Have you ever spent time trying to learn a game only to walk away completely baffled and wondering why you bothered? Well, here is Dragon Lord, an extremely unusual multi-screen platformer released in 1990 by 16-32 Diffusion. We are playing the part of a huge dragon who appears to be living in a whole wide world of weird! The objective is to become the new dragon lord which means plundering through over a hundred screens looking for artefacts, killing some fascinating creatures and ultimately battling an evil guardian.
The gameplay is simplistic thus easy to pick up and it's fun breathing fire to scorch enemies. I found the map design laborious and would often end up getting lost so I spent my time burning down the bad guys!! However, the controls are clumsy because we are a massive dragon sprite moving around tight places.
The visuals are quite (ahem) unique. Pretty amateur artwork that looks like it was created by somebody with colour blindness. Ignoring that graphical nightmare, Dragon Lord’s sprites are massive and of a great and humorous variety! Sadly the sound effects are pretty much a joke; the less said the better!
I am disappointed with Dragonlord as I can see the potential but it doesn’t gel together. It has poor mechanics and the eye-bleeding graphics spoil what could have been an interesting idea. Having said that, I found myself having “just one more go” yet I cannot for the life of me think why. Perhaps I'm going mad?
Fancy plucking out your eyeballs in horror? Then get the download at Atari Legend.
Microdeal released Time Bandit in 1985, ranking as one of the first Atari ST games. Programmed by Bill Dunlevy, long before any developers knew how to push our 16-bit computer. However, my first impressions weren't good, as I felt this was a cheap Gauntlet ripoff. I continued to play until my sanity returned.
Ignore my foolish first impressions because I fear there might be a funky game lurking behind those old 8bit visuals. Fwiw, Time Bandit was released for the TRS-80 a couple of years before Gauntlet.
We begin in The Timegates, a place that permits access to numerous strange worlds, each completely different. These range from ancient Egypt to a bomb-making factory and other weird surprises - like Pac-Man land. They have their own style and objectives with gameplay reminiscent of Gauntlet, to a degree.
For each world, the exit is blocked, so we need to find the key(s) or complete tasks to escape. Interestingly, each world can be played again for an increased level of difficulty and fascinating design changes all of which keep the gameplay interesting and progressively challenging. Battles are fought using a rocket launcher and, best of all, you've been blessed with unlimited ammo too!! Very nice and that suits me just dandy.
Time Bandit is a cracker with many interesting levels to plunder that offer a unique charm. It might look like Gauntlet but it's very different and offers its own styles to become a true Atari ST classic.
Yes, I said that for a 1985 game. This is truly one of the best Atari ST games.
Budding time lords should download this game for either floppy or the superb hard disk version!!
- Sixteen whacky worlds -
Underworld Arena has many spectators and Darkside Dare is incredibly odd with unexpected twists.
Castle Greymoon is one of my favourite levels as is the dingy Excalibur spaceship!
Shadowland? Nah this is a Pacman ripoff lol. Welkin Island looks rubbish but is very cool.
Omega Complex, one vowel off being blocked. The Sentinel reminded me a little of Tutankhamun.
Gridville appears to have rude tomatoes but Hotel California allows us to play as John Wayne!!
Watch out for strange aliens in Major Hazard but the Old Bomb Factory takes that to another level!!
Cheops' Curse offers more than you think but there's a spooky graveyard in Ghost Town.
Guardian is tough even on the first attempt. Watch out for the creepy crawlies in King's Crown.
