So after getting Dawn of Kernel a few days back, and having waited patiently for it to arrive so I could play it on a real machine instead of emulating it, yesterday evening I finally opened it, marvelled at the 3" and the bits and bobs in the package and switched my trusty Schneider 6128 on.
...ten minutes later, and having found out that its drive was dead, I sighed and fired up WinAPE.
...two hours later and after the wife shouted for the tenth time "what are we going to have for dinner?" I had to quit, palms all sweaty.
Oh boy. That was, really, the most fun I've had with my (virtual) CPC in quite a while!
Now, for several years I've been replying to people complaining about how hard Rick Dangerous, or Cybernoid I and II were, that it only takes patience, a good memory and attention and you can finish them for sure. Time to eat my hat. DoK sure does feel like a spiritual successor to Cybernoid, though I have no idea if that was @Reidrac 's intention. But everything is there - split screens, turrets, flying patterns, secondary weapons, pixel-level accuracy, and added to these a few extras like mines or gates to disable. That's a good thing in my book!
The screens are really well designed and executed, and the multiple paths you'll have to follow make it somewhat more taxing than a linear screen-to-screen romp. It really has the one-more-go factor going for it, even after the umpteenth time you mutter under your teeth "not that bastard again!".
Graphics are super cute and nice, very well drawn, with lovely colours and easily recognisable enemies and tiles. Though of course you'll have to find the hard way what each of them does. The overall graphics make very good use of mode 0 and overall it makes the most out of the limitations of the machine; to the extend that it's one of those games I can't really see needing one of those high-rez remakes.
The sound is really good too, with jolly nice tunes you won't get soon bored of, though in that regard perhaps more variety would be nice.
As I said, the game is hard. But this is not to say it's unfair or unpredictable. It's a set-piece title, with great collission detection and no matter how hard a screen can be you know that if you die (and you'll do that a lot!) it's your fault and not some unforeseen reason or glitch that sent your little sprite to its demise.
Still have a long way to go, and I don't want to cheat, but I'm betting I'll have several more hours of fun.
Oh, did I mention the box it came in? Lovely stuff. A really gorgeous looking silver, big cardboard box with beautiful art and the usual (though a bit poor) bits in it like a folding-out instruction poster, a cover art poster and a couple of stickers. A bit on the expensive side -I mean, I often balk at €20 Steam titles!- but certainly worth it, if for nothing else then to support Reidrac who's been creating stuff for us like there's no tomorrow.
Right then, let's play some more before the wife gets out of her bath!
Topic: Dawn of Kernel - a new favourite! (Read 1296 times)