Destruction Imminent

Who needs a PC?

Destruction Imminent was released in 1996 by Cunning & Devious Games for the Atari ST/e and is a first-person shooter, similar to a typical Wolfenstein clone. In fact, it's incredibly reminiscent of that early 90s era thanks to the familiar look and gameplay styles. Our adventure takes place in a similar environment fighting against evil hoards of enemies. And using a range of familiar weaponry. Let's say this game was inspired?

Before you play - watch the intro play through. It's actually cool and accompanied by gorgeous music as it introduces the monsters we will soon encounter. These are a scary bunch and pretty freaky!!

It's time to stop reading and look at a couple of screenshots of the robots and rock monster...

The robots can be really tough opponents at times.

Rock monster? Hmm, I'll say no more...

Enter the dungeon!

From the start, the atmosphere is predictable with each level plagued by strange creatures - but not to worry because we have weapons ranging from pistols to machine guns, rocket launchers, and plasma rifles. Some of these monsters are oddballs - the Rock Monster is like a crude Daroou from Dungeon Master. He's oddly cute and looks like he's made from gingerbread! Anyhow, kill him and free your monitor from that pixel art.

The controls are superb: cursor keys are used for walking, CTRL fires weapons and SHIFT allows you to run away like a cowardly chicken. Also, side-stepping is possible - which is always needed. Also, the Function Keys are used to flip between weapons/health. Sadly, the mouse isn't supported but the wooden movement from a keyboard is responsive and just like Wolf3D. Remember, this isn't Doom so it wouldn't work well.

Wanna see some more of the enemies you'll be up against? Of course, you do...

Things are getting creepy with bugs!

There are also bats. Surely, you're not scared? Come back...!!

Aesthetics

Surely the 8MHz Atari ST isn't powerful enough to properly run a first-person shooter? You need at least a 25MHz PC, right? Ignoring its drab user interface, the visuals are impressive using a 3D engine that won't fail to impress. This makes use of texture mapping, light-sourced sprites, and a decent framerate. Power without the price. The only niggle I have is that the weapon is perhaps too large as it obscures close enemies!

As for the audio, it's equally impressive using sound effects and great music. Everything is even better on the Atari STe thanks to the stereo DMA coprocessor. This game is awesome so colour me impressed!

It looks and sounds excellent which is always nice, so let's check out the last two monsters...

Mutants? Nah, they're not scary! In fact, they look like me on a Monday morning!

Gotta love the pixel artwork - minimalistic yet stunning!

The CryptO'pinion?

As you can probably tell, I've enjoyed blasting my way through this game! The weapons are great and exploring demon-infested worlds is engaging. I have so few complaints (already mentioned) so I cannot take anything away from what is an extraordinary first-person shooter. Plus it's an example of what the Atari ST/e is capable of knocking out in the hands of talented people who care about their product. No lame port!

Preferably play using an Atari STe and enjoy what is nothing short of a brilliant first-person shooter.

Destruction Imminent

[ download from my Dropbox ]

Tiger Road

Tiger Road was released in 1989 by US Gold but I always felt it didn't do justice to the awesome original. From the very beginning, you're thrown into an instant hack & slash action scene battling a constant hoard of stupid bad guys so pick up your axe and thrash your way to victory! However, I felt I was too harsh so played it again...

Well, that's easier said than done because the enemies won't give you a moment's rest and the larger baddies are a pain in the rear end - so difficult to kill these guys! Which is made worse by little visual feedback to help show if you're doing anything correctly or not. Argh, sometimes it feels like I'm hitting away at thin air...

Visually, it looks pretty nice but didn't really come across very well so sometimes felt like a different game to the original. The Atari ST has far better arcade conversions but there is still something rather cool about this conversion. It's not perfect and more could have been done but the action is fast and smooth which feels just right.

Overall, a pretty good conversion in terms of how it looks and sounds but the gameplay is blummin' brilliant. And that's all that matters. So pick up your joystick and have some fun hacking away at the bad guys. Highly recommended.

Lights, Camera, Action!

Update: I've long since lost these videos. Has anyone got them to share? Thx

ST Video Player is one of those programs that will drop your mouth wide open with amazement. You just won't believe that your humble 512kb 8Mhz Atari STE (with a hard drive) can produce such amazing high-colour movies.

This piece of magic was written by Cyg of BlaBla (the creators of some of the best Atari ST/e demos that I've ever seen). Movies come in the format of .CAV files so just drag & drop one onto the program and prepare to be amazed. I hope to see more videos released for the Atari STe - very soon! Download from Demozoo and Pouet.

Atari ST magazines

( my Atari Falcon w/ MiNT desktop and three PDF magazines being displayed using zView )

An era long since gone

The Atari ST had some of the best magazines the world has ever seen and I still find it helpful in referring back to old issues for their features, reviews, and other information. Thankfully, there are many websites that have scans of this golden era covering ST Action, ST Format, Atari World, ST User, etc... So enjoy the reading, and cover disks!!

Grab a magazine from the rack...

AtariMania is always a great resource and they also have a fantastic magazine section.

Here is a wonderful website dedicated to Atari ST Review, including their ace coverdisks.

Kiwis World seems has bucket loads of Atari ST magazines.

Exxos has a page for ST Format and Atari World with coverdisks.

The Zogging Hell website has a great collection of various magazine coverdisks.
Of course, there's always the newest Atari ST magazine on the block - AtariCrypt!!

Starglider

Unplug the TV!

If I had to name an Atari ST game that defined the 1980s then Starglider would be up there with the best of 'em. This is a 3D shooter that somehow appeared from out of nowhere and totally rewrote the book on how a shooter could be. A whole new generation of gamers got to witness this explosion of arcade-like aesthetics like never before.

Today, I wanted to show you a different side to Starglider as it's something that's not known to many, oddly enough. This game supports the ST's crisp Hi-Resolution mode which means a loss of colour but an increase in definition thanks to the 640x400 display. Everything else remains the same of course and that means the gameplay too.

I've always loved Starglider as it's a perfect blend of action and strategy. The mouse controls are spot-on and the combination of using both buttons to fire/move is extraordinarily efficient. The sound effects are superb and feel somewhat arcade in their style to me. However, it's the opening music that many remember the most. What can I say...

Staaaaaaaarrrrrrgliiiiiderrrrrrr from Rainnnnnnbirrrrrrd (insert echo effect)!!!

Even today this is still a jaw-dropping shooter which plays every bit as well as I remember. Everything from the smooth framerate, crisp sound effects and exciting gameplay style. This is a challenging yet constantly enjoyable shooter. In fact, it's timeless. Play it today and go and grab yourself either the floppy or hard disk versions right now.

Rainbow Islands

   

Today, I booted up Rainbow Island on my Atari ST and I fondly remembered the time I saw it in our local computer shop. I was instantly hooked by its gorgeous colours and the delightful effects, it looked so amazing! After paying lots of cash, I walked home as fast as my lanky legs could carry me! This is probably one of the most famous platformers for the Atari ST and there isn't anything new I could tell you.

Waste no more time, play Rainbow Islands. It's one of the beST!!

8BitChip has a download which can be installed onto hard drive!

Old Games Finder has all the floppy disk images.

Fancy a few cheat codes? Of course, you do so type all these on the title screen:

           -> BLRBJSBJ for fast feet.

           -> RJSBJSBR for double rainbows!

           -> SSSLLRRS for super fast rainbows.

           -> BJBJBJRS for the first hint.

           -> LJKSKBLS for the second hint.

           -> LBSJRRWL continues each round.

           -> SJBLRJSR will slow down the baddies.

           -> Infinite lives: choose three credits and hold the QWERTY keys & press fire.

Death Trap

My first ever Anco game!

Anco's Death Trap was released in 1990 and reminds me of various platformers, like Horror Zombies From The Crypt with a hint of Prince Of Persia and (maybe) Ricky Dangerous. The gruesome cover is nothing short of tremendous!

[Consider this a preview] We begin the adventure in a labyrinth of horror and encounter traps, like falling blocks, poisonous chests, spikes, and more. Each map is incredible but it's easy to lose your bearing so I doodled myself a basic route - which helped a bunch. Puzzles are simple, like flipping a switch to unlock a door but this might mean backtracking and sometimes you're even required to walk the long way around. Not easy, when you're under constant attack.

Okay, that's enough yapping. Let's view a couple of screenshots...

The graphics are absolutely superb with gorgeous tones used!

Right, stop! There's a switch... wanna risk pulling that thing?

It's all about the killing!

Yes, evil creatures inhabit this dungeon and will annoyingly appear at the most inconvenient times. They're all relentless so watch out for ghosts who materialise from out of thin air, jumping frogs, bats that swoop in and drop rocks, Egyptian wizards, and many others. I must say, I love the stripy grabbing hands before the culprit appears to chase you!!

Controls are responsive and keep up with the demands of our adventurer. However, the tighter jumps can be a difficult as you need to tiptoe right to the very end of a platform, which is difficult when constantly chased by creatures! Oddly, our direction cannot be altered during the jump, which can be awkward.

We're armed with a pathetic blade but this can be upgraded with potions - I love the fireball that grants the ability to kill something before it gets close. These potions can be used to conjure spells, recover health, etc. The trouble is exploration is vague with lots of backtracking and guesswork. If there was ever a game that needed an auto-map feature this is it.

Right, let's see another couple of sexy screenshots...

The enemies are on par with Black Lamp. Gorgeous enemies, like this stripy dude!

Those leaping frogs are insane. Very deadly too!

The CryptO'pinion?

Technically speaking, this spooky adventure impressed me with agile scrolling, beautifully animated sprites, great controls, and sampled sound effects (however, I missed a decent background chiptune). Death Trap is very tough; the maps are huge and I often get wiery of the enemy's constant onslaught which can feel annoyingly unfair.

I know that this is only a preview but I came away impressed and unimpressed. It's got the hallmarks of a great platformer. A labyrinth of interesting places, nice puzzles, and unique monsters to kill. However, it's a little OTT with a constant onslaught of baddies which got me muddled about where to go next. It never ends. I need to play it more, I guess?

I suppose a trainer might be welcome to fudge that? Surely that's not right? [Don't Call Me Shirley!!]

- DOWNLOADS -

Back when AtariCrypt was just a baby I recorded this gameplay video.

 Stonish has a great floppy disk and the hard disk version is available thanks to 8BitChip.

 If doodling ain't your thing then Hall of Light has every level mapped.