Eye Of Horus

Walk like an Egyptian...

I've been trolling through my old videos and found Logotron's Eye of Horus. I remember this platformer thanks to its confusing labyrinths and peculiar enemies. I was impressed, but oddly, left feeling a little cold. Sure, it looks, sounds and plays great, but it has relentless enemies. Kinda like Black Lamp in this respect.

We are the hawk-headed God, Horus, a good fella for the ancient Egyptians. Our task is to explore the labyrinths of Osiris' burial chamber because he was murdered by Set, who scattered his body parts. We need to collect them and rebuild him. It sounds cool and quite gross, but it's time that I revisited this peculiar platformer for a second go. (And now that I'm thinking about Osiris, I need to rewatch Stargate SG-1 !!)

Let's waste no time talking, and get him rebuilt like the six-million-dollar mummy...

Eye of Horus nails the ancient Egyptian theme perfectly, using awesome visuals.

Hard as nails

I can see why I originally felt overwhelmed: the level design is confusing, and it's not helped by the repetitive backgrounds. The mechanics behind the elevators/coloured keys are unnecessarily rubbish, plus I think that there are far too many amulets. All enemies are unique, and it's peculiarly funny when the fixtures and fittings begin wobbling in anger. At least our demigod is armed with a paper gun! No, really, we are lol

The ancient tomb is massive and contains many monsters and traps. Heck, even the background decor appears angry and reactive to our presence. So finding all the body parts won't be easy. Thankfully, being a demigod means we can morph into a hawk, even if birds don't have hands to carry things... Keys and Amulets can be used to operate particular elevators that summon other so-called gods.

Sounds rather strange yet uniquely intriguing? Well, at least the graphics suit the theme...

If ever there was a Stargate game, years before the show, this is it!!

Aesthetics

Graphically, it's gorgeous and reminds me of what a Stargate game might have looked like. It reminds me of Death Trap and the intro whiffs of Ice Palace. Anyhow, the scrolling is super-smooth with gorgeous animations, and the hieroglyphic backgrounds are stunning. A lot of love went into its pixel design.

Sound effects are zesty and accompanied by gorgeous Whittaker music. Not his best, but still good.

The CryptO'pinion?

This is a cunning platformer, and I loved exploring the tomb, but the ability to flip into a hawk is a genius move, albeit with its own restrictions. Just have a pen and paper ready to make a map (until the right amulet is found). The only way you're gonna enjoy this game is if you are willing to put in the hours (geddit?)

Otherwise, don't bother because this platformer demands your time and respect. I hope you play it.

• Budding Daniel Jackson wannabes can download Eye of Horus for floppy or hard drive.
• Don't play without a pen and paper...
• Unless you're willing to endure the pain of viewing maps on an Amiga website? :^)

Strider

Ugh, a lame Amiga port?

I remember reading the review for Strider in ST Format, which basically said it was great. Although the ST version had smaller sprites, the gameplay was faster and better... I foolishly believed them and wasted my cash on a game I could not play. This was nothing more than a terrible Tiertex port, I thought!! I absolutely hated ST Format for making me waste so much of my precious pocket money. Also, I recently gave it a silly mention, but wasn't too kind when remembering its eye-popping scrolling and ridiculous difficulty.

Since then, I've mellowed. I have come to realise that my gaming skills suck (there's a shocker). But I figured I should give it another go. And you know what, I think I'm not only older, but also a lot wiser. Anyhow, almost three decades have passed since I last played this game, so let's see what I think of Strider today.

Before we begin, here's a screenshot of the opening of this wonderful arcade platformer...

The first level is uniquely Ruskie. It's the place where you'll learn to use that swoosh!

Me, wrong? Never!

Well, after several games, I still found it extremely difficult and failed to beat the first boss - a Flash Gordon wannabe. But the game was brilliantly playable, and, eventually, I beat him!! I was ecstatic, but just then, fire rained down and halted my cries of joy. Thankfully, I beat him on my second attempt and proceeded to a wacky level that I absolutely enjoyed, but I wish it were larger. Sadly, no matter how much I tried, I couldn't beat the next boss, so that was that, and I gave up [first part of my video recording]

For some reason, the next day I felt brave and booted up Strider once again, only to enjoy my greatest success. Heck, I even beat the worm thingy and made it onto the following stage, which I've never seen before. This was becoming exciting, and I wondered how a younger me missed this!! Okay, this level starts great with big cats that wanted to eat me before a giant mechanical creature thing tried its luck. Banging on the fire button proved profitable, and I beat him easily, but I died later by a circular saw which came outta nowhere. Quite unfair as it's impossible to see it approaching off-screen. [second part of my video recording]

How time flies and can change the perception of things. Games being one! Check this out...

That swoosh is absolutely superb, as are the enormous monsters. Love it!!

Aesthetics

Graphically, Strider is beautiful. From the start, it looks the part, and I think they did a cracking job of converting the arcade backdrops to the lower resolution. The sprites are just freaking incredible - they all look impressive, and some are huge. This is a beautiful game, but something had to give for all that glam. That means we have a slightly reduced play area, and the scrolling isn't nearly as smooth as it should be. Don't get me wrong, the scrolling is good and works well, but dies alongside other ST games, like Turrican.

The audio is tremendous, I love the tunes which are apt for this conversion. From the start, I was hooked. Just click on the green arrow below to see what I mean. The effects aren't massive in quantity, but who doesn't enjoy swooshing through each level? Yes, I love that swoosh lol. I think they did a great job all around.

Before I give my opinion, this needs to be said: Dear ST Format, I've hated your review for years, but today I hold my hands up!! After all these years, you were correct, so forgive me. I shall blame my original opinion on my joystick skills ;p

The CryptO'pinion?

Strider is superb, so now I'm tempted to whack on the trainer and play through to the end. Okay, the scrolling could have been a bit better, but the gameplay is furious and makes the Amiga version look dull as dishwater. Strider is sleek and bucketloads of fun, so don't be a fool and load it up. You'll love it!

• Klaz has a spiced-up version for floppy & hard drives (including an option for faster play)

Aaargh!

Aaargh?

Sometimes, I don't want to play a life-sucking adventure or learn the ins and outs of some RPG. Sometimes, I just wanna smash up stuff and then feast on many annoying human beings. Well, today I loaded Aaargh, by Melbourne House. It's basically Rampage, and we can be a giant ogre or a fire-breathing dragon.

Destroy buildings, kill attacking critters, eat stupid humans, and then collect an egg trophy. Watch out for the angry yocals and dangerous critters, so conserve energy by eating what you find - like tasty humans!! Once you have the egg, it's time for a battle with a beastie opponent before plundering the next village.

The controls are a little clumsy because our beastie must be facing in the right direction to pick up items and perform attack moves. Sadly, we can be knocked to the ground too easily, which is frustrating when waiting for him to get up (and that gives other nasties more than enough time to creep up on you once again).

It's not Rampage, but it's still fun for an hour or two. And who doesn't enjoy burning homes to the ground before eating the angry villagers? Aaargh! might be utter rubbish, but I actually enjoyed it. And I enjoyed it a bunch!! Of course, I'm mad, but it's great fun being mad, so play this ridiculous game now. You'll love it.

Download the floppies from Atari Legend, and the hard drive game from 8BitChip.

I found this screen pretty awkward to walk around.

This is a great level, and nothing is better than killing the native peasants!!

Oh no, this looks scary. Love that face in the rock!

Rainbow!!

I've just been laughing my ST socks off at my oldest video recording on YouTube. Rainbow might not mean much to those around the globe but, here in dear old Blighty, it was one of the most popular children's TV shows for about 25 years. I miss Zippy! Enjoy this amazing demo that pushes the Atari STe to its limits.

Erm, honest... Anyhow, it's still great to watch. Insane, more like!! :D

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