Thursday, January 15, 2015

Cybernoid - The Fighting Machine



All 8-Bit conversions suck!

Cybernoid is a shooter developed by a legend - someone who repeatably rocked the 8-bit world, Raffaele Cecco. Yep, I was a Spectrum owner and it seemed everyone was crazy about him back then and rightly so. However, there have been many games that had terribly dodgy 16-bit conversions so I was more than a little dubious upon loading Cybernoid.

The 16-bit conversion is by Tony Cooper and is thankfully amazing. Offering the same level of thrills as the original, its gameplay is smooth with comfortable controls that are responsive throughout each of the spruced-up screens. Yes, graphically, this is head and shoulders above the original with eye-popping colours and lovely animations. The sound effects are a joy, accompanied by a fantastic chiptune. And I really do mean fantastic!!

However, this is one tough cookie. No, it's an incredibly damn tough nut cookie and some screens are intense!! It will take most gamers many attempts to master its cruel personality. It's especially annoying when enemies can seem to fire their weapons through solid walls or objects. Stick with it because Cybernoid is actually awesome and ultra-addictive.

Crack the cunning learning curve and you've got yourself a wonderful and challenging shooter!

UPDATE: see the latest posting for Cybernoid which is now mapped :-)

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Obsession


As a kid, I never really understood the whole pinball thang - but that never stopped me from buying the latest version for the Atari STe back in the mid 90s - as an adult. Obsession was released in 1994 for the (wait for it) Atari STe by Unique Development Sweden. Yes, I said the Atari STe for once - rather than its older brother!

There are many games to choose from and UDS has made magnificent use of the computer's enhanced hardware. Hardware scrolling scrolls the entire screen at 50fps for an ultra-smooth feeling. Heck, it's even utilising overscan too! The audio is a blast thanks to the DMA stereo - so crank up the volume!! This game is FUN :D

It's loud, it's fun and it's one of the best "arcade" games I've ever played. Marvellous!!