There's nothing better than blasting cannonballs at enemy kingdoms after a soul-crushing day at work. Today was that day! I needed a few games of artillery mayhem in Ballerburg as this is one of my favourite Atari ST games. I first played it long before I could afford a high-resolution monitor but it was still playable in "emulation". In fact, this isn't the first time I've featured this fantastic game so click here for more.
Are there any fans out there? Let me know in the comments below...
* The download is available on Eckhard Kruse's website. Along with a rather potty horror-demo!! * Try MonoPack if you don't have a mono monitor, it's great and can even use the Blitter.
Sometimes I need a break from the norm... So, over the last few days, I've been having a 'fumble' through my entire collection of Menu Disks. Whilst I've got the usual run-of-the-mill stuff like Automation, Pompey Pirates, etc... I also found a few disks which I'd never seen before. Or possibly my old man memory had just been forgotten?
Anyhow, here's the menu from one such disk - Menu #01 by The Conceptors. I genuinely haven't heard of this group but I must admit, this is one sexy intro using overscan and the music is outstanding. Oddly, I never hit a key to play any of the games. Which is peculiar for a guy running an Atari ST gaming website lol
YouTube is nice but nothing beats seeing this on a real Atari ST... [Demozoo download]
TecnoballZ was published in 1991 by TLK Game and is a Breakout conversion developed by Pierre Denis. Oddly, I had never heard of this game until a good friend happened to mention it a few weeks ago (thanks Paul). Sadly, I have no idea whether it was ever officially released over here in the UK. Does anyone know?
Okay, we all love a quick blast of Breakout/Arkanoid now and then; olde classics have stood the test of time for a reason. I would say Arkanoid is the most well-known, unless you're an ST guy then it's perhaps Bolo. I'm always open to an alternative, especially when it's an Atari ST game I have never played before!!
Okay, let's take a look at a screenshot with its strange colour scheme and... erm... something else...
Here, I held onto the ball whilst blasting the bricks with a weird laser weapon. Sweet!!
It's 1976 all over again?
The first thing that struck me was the overscan for a larger display. The brick-busting gameplay remains much the same. Each screen has a different collection of blocks that must be cleared using your bat and ball and, with each hit, points are earned with a chance of spawning cash, power-ups and sometimes enemies.
The mouse controls are great; precise and accurate as you would hope. However, it isn't long until you realise the physics is 'different' as the ball often doesn't react as expected. Manipulating strikes using the different parts of the bat doesn't work and might even force the ball to bounce in a different direction! That means it's tough finishing a level when only a few blocks remain! (there's a power-up in the shop to help with this)
Yep, a shop pops up after each level to offer goodies like extra lives, a bigger bat, weaponry, etc. It's possible to install extra bats on the remaining three sides of your screen! I like surprises like this plus that silly idea reminded me of the chaos I suffered in Wacko Software's Video Games I. Innovation like this keeps the player interested which is how I managed to clear several levels and defeated a couple of bosses!
Check out my power-up pads on all 4-sides of the play area. It's mental!
Over-what?
Graphically, I like Tecnoball as it's futuristic in style and different from the original our Dads used to play ;-) Overscan has been used to great effect and provides a better experience, more arcade-like because of the extra screen space? The use of colour is good and everything feels smooth but I thought the blocks themselves lacked a bit of pizzazz? Sometimes I did wonder what they were thinking with the choice of colours.
Hey, see how I've not mentioned the guy in the status panel who freaks me out. Darn, I just did...
The effects are great with samples for the 'dinks' but there is no in-game chip music so it's almost as quiet as the original. Even worse, there's no theme tune for the title screen which I found very disappointing.
This is the first boss screen and oddly, it features no blocks!
The CryptO'pinion?
This is a fun take on the original but the physics are peculiar which acts as a "bug". At one stage, the ball hits an enemy (at the top of the screen) which then ricochets it sideways. The call began bouncing from left-to-right, in a perfectly straight line. Weirdly, that continued for about 30 seconds!! Luckily, it hit a wandering enemy that changed its trajectory so I could carry on playing. Not very good, I'm sure you'll agree?
Having said that, this is still a good game and I enjoyed ploughing through the levels. The addition of a shop works well to provide a variety of extra features that helped improve the game massively. Give it and try and see how it compares to your favourite version of Breakout? Let me know in the comments below.
Download the Cobra #27 menu disc from Atari Legend.
Gotta love the artwork and even this Game Over screen is in overscan.
