The Game Over(view) Freestyle Jam has been much talked about here over the past few months. Firstly, because of its noble aims; simply to see new games produced and released for the humble Commodore 64, and secondly, because it was offering a cash prize of $1,000 Australian Dollars, which, no matter how you look at it, is a large amount of money to develop a C64 game, especially considering the amount of coding material available online, and the ease at which you can cross assemble and test your code, thanks to the opportunities left open by the world of emulation.

And the final outcome of the competition? Sadly, there were only six entrants, but was it a case of quality over quantity? Let's find out.

Previous Next

This game is by Richard Bayliss, and is typical of his work. The task in hand is to guide the diver down to the seabed to collect the treasure. You have a time limit in which to retrieve each item, but your task is complicated by the passing deadly fish. Navigating past them is a question of timing and reactions, and once reaching the bottom, you must guide your nautical plunderer back to the top to catch his breath.

The concept is quite simple, and something that has frankly been done to death, which is a double-edged sword. Get it right, and you have a game that's a lot of fun, but sadly this is a lacklustre affair which barely brings C64 gaming out of its early days. It's not all bad, but something with a little more depth wouldn't have gone a miss.

Previous Next

Aleksi Eeben's Green Runner shows exactly how to redo an aged concept. Based on Atari's classic Centipede, this game is almost Minteresque in execution. Opening with some superb sampled speech, declaring "This is the voice of the Green Runner", your task is simply to blast as many bugs as possible. The gameplay is smooth and frantic, and the sampled speech throughout is clear and crisp, while the background music can add a sense of urgency to the proceedings.

Essentially, this is a simple reaction game, but one that is a whole lot of fun. It feels very refreshing, even if it's one of those blasters where you don't switch off the auto-fire on your joystick. Definitely more of the same please!

Previous Next

One on one beat-'em-ups have always had their fans, from Way Of The Exploding Fist through to IK+ and to Street Fighter II, beating up your buddy or taking on a computer-controlled opponent is usually a good basis for a game.

Cache 64's Battle Throne is a rather polished production. Its backdrops beautifully drawn, the music catches your ear quickly, and it is well presented throughout. Where it falls down is in gameplay. Although some thought has been put into it, as you have points to spend on your warrior's strength, agility and health, as well as your armour and weapon, controls feel a tad sluggish, and the computer-controlled foe has an edge over you and seems able to read your attacking movement - that's when they're executed when you want them to happen.

A little more work on the game engine, and this could be a Barbarian II beater; at present, it's a reasonable attempt at a 2D fighting game.

At the moment, Shaun's money is on Green Runner to win the Game Over(view) Freestyle Jam, but with three more games to look at, it could be a close finish. The concluding part will appear next week.