Rebelstar. This was a squad level turn based strategy game that involved breaking into a highly defended base and destroying it’s central computer (which was named ISAAC if you are at all interested). Play took place across several levels each with different objectives and obstacles and it was all pretty new and stunning for the time. After that came Rebelstar 2 (which we will talk about in just a minute) then Laser Squad. Laser Squad, released on 16-bit systems as well as 8-bit, used the same formula as Rebelstar but with many improvements such as joystick control and a greater variety of weapons (which could be equipped before each mission).

In 1991 Julian gollop (along with his brother Nick) showed a prototype of Laser Squad 2 to a representative of Microprose. The idea was to keep the same basic formula as the previous game but to update it with isometric graphics (similar to games like Populous). Microprose liked what they saw but wanted something “bigger” and this time set on Earth so that people could relate to it more. The brothers Gollop went away and came up with the idea of adding a grand strategic element to the game. With this X-Com was born, a game where you managed an international organisation that defended the Earth against UFO incursions. It had the same basic turn based combat model as Rebelstar but with updated graphics (and an isometric viewpoint), research and development and a financial model. The game was released in 1994 and remains a cult classic to this day (personaly it is one of my all time favourite games).

After X-Com came the sequel : Terror from the Deep. All the elements from the original remained in place, all that changed was that the setting was transposed from Air and Ground combat to undersea. It was this unoriginality which meant that, although it was by no means a bad game, it never gained the same status as the original.

In late 1997 the third game in the series, X-Com Apocalypse was released. The game improved on almost every aspect of the game, this time being set in a gigantic city under threat from inter-dimensional aliens. What truly set it apart from the first two games was that it gave you the chance to play in real time (the turn based system was still there of course). Along with this the game included advanced artificial inteligence, a realistic diplomacy and financial model (this played a big part in the game) as well as a living, breathing city to play in.

The games that followed were something of a let-down, probably due to the fact that the Gollop Brothers had little say in the direction that they took. X-Com interceptor was a disapointing mix of space combat and strategy, Email X-Com was as the name suggests a play by email strategy game. X-Com enforcer was a dire thrid-person shootemup and the less said about it the better. There WAS hope in the form of X-Com Alliance which was a first person squad based strategy game and an unamed remake of the first X-Com using modern technology. Unfortunately as yet neither have seen the light of day.

The only recent addition to the series has been Laser Squad : Nemesis, Thankfully developed by Codos (ie, the Gollops and Steven Moorhouse, who worked on Apocalypse) it is a massive single/multiplayer game with three distinct races and huge emphasis on strategy. It is allready getting rave reviews so thankfully it looks liek there is still a little life in the series .

So to recap :

Rebelstar Raiders > Rebelstar > Rebelstar 2 > Laser Squad > X-com Series

There now, don’t we feel educated?

I’m now going to totally throw you off track by going back nearly 15 years and talking about Rebelstar 2 – don’t yer just love it?

Rebelstar 2 held much more appeal for me than the first game, probably because the idea of fighting wave upon wave of gieger-esque aliens appeals to me more than destroying tin-can robots. The game centers around the increasing threat of an alien race on a distant planet, and your squad of space marines have been sent to deal with them. The game is simplicity itself right from the start, equip each of your agents with a weapon (anything from a lightsaber to huge photon guns) and use your remaining TUs (point which dictate what each unit can do each turn) to either move across the map or attack your enemies. The aliens themselves are diverse and interesting – from hulking warriors to tentacled water dwellers, the map are well designed and quite large considering when the game ws released (I particularly like cutting through those alien vines on the first level ).

For those who have played later Gollop games it will all be very familiar and no doubt highly enjoyable. I have also included the 2 player version of the game, meaning if you want you and a friend can take eachother on – you can even do it by email if you save the snapshot after eachothers turn and send it back and forth.

Simply a superb game that was way ahead of its time. Bags of gameplay and enjoyment to be had from it (pulling off a driect hit from one side of the map to the other with the photon just feels great =)) and the game is very replayable.

I highly recommend this one, two thumbs up n stuff!

A very professional conversion of the classic board game of the same name.

A new section of the galaxy to explore, new aliens to meet, and the chance to kick a few blobby Spemin butts – if you like Starflight 1 your gonna love this game (if you didn’t like Starflight 1 then I demand you get off my site now.)

So is Starflight 1 better than Starflight 2? The answer is Yes and No

Yes in that its a bigger game that has better graphics and sound. And of course that it gives the people who like the first game another Starflight fix. Also the plot is just as imaginative as the first game, maybe even more so.

No in that the game doesn’t seem to have the same “magic” as the first one did. Maybe it’s just the fact that the game isn’t a new experience any more, at least to me (the first time I played Starflight 1 it just blew me away.)

That aside tho, there is still plenty of new things to discover, including many new and varied alien races – the terminally depressed Dweenie being my favourite – I just find them hilarious for some reason. Also the idea to change the Spemin from cowardly little “whipping-blobs” into a massively powerfull race is a masterstroke, as are the “time travel” parts of the game – but I dont want to give away too much, like I said before the beauty of Starflight is discovering things for yourself.

Important Info:

Type in the code 34789 to bypass the copy protection.

You may have problems running this game on a newer computer system because the game relies so heavily on clock speeds. I have tried to compile as much info. on getting the Starflight games working (document is available above), but if that doesn’t help you then try the Interstel Comm Centre (link at the bottom of the screen) a great Starflight forum.

I remember playing this many years ago on my Atari ST (great computer ). Dungeon master is a real time, first person RPG, really easy to get into to very difficult to master. Whe it comes to writing a review for DM I’m hesitant to say the least, because i’m not quite sure that I can do the game justice (i’ve read about 6 reviews by other people for inspiration, so you may see some smiliarities to them popping up).

But here goes

The Story:

“As the story unfolds, your master, the Grey Lord, was seeking the Power Gem. Through dark experiments he finally gained what he saught, or so he believed. What he wasn’t prepared for was the incredible power of the Magicks involved; he rends himself in two and tears the world apart. The Grey Lord now exists as two distinct entities. One of these forces, Lord Chaos, has taken it upon himself to bring the world under his iron grip, while the opposing life force Lord Librasulus has come to you to help restore order.

Various attempts have been made to bring down Lord Chaos; all have failed. The doomed heroes who attempted this task were have been within the “Hall of Champions.” In a last ditch effort your master has awakened your life force to rescue four heroes and lead them against the Darkness. It is up to you to enter the Hall, revive four champions and lead them into the depths of the dungeon, to find the Firestaff, the one object with the power to defeat Chaos and restore order”

As I said before DM is very easy to get into. At the beginning of the game you must choose your party of adventurers by clicking on portraits in the Hall of Champions, once you have a combination that you are happy with it’s off on your quest. While in the dungeon it is important to remember the basics – food and water are essential, carrying too much equiptment will make you fatigued and unable to function effectively, basic stuff reallt

As your quest progresses you gain experience points for each monster you defeat (it’s a dungeon, of course there are monsters). Once you have enough experience points you gain a level in an of four classes – ninja, fighter, priest and wizard. The great thing is that each character is not limited to one class only, so one of your party can be a level 1 wizard and a level 4 fighter.

The equiptment you find in the dungeon also has different benefits depending on class or skill. So a certain sword be cause more damage in the hands of a high level ninja than anyone else. It really makes the game more interesting.

One thing that really stands out about the game is the magic (sorry, magick) system. Each spell is composed of upto four symbols or runes – a power symbol which determines how powerful the spell is and how much mana it will use up, an elemental symbol, and an action symbol. It means that you get to experiment with differnt combinations of runes and that you can attempt to cast any spell at any time, all that will happen if it is too powerful is that the words “need more practice” will flash up on the screen. It’s a great system it adds a whole new level to the game.

I want to wrap this up so i’ll just quickly mention the games intuitive interface, interesting monsters, huge range of weaponry and equiptment. It’s a great game folks and if you have even the slightest interest in dungeon RPGs then you must give Dungeon Master a try.

Bukodan is a Fighting Game from 1989 that i would say is one of the overall funnest fighting games i have ever played. It has Sublime features that really prove that the original concepts of 80′s videogames lead to much funner games than the current Shoot Em Up’s.

In Bukoden you play the role of a martial arts student. The point of the game is to win the Martial arts tournament called Bukodan (Funny that =D). In this tournament, Completly Different Martial arts can be used by different combatents against each other. However, what makes bukodan really interesting is that u can use 4 different martial arts. The martial arts avaliable are Karate (Unarmed), Kendo (Long sword-like sticks), Nunchaku (Nunchuks – 2 small sticks linked together by a chain) and Bo (Staff combat). There are 4 different dojos, one for each form of martial art, where u can practice moves without an opponent to work out moves, or against a AI simulant, which at Shodan level is sometimes hard to beat. There is also a Sparring Mat, where you can fight against the computer with him using a different art from you, our your friend by sharing a keyboard. The Bukodan is very challenging. You are only allowed to use each martial art 4 times in the tournament, so you must be good at all 4 styles to stand a chance. They do not all use Styles you can use either..

Graphics are good for 1989, with large,clear sprites and fluid animation (if you dont button bash). Controlling and fighting with the charecture u are is easy, with button bashing avaliable but it will always lose to skillful blocking and attacking the enemies unguarded area. Sound, well, there was no sound for me, due to me having sound card incompatibility troubles.

The game does have flaws that would definatly make it better – Allowing You to pick another charecture for multi so u dont get confused would be my major grip, and a more even fighting system (i found karate to be too weak againt the others) would improve gameplay, but overall a very good example of the great games of old.

Bubble Bobble has to be one of the most well known arcade games ever made. I remember playing this on Nintendo when I was about 11! I spent hours and hours on it, lets just say my neighbours were glad to see the back of me once that game was done

Bubble Bobble is about Bub and Bob, two adorable little bubble dragons/dinosaurs (depending on who’s opinion you follow, for this review, we’ll say “dragonsaurs” ). Of course they weren’t always bubble dragonsaurs, they were turned that way by naughty wizards. Bub and Bob’s girlfriends have been taken, and in this game they must rescue them from the baddie, who is called Hyper Drunk (yes, strange I know). In order to do this, they have to travel through 100 levels to the underground.

Each level has enemies, and the trick is to trap them in the bubbles. When you get them trapped in the bubble the bubbles float up, then you run and pop the bubbles. When the bubbles are popped out comes fruit and other assorted items which you collect in order to increase your score. This isn’t the entire game though, as when you get up to the higher levels, the enemies get faster and smarter, and also increase in numbers.

There are bonuses to collect, that can increase your bubble shooting speed etc, and also letters. If you spell certain words you can gain an extra life etc.

Bubble Bobble had great graphics. Totally cute! Bub and Bob are cute little dragonsaurs, and even the enemies are cute. It’s a cool looking game, very appealing to the eye. Bubble Bobble certainly has that ol’ arcade charm.

The Bubble Bobble tune can get on your nerves, as it’s the same tune throughout the game. But, if you love the tune like I do, then you shouldn’t have any problems.

Bubble Bobble multiplayer totally kicks arse! I don’t know if the PC version has multiplayer (it should do), but you sure can play it that way on the NES, PSX, or other console you can get it on. If you do find you love this game, and its only one player, then think about getting it for a console, you’ll have hours and hours of fun!!

This is an excellent game! If you can find it in an arcade somewhere, then have a play. That’s the best way to play Bubble Bobble!

Based on the popular (french ) comic book series of the same game, you play the super-strong Asterix – saviour of the Gauls and scourge of the Roman Empire.

Asterix owes his super strength to a special drink brewed by the tribe’s druid Getafix (get it?) who has unfortuantely developed amnesia resulting from a freak giant-friggin-rock-hits-druid-in-the-head-and-causes- him-to-lose-his-memory accident. It is up to you to seek out and gather various ingredients in the hope of finding a cure for Getafix.

The game itself is a sort of action-adventure mix… ok, more action than adventure but there is still some adventure style probelm solving involved here. The game controls are slightly ropey and not as repsonsive as i’d like them to be at times but this doesn’t detract from the game too much. One thing that did always bring a smile to my face while playing this game were the animations. From the rather amusing intro to what happens when Getafix tries out another potion – they are all very nicely done

Overall a chraming and fun game, maybe one to let the young ‘uns play.

Afterburner is an arcade air combat game (I refuse to use the word “simulator” because if planes were this easy to fly i’d have carpet bombed anyone who looked at me funny by now).

You fly a plane, your enemies fly planes. You will shoot at them, they will shoot at you. There’s really now a whole hell of a lot to it than that.

Just don’t get killed and shoot lots of bad guys, you’ll do fine

I can remember playing this game many years ago on the SEGA Megadrive (Genesis machine for you yanks). I can’t say i’m really a big fan of sub games or simulations in general but I found 688 attack sub to be a very playable and enjoyable game.

The plot is simple fare, you are the captain of either an American or Soviet sub and must play through a series of increasingly difficult missions. Graphics-wise the game was quite good for it’s time, some of the fractal effects especialy were impressive. Those who like to tplay things at a slow, tactical pace will especialy like the game, and with many ways to complete each mission it’s likely that you will through the game again when you finish it.

Overall an enjoyable game, although maybe not one that will appeal to everyone.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes. Undeniably the most famous detective ever (fictional of course)! His pipe and hat are the first thing that comes to mind when I think of him. I loved the books along with many other mystery novels. There is something about that era in history where mystery fits in perfectly. The quiet dim dark misty London streets are the perfect setting for a crime, and a supercool detective to solve them.

This game was great for its time. It bought together 30 cases for a super-sleuth such as yourself to solve, with the cases being fun and offering a variety of challenges. You make your way around the city stopping in at various locations, questioning people and finding clues. I guess it’s a bit like Cluedo, you have to figure out suspects, motives and weapons etc.

The locations in London are pretty cool, and fit the theme nicely. There are the shipyards, museum, pawnbrokers and pub to name a few. When you enter the buildings, you go into a bigger room where you can do your detective work.

Then when you think you are ready to solve the crime you venture back to 221B Baker Street and take a test. But, there is much more to the game then merely wandering around solving crime. You have to get your Scotland Yard badge before you can take the test at 221B Baker Street. If you fail the test, then shame on you! You probably did not take enough time and interrogate enough people

You can encrypt clues to make the game harder, but I guess that once you have played it about 10x through encryption just won’t do you much good. But it does make the game a lot harder.

Overall, I enjoyed the game. I got a bit bored as the characters and the board never really changed, but it was still a lot of fun While nowadays they could probably make a really cool version of this game, this was a classic and I would play it again. * Gives a thumbs up *