Recorded and edited a bunch of videos over the course of the last few days, to be released over the course of the next few weeks. The first one is out right now, in fact. Go see me revisit the Atari 8-bit version of David Crane's Ghostbusters game right here!
These recording sessions have thrown up a nice mix of games that I've enjoyed exploring. We kicked off with the aforementioned Ghostbusters, which is a great game that is still pretty enjoyable to play — though I'm definitely out of practice. It's a solid example of how to do a good movie license game: rather than adapting the story of the movie slavishly, you simply make something that fits in with the overall vibe and concepts of the license, and do something creative from there. Ghostbusters works well not because it's a good adaptation of the movie specifically, but because it's a good game about being the Ghostbusters.
Also on Atari 8-bit, I took a look at a shoot 'em up called Humanoid that was a very late release from a Polish developer, and appears to be a game that has "borrowed" (or possibly stolen?) all the graphics from Hewson's Subterranea and bunged them into a game that is a little bit different. I couldn't find the story behind this one, so I do find myself wondering if it started life as an official port of Subterranea that was subsequently cancelled, then they figured they might as well do something with the work that had already been done. Waste not, want not and all that.
Finally on the Atari 8-bit front, I took a look at a type-in listing from ANALOG magazine called Incoming! This is a very simple game in which you control a rotating but immobile machine gun turret, and have to blast down aerial targets. It initially appears simple, but gets impressively frantic as the stages progress, and there's a lot more to it than just simple blasting. Losing points for each shot fired forces you to be tactical, and the stages alternating between dropping paratroopers and city blocks on you keeps things thoroughly interesting along the way.
Switching over to the ST, I actually ended up recording four videos because when preparing my "A to Z" I inadvertently skipped the letter "E" completely accidentally, so I had to fit something in. First up, though, came "D", and I finally took a look at Driller, the first of the "Freescape" 3D games. I've been putting off exploring this one because even after reading the manual I didn't really understand how to play it, but having actually spent some time with it now I have a much better understanding of it.
The "E" I quickly had to fit in took the form of Paul Woakes' excellent port of his classic Encounter! to the Atari ST. This is a lot better than I remember, and I really enjoyed spending some time with this one. I love the 8-bit version but always had somewhat mixed memories of the ST version. Turns out that was mostly in my head; the ST version is excellent.
For "F" I brought in an all-time favourite: Flood by Bullfrog. This is an oft-forgotten part of the legendary studio's heritage, but it's a perfect example of what they brought to the table in the 16-bit era: lots of audio-visual polish and solid gameplay that provides interesting twists on conventional formulae. Flood is a platform game at heart, but its little tweaks to the basic genre standard make it thoroughly enjoyable, and still a lot of fun to play today.
Finally, for "G" I took on The Grail, a showcase title for the Talespin adventure game creation software package. While The Grail is only middling as a game in its own right, its existence as a quasi-visual novel long before any of the Japanese visual novels ever made it to the West is thoroughly intriguing to me — and makes me want to check out the Talespin software itself in its own right.
Anyway, all those are rendering and uploading now, so I think I can say I've had a nice, productive day. Now I think it's time to settle down for a few hours of Zelda! I've definitely earned them.
Want to read my thoughts on various video games, visual novels and other popular culture things? Stop by MoeGamer.net, my site for all things fun where I am generally a lot more cheerful. And if you fancy watching some vids on classic games, drop by my YouTube channel.
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