StarRay

The Atari ST cannot scroll

Logotron's StarRay is a Defender wannabe developed by a trio of incredible talent. It's something I boot up whenever I need to kill a few mins after a dreadful day at work! Of course, this was programmed by Steve Bak. A legend who always knew how to get the best from the Atari ST without resorting to lame excuses.

Aesthetically, it's fantastic and complements the gameplay perfectly. Pete Lyon designed what you see, and it's glorious. From the moment you see the futuristic Monument Valley, you're in love with it. David Whittaker created all of the jaw-dropping funk (that changes to sampled music with more RAM, but I prefer chiptunes).

StarRay is a blummin' awesome shooter and tons of fun. It boosts the original format with its own brand of gameplay style - plus beautiful sounds and multilayer parallax visuals. This is how all retro gaming should be! The perfect shooter if you are bored and fancy some frantic mayhem in your life. Play StarRay!

Take to the skies, then download either the floppy disk or use your hard drive.

Overdrive

NFS

Feeling the need for speed, I booted up Overdrive by Ross McNaughton, which he developed in 1996 using STOS. It's an overhead racer similar to Super Cars or Power Up and features 25 GEM-green tracks. Yes, green. Okay, I know that grass is green and so is our desktop, but ugh, green. Too much!

Anyhow, after listening to the horrendous title music [nails on a blackboard], you're asked for your initials before viewing a diagram of the first track (I'm being mean there because it's FAR better on an Atari STe with clear stereo playback). Okay, the physics are pretty dodgy, but controls are easy to learn, so it's not long before you're tearing up the asphalt. However, that's about as deep as it gets because your opponents are like Sunday drivers! Plus, there are no differing road surfaces, weather conditions, car repairs, etc...

I'm probably being harsh because Overdrive isn't commercial, and there is a level of fun to be had. Sadly, it's too easy, so it gets repetitive, and that green colour hurts the eyes. It's not long before things feel monotonous. Hence why I abruptly ended my recording. It's enjoyable for a few minutes, but nothing more.

Go on!! I dare ya to download Overdrive and play it. Let me know what you think!

Crash Time Plumber (longplay recording)

Update: Read the review featurette about this stunning game!!

Crash Time Plumber is an astounding platformer, but I struggled to beat level 6 with my joystick skills. So that meant there was only one thing left to do - cheat! The later levels are killers!! Even with a cheat, all I would do is die-die-die!! Eventually, I did it for my recording. I dare anyone to complete it without extra lives...

This is definitely one of my favourite platformers. It's nothing less than infuriatingly awesome!!

Insecticide

This game is bug-ridden!

This game feels familiar, but this time we're a ladybird who kills insects with her Spit Laser weapon! Yep, Insecticide is a Robotron-inspired shoot 'em up by Peter Hague where each screen is littered with two types of critters for us to destroy: those that move (kill 'em quickly) and the sleepy ones that offer extra points or bonuses. Controls are easy in four directions, plus a diagonal flying manoeuvre for quick motion.

Shooting the moth, which dallies at the top of your screen, gains extra speed - but only for the current level. Weirdly, you shall hear "Nairobi" when you kill it, but this makes sense once you've read the docs. I know, who reads the docs? Every eighth level, a "parent" turns up for a battle, which makes a nice boss fight that isn't too difficult. This doesn't ruin your momentum, so you're soon fighting the insect horde once again.

I seriously doubt that Llamatron fans will be convinced by Insecticide. However, this is a fantastic game in its own right and definitely worth playing. What it lacks in originality it more than makes up for with great gameplay, jazzy colour cycling and sampled sounds. I've enjoyed this silly alternative to the Robotron theme.

One final word to make you play this fantastic game: Nairobi!!!!!

Download the newly updated version of Insecticide released yesterday :-)

Ironically, it's had many bugs squashed so fine on all computers [thanks PP!!]