Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!!

Okay, I needed an egg-related game for Easter which usually means Dizzy or perhaps even Chuckie Egg 2 (Nah, I'll never play that terrible game again!). So, here is Heartland released in 1996 by Tony Greenwood of Stosser Software and later improved for the Atari STe by TOS-Crew with 50fps STe-scrolling. Fantastic stuff!!

That's right, the original was good but they supersized it for the Atari STe. Something I always love to hear...

Hey, what's Dizzy doing here in the land of whizzy scrolling!

Eggcellent!

This is a cracking (sorry) platformer but I admit that I struggled to fully grasp it due to the sheer size of its map. This is a big game and something you either play properly or not at all - unless you enjoy running around for a few minutes just to enjoy the smooth 50fps scrolling whilst listening to the DMA sounds burping out through the speakers?

This is a great upgrade and I enjoyed the graphics whizzing across my screen like silk that completes the experience. However, I wasn't so sure about the music as I prefer chip. Okay, let's take a look at the keys:

Move using the cursor key's: left & right

space: jump (or use the joystick or JagPad)

m: map

r: show processor time left rasters

s: toggle sample (STE, Falcon), sound chip, effects and no-sound

Esc: quit the game

c: to toggle between sizzy and sazzy

h: toggle 50/60 Hz (ST, STE only), on 8 MHz machines

Woo, this map is confusing at first. And boy, is this game big. Perhaps too big?

Play it

Okay, it's the same game we all enjoy and aesthetics never matter much to the actual gameplay but, I must admit, they sure are nice to have. TOS-Crew has taken a good game and made it even better with proper scrolling that slides across the monitor like never before. I think this will help you to enjoy Heartland more than ever.

This sure proves the power of the Atari STe which the commercial gaming world chose to ignore. What a wonderful upgrade. In fact, I wish there were more Atari STe upgraded games - congrats @TOS-Crew for going that extra mile!! Grab the floppies or a hard disk installable version and I hope you all have a great Easter †