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  • Amiga Force (July 1993)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Amiga Force is a gaming magazine for the Commodore Amiga that was published in in the U.K. in the 1990s. The June 1993 issue includes:

    • Read All About It – The latest Amiga related news: Twilight 2000 coming from Empire, the General Manager of Commodore U.K. resigns, AMOS Professional programming package price reduced, Microdeal’s Clarity 16 16-bit sound sampler, and more.
    • Rave Review – A look at Desert Strike, a port of the popular Sega Genesis game.
    • Budget Bargains – Reviews of bargain releases which can include re-releases, compilations as well as new releases. Games this month include Battle Squadron, Maniac Mansion, Lost Dutchman Mine, Strike Fleet, The Plague, Populous & The Promised Lands, Sword of Sodan, Storm Master, WWF Wrestlemania, and Adrenalynn.
    • Sensible World Cup – Amiga Force editors battle readers in Sensible Soccer.

    • Just Around the Corner: Special ECTS Report – A look at what’s new at the 1993 European Computer Trade Show including Simon the Sorcerer, Micro Machines, Firehawk, Darkmere, Blaster, Bubb ‘n’ Stix, Wonder Dog, Curse Of Enchantis II, Tornado, International Rugby Challenge, Championship Manager ’93, Flight-Sim Tool Kit, Realms of Darkness, The Seventh Sword of Mendor, Total Carnage, Air Force Commander, When Two Worlds War, Rules of Engagement II, The Blue And The Gray, Soccer Kid, The Lost Kingdoms, Gunship 2000, Ancient Art of War In The Skies, Fields of Glory, A.T.A.C., The Legacy, Alfred Chicken, Battletoads, FA Premier League, Universal Monsters, Inferno, Prime Mover, Combat Air Patrol, Creepers, Apocalypse, Cannon Fodder, and more.
    • Letters – Readers write in about Dragon Quest, obtaining public domain software, Street Fighter II, advertising, faulty joysticks, Future Wars, cheats, and more.
    • The A1200 Software Guide – A comprehensive guide to Amiga 1200 compatibility. The Amiga 1200 was different enough from its predecessors like the Amiga 500 that some of the games meant for those systems would not work on the Amiga 1200. This guide provides a list of games that work on the Amiga 1200.
    • Going Public – A look at recent public domain releases including Assassins 59, Hypnotic Land, Mind Games, Klaktris, Deluxe Pacman, and more.

    • Rich Pickings – Reviews of the latest Amiga game releases including B17 Flying Fortress, Superfrog, Chuck Rock 2, Sink or Swim, Entity, International Rugby Challenge, World Class Cricket, and more.
    • Tips Section – Hints, tips, cheats, and strategies for Superfrog, 3D Pool, Arabian Nights, Beast Busters, Desert Strike, Drakkhen, The Empire Strikes Back, Helter Skelter, Judge Dredd, Leander, Lemming, Leonardo, Manic Miner, Marble Madness, Mickey Mouse, Nebulus 2, Out Run, Paradroid ’90, Platoon, Predator 2, Prince of Persia, RoboCop, Shadow of the Beast, Shadow of the Beast 2, Sly Spy, Street Fighter, Tearaway Thomas, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, Terminator 2, Thunderbirds, Thunderjaws, Trolls, Turbo Out Run, Ugh!, The Untouchables, Virus, Viz, and Xenon.
    • Cut-Out ‘N’ Cheat – Cheat cards designed to be cut out and stored with your disks.

    …and more!


    Amiga Computer Arcana Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • Computer Gamer (May 1986)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Computer Gamer is a computer gaming magazine that was published in the U.K. in the 1980s. It covered gaming on home computers that were popular there. Some of which were not familiar to us in North America (like the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC) and some were (like the Commodore 64). the May 1986 issue includes:

    Regulars

    • News – Ghostbusters II and Hacker II coming soon; Lucasfilm game conversions coming for the Amstrad; Questron and Phantasie to be re-released by U.S. Gold; Nexus coming soon for the Commodore 64, Spectrum and Amstrad; version of Thing on a Spring coming for Amstrad; U.S. Gold to release Gunship, Acrojet, and Silent Service for the C64; Atari to release Atari 7800 and Atari 1040 STMF; Infocom releasing Trinity for the Apple IIE, Amiga, Commodore 128, Atari ST, and IBM PC; Winter Events coming for the C16; and more.
    • Tau Ceti Players Guide – A strategy guide for this unique action game in which you must stop out of control robots.
    • Sports Reviews – Reviews of sports related games including Ping Pong (Commodore 64), Karate Combat (BBC Electron), Ballblazer (Spectrum), Doubles Volleyball (Commodore 64), and Sai Combat (Spectrum).
    • The Trolls Tavern – A look at the latest adventure game news including a look at The Quill Adventure Writing System.
    • PBM Update – The latest in play by mail news.
    • Dungeon Dressing – Creating a realistic combat system for your adventure game.
    • Adventure Reviews – Reviews of the latest adventure games including Get Dexter for the Amstrad, Asylum for the Commodore 64, Lord of the Rings for the Commodore 64, Doomsday Blues for the Amstrad, Batman for the Spectrum, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes for the Spectrum, Fairlight for the Commodore 64 and Amstrad, and more.
    • Between the Covers – Reviews of gaming related books including Castles and Kingdoms by Bob Liddil and Mysterious Adventures for your Amstrad by Tim Hartnell and Clive Gifford.
    • Arcade Reviews – Reviews of Silent Service (Commodore 64), Dr. Who and the Mines of Terror (Commodore 64), Who Dares Wins II (Spectrum), Panzadrome (Amstrad), Green Beret (Spectrum), Shoot ‘Em Up (Commodore 64, Atari), Commando (C16), Tank Commander (Amstrad), Xcei (Amstrad), The Last V8 (Amstrad), Bounty Bob Strikes Back (BBC), Bandits at Zero (C16), Phantoms of the Asteroids (Commodore 64), and 3D Slime (Sinclair QL).
    • Strategy Reviews – Reviews of the latest strategy games including Archon II: Adept (Commodore 64, Atari), Mugsy’s Revenge! (Commodore 64, Spectrum), Colossus Chess 4.0 (Amstrad), and Tigers in the Snow (Commodore 64).

    Features

    • The Way of the Tiger – A detailed look at this martial arts combat game.
    • Super Bowl – A in-depth look at American Football from Ocean for the Commodore 64.
    • Heavy on the Magic – A detailed look at this graphical adventure game for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC.
    • Empire – A space strategy game from Firebird somewhat reminiscent of Elite.
    • The Psi-5 Trading Company – Another space trading game, this one released by Accolade originally on the Commodore 64.
    • The Amstrad Collection – An overview of some of the best games available for the Amstrad including Elite, Tau Ceti, Formula One Simulator, Sorcery, Theatre Europe, Spitfire 40, Defend or Die, Spindizzy, Doppleganger, Macrocosmica, and more.

    Programs

    • City Defense – A type-in Defender style game for the Spectrum.
    • Therapy – A type-in ‘game’ for the Commodore 64 that is somewhat similar to Eliza.
    • Horses – A type-in horse racing game for the Spectrum.
    • Solitaire – A type-in Solitaire game for the Amstrad.
    • Brushup – A type-in game for the Amstrad in which you must paint a pyramid while dodging a bouncing ball.
    • Memory Test – A type-in game for the Amstrad in which you must remember the number of objects.
    • Time for Action – A type-in maze game for the Spectrum in which you must turn the maze green while avoiding an alien blob and time bombs.

    …and more!


    Computer Arcana Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • Mindshadow (Activision)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Mindshadow was first released in 1984 and is essentially and illustrated text adventure game. The text adventure genre is perhaps best illustrated by Infocom and the Zork series. Adding illustrations was basically the next step in the evolutionary development of these games. This game was developed by Interplay and published by Activision.

    A text adventure game (or interactive fiction as they were sometimes called) basically described the scene in front of you and then you would have to enter commands (e.g. “go north”, “take sword”, “hit troll with sword”, etc.) then the results would be described to you. Games like Mindshadow worked the same way, they just provided some pictures to go along with the text. This type of game can be extremely fun though they are not particularly replayable. They were also unique in that they were exclusively available on home computer systems vs. video game consoles (for obvious reasons). However, the point and click adventure is not too far removed from this type of game.

    Mindshadow, though not necessarily the best, was an above average example of the graphics adventure genre. Reviews were mixed but generally positive for the most part. Honestly, while I enjoyed the occasional text adventure game (especially Zork), it was never really my favorite genre. They never felt long enough (except when you were just stuck and frustrated) and to me, they had zero replayability. I can read novels multiple times (at least some of them) but playing these types a games a second time was just boring. Unless maybe you waited long enough to completely forget it.

    Mindshadow has an interesting lineage. One of the game’s programmers (Allen Adham) would later go on to found Blizzard. Another interesting fact about Mindshadow is that it is loosely based on Robert Ludlum’s novel, The Bourne Identity. You can sort of think of this game as an interactive version of that novel.

    Mindshadow here is advertised for the Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, PC, and PCjr. It would also be available for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Macitosh, and ZX Spectrum. There aren’t really any modern re-releases though it was released in CD format as part of Interplay’s 10 Year Anthology, a collection of ten classic DOS games from Interplay that also includes such classics as The Bard’s Tale, Wasteland (the real first game in the Fallout series), Battle Chess, Out of this World, and other classics. However, this collection was released in 1993 and these games are in their original DOS format so in any case you will need a computer capable of running DOS or use some kind of emulation to be able to play this game. If you are looking to give the graphics adventure genre a try, you could do worse.

    Screen shots above are from the Commodore 64 version of the game.


    Commodore 64 Computer Arcana Retro Games 📎and tagged