Phobia

Busy box art and insane gameplay. Great!

ImageWorks released Phobia back in 1989 with a gorgeous retro-themed cover. The artwork is stunning with lots of colour, action and a cruel glare from evil eyes which reflects the game itself perfectly! Phobia has all the hallmarks of a potentially outstanding shooter but it's impossible to get very far without a trainer because of its choppy framerate. Probably a poor port and it pales in comparison to shooters like R-Type, Alien World, or Menace.

Well, I bought Phobia for only 99 pence and it was sealed too. The box and contents are in superb condition but I wonder why nobody ever bought it? <yes, sarcasm!>. Maybe I'll be brave and record a video? Maybe...

LINKS

 - ST Format #1 reviews Phobia but wasn't too impressed with the difficulty - lol wimps!!

 - D-Bug has a download with a trainer and hard drive support.

 - Stonish has the floppy disks and I liked Timelords #29 Menu CD (1MB).

 - Here is a fantastic video recording by Stefan Lindberg.
 - My tweet after playing Phobia for a few minutes... ARGGHHHHHH!!!

I should have known this was going to be hard with such a hideous screen.

Annnd this next screenshot is of me and my ship being blown up! Again.

Deathbringer

The Atari ST has many great games that feature superb pixel art and figured I should start a new section specifically for them. Let's kick things off with Colin Swinbourne's artistic skills for Empire Software's Deathbringer! And the first thing you see is the hideous loading screen with those teeth and the hatred from that evil glare!! The pixels don't stop being awesome because the intro is cool with great sounds and a fantastic comical ending.

I hope you agree that Colin's skills are a superb way to kick off a new Pixel Art section? Let me know!

Update: we now have a game review!

Automation #496

Press 1 for...
Nope, there's none of that with Automation #496 because this intro is based on Rick Dangerous. Well, there's no interaction and little to do other than walk and climb ladders but it's still a cool alternative compared to what we would have expected back then. Control Ricky D. with the joystick and entering a doorway selects a game to play!!