Sector One Music Disk

Prepare your ears

Sector One is a music disk by Denis Huguet (ST Ghost) that pushes the DMA audio hardware to the limits with stereo tunes - some feature 8/16 channels. It's mindblowing and certainly proves the power lurking underneath the STe's grey plastic case. We also have options to choose the playback frequencies and control the volume, treble, bass, and more. Yep, this is a technical masterpiece, and I love the Just Buggin' tune!!

Brighten up your evening with my recording or download this beauty for yourself!

Special Forces (box art)

Update: once you're done here, check out the Special Forces webpage!!

Yeah, it's box art day!

Look what the postman has delivered: Special Forces!! This is the sequel to Airborn Ranger, released in 1992 by gaming gods MicroProse. I've wanted to own this game for a very long time! So I'm extremely excited and eagerly looking forward to getting my teeth into it over the coming nights - I'll try not to ruin the box. Ha, I am sooooo funny!

Special Forces is an incredible action/strategy game and something that I hope to cover in more detail someday. Until then, you can enjoy the photograph of my own copy - but please, ignore the sexy girl and play this excellent game for yourself. Downloads are available for floppy disk and I recommend FOF #109A/#109B. Play via hard disk if you can!

Wanna see more Atari ST games from my own collection? Of course, you do!! [link]

Additional - I have made a YouTube recording of the unboxing which includes lots of yapping by yours truly. It's a thank you for our generous supporters of AtariCrypt. This was fun but I need a camera stand!! (ask for link)

Frankenstein

Fronkensteen!

I wonder how many got that? Anyhow, let's kick off the new year with cool box art from my collection. I bought Frankenstein for a couple of quid and instantly fell in love with the comical artwork that reminds me of Young Frankenstein. Plus, I don't own anything else by Zeppelin, so it's a sweet addition to my collection.

< Update: I have fully mapped this game. Check it out!! >

Released in 1992, this horror-themed game draws inspiration from a variety of games, including Warlock and Horror Zombies. We're a slave to the bad-tempered doctor who needs several chilling items that should help him regenerate life into a dead corpse. A good twist on the expected storyline, I'm sure you'll agree.

The cover is excellent, let's now take a look at the back of the box and the contents...

Nice style around the back, too, I thought.

Here's the floppy disk. Exciting stuff, right?

And finally, the manual. It's more of a pamphlet that opens out. Not bad, I guess, for a budget game...

Egor - Half man... Half creature... All idiot!

Yes, we are Egor. A fella who, not only has a hump the size of Texas, but is also the doctor's unappreciated lackey. He suffers from the demand to find several gruesome items. To complete this, he needs several oddities, ranging from a pillow to a hanged man's body, which is left abandoned in the woods. Very B-movie!! This is a game all about following orders. Your orders come from the doctor who needs different parts for his "experiment". You're nothing more than a number, so follow his orders and seek everything.

The play area is huge, and you begin in the mad doctor's castle, but we are free to explore everywhere. That includes the dungeons, a spooky forest, and the local village with its creepy morgue. There are many creatures along the way, like spiders, skulls, wolfmen, ghosts, rats and even animated body parts.

Here is an animation that should give an idea of how the game plays...

Climb trees, dodge bats, spiders, zombies and more. A fantastic night out!

Things that go bump in the night

Egor isn't exactly the bravest guy and hates creepy things. There is a fright-o-meter that displays his current state of mind. This ranges from "okay" to "panic" and degrades each time he touches a nasty. Once a blithering wreck, Egor will abandon his belongings and rush back to the Doctor. He loses a life when a 5-ton weight is dropped on him while he’s being verbally abused. And then he gets punched in the face!

Yes, it's a harsh being the servant of Doctor Frankenstein. However, it's rumoured that a young serving wench is the one kind soul who may help to reduce his anxiety issues. Ahem...

No platformer is worth its salt unless the controls are smooth, precise and responsive. It always saddens me when a potentially great platformer has been ruined by bad movement and controls - just look at Chuckie Egg II as a cruel example of how to spoil an 8-bit classic! Thankfully, Egor's walking speed is just right, and he also jumps with effortless ease. What a joy! Spot-on perfect joystick controls, I say.

Just look at that iron maiden and the broken arm hanging in the chains. Superb!

Big tips

This is a simple game at heart; it really is a case of finding items scattered about the rooms. So, why not have a dry run and explore the entire map first, rather than jumping straight in? I would recommend making notes of all item locations, too. So, if you stumble upon something that can be carried, make a note of the location.

For those with even more spare time on their hands, I would recommend the above, but also go a step further. Because of a nasty time limit (I hate timers!!), why not collect as many items as possible that are located only in the most distant places? Bring them over to the doctor's castle and leave as many as you can here.

However, this depends on you having lots of spare time. If not, maybe play something else? ;)

Fancy a cheat? Hmm, it will ruin the game, but if you're sick and tired of getting scared, then enter this code as a high-score “J4Z”. Now start a new game, and you will never get scared!

Watch yourself out there, you're no hero, so keep an eye on the fright-o-meter.

Aesthetics

Graphically, this is a mixed bag for me, as each screen has an extraordinary cartoon-like style, especially in the 'Spooky Forest' with scary trees, ghosts, bats, and funny zombie men. I am constantly amazed by the attention to detail, and throughout, we have excellent animations for all. Hey, I love that Pitchfork guy.

The game uses a push-scrolling technique which is too slow and I feel flick-screen would have been a much better option. It's the only quibble I have because push feels too sluggish.

Sound effects are good but limited to collecting items, bumping into monsters and strange lightning weather. This lightning will get more frequent as you progress, obviously. Towards the end, it's really sinister!

Well, here is my high-score for a game using no cheats. No sir. Honest... (Can you beat it?)

The CryptO'pinion?

This is a cracking platformer with progressively challenging gameplay as you go on the hunt. I adore its spooky theme, and each screen is incredibly detailed without ever becoming impossibly hard. I spent hours exploring its huge map, which constantly reminds me of my 8-Bit days playing games like Chiller, Chuckie Egg 2, etc.

A positively simple platformer that doesn't push the Atari ST, nor does it need to. The gameplay is on top form and great fun, which is what matters. Give it the time it deserves, as this is one of the best platformers.

If this gives you the hump, then grab it on floppy or hard disk!

Merry Christmas

Yule Love This

It's that time when I find something Christmassy from within the Atari ST archives. However, this time I didn't want a game, so I opted for a demo. I think I've found a belter: Xmas '88, which was released by Kenrick Productions. I hope you like this. I find it endearing with cute animations and a few appropriate chiptunes to get you in the festive mood. Merry Christmas, everyone, and I wish you all the very beST †