19th July 2012
Shaun has been playing 8-bit games again... Well, it's a tough job but someone has to do it...
Retro: Keep Out
Steve McCrea has released his latest game for the Commodore VIC-20 + 3K RAM expander. It's a fast-paced 2D bat and ball game called Kweepout, which Steve describes as being somewhere between Atari's seminal 1976 classic Breakout, and Arkanoid, which was released into arcades in 1986 by Taito Corporation.
Kweepout tells the story of the year 6502 AD, in which the evil Kweepoids have formed a blockade on all of the space lanes in the intergalactic superhighway.
Many travellers and commuters are rather upset about this, as the usual roadworks are bad enough.
In order to solve the problem, one bat has been bred with the purpose of clearing these essential links by obliterating all of the malevolent Kweepoids.
This is a cute take on the brick-bashing concept, with your bat ever smiling while the Kweepoids themselves look slightly angry. There are the various upgrades, such as a stretched bat and firepower, but these are limited in time or number, and there's no obvious way to control the directional bounce of the ball, which can mean that some levels take a while longer to finish than they should. Overall, though, this is a fun game created by one of the master developers for the aged technology.
The game is a PRG file, meaning that it will work with good emulators and can be transferred to work with a real VIC-20. This is downloadable from tinyurl.com/kweepout-vic (you're directed to the file, so use the 'Save' or 'Save as' option), while some of Steve's other works are available through his website at www.kweepa.com.
Green Runner
Aleksi Eeben's highly acclaimed psychedelic Commodore 64 games Green Runner and Red Runner, which were released in 2006 and 2007 respectively, are soon to be released on cassette tape and 5.25" disk (by Psytronik Software), and on cartridge (by RGCD)
Both games are 2D arcade blasters based on Atari's classic Centipede, which was released back in 1980, but are Jeff Minter-like in presentation and style.
Both titles feature superb sampled speech and excellent music, with 100 levels [each] of frantic and frenetic bug blasting action. Power-ups include apples and booze, while fish bones and rocks should be avoided. One thing I like about this game is that it's pretty relentless and doesn't give you much time to think. Even when you complete one level, the action continues to the next.
The cartridge edition works with all models of the C64 including the GS, and comes complete with deluxe colour packaging for £25 including postage within Europe (add an extra 1 for the rest of the world) and are available to order from www.rgcd.co.uk, whereas the tape and disk games start from just £4.99 plus postage (more for the premium edition), and may be ordered from www.psytronik.net.
Game Of The Week: Egghead In Space
Platform: Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48/128K
Developers: Jonathan Cauldwell, Tommy Barreira Pereira.
Publisher: Cronosoft - www.cronosoft.co.uk
Jonathan Cauldwell's Egghead In Space is the third in the series featuring the popular oval hero, and although this was released back in 2002, it's still one of Cronosoft's best sellers.
Our hero, Egghead, has had his favourite Spectrum games abducted by an advanced alien race. Just before they head back to the planet Zog, the 'dairy-devil' hero scrambles aboard their space craft with a cunning plan to retrieve his entertainment software. Your task is to guide him around the vast labyrinth, solving various puzzles along the way while skilfully avoiding the roaming nasties. This is a cracking little 2D platform game, which has stood the test of time.
With this title, Jonathan has clearly focused on good old-fashioned playability, which includes a nifty and neat sprite engine, making the most of the limitations presented by the old Speccy. This can be downloaded from the World of Spectrum archives, with the Cronosoft version available to buy on cassette for £2.99 plus postage.
