Software Publisher's, best top 3 games....

[Puresox]

Just after an idea what are the most rated games from any software house you like, but I'll list a few that I can think of.


Ocean----
Hewson ---- Cybernoid 2, Exolon, Anarchy
Mastertronic----
US Gold----
Firebird----
Dinamic----
Gremlin----


I need some time to have a think on mine , but I'll do Hewson as a taster. And no particular order just 3 of there best. Not easy for Hewson as could have picked loads. Probably goes for many houses,
If you feel inclined put your reasons why you rate them.
Cheers

[||C|-|E||]

Huum... it is difficult for me to decide about the others but, for Dinamic, I would choose Astro Marine Corps, Rescate Atlántida and Capitán Trueno (or maybe Navy Moves). I am not considering any of the text adventures because the best ones are from AD and, although some people do not know it, they were actually a different company  .

[Puresox]

Dinamic- tough to narrow down, quite a few decent games, however...


Navy Moves
West Bank
Mega Phoenix
.
Navy moves ,I chose cos of the lovely graphics and animation, plus there is a lot of game in there. It is a little on the tough side though(common for Dinamic). West Bank really impressed me as an early game that looked lovely played well had good music and played as good as the arcade(well close, anyhow). Mega Phoenix , just a rare example of a good game withing poorly represented genre on the CPC . There are plenty of other good games I could have picked too

[dirtybb]

Here is mine. Added Amsoft, Titus and loriciels.


Ocean --- Batman 1, Donkey Kong, Head Over Heels.
Hewson --- Exolon, Nebulus, Stormlord.
Virgin Games --- Sorcery, Silkworm, Dan Dare III.
US Gold --- Bruce Lee, Solomon's Key, Gauntlet.
Firebird --- L'armure Sacrée d'Antiriad, Rick Dangerous, Savage.
Dinamic --- Astro Marine Corps, Navy moves, Phantis.
Gremlin --- Avenger, Deflector, Trailblazer
AMSOFT --- 3D Grand Prix, Astro Attack, Rolland in Time.
TITUS --- Crazy Cars 2, TITAN, Prehistorik II.
Loriciels --- Billy La banlieue 2, Skweek, MGT


EDIT: I just tried to pick from ERE Informatique, but i can't choose between Crafton & Xunk 1, Crafton & Xunk 2, Amelie Minuit, Eden Blues, Captain Blood, Le Passager du Temps, Macadam Bumper, Oxphar, SRAM 1 & 2, Tensions.
Before that, i never realized that they were all from ERE Informatique.
I really love them all, inspite of the fact they are not equal in term of style, quality or else.

[Puresox]

Here is mine. Added Amsoft, Titus and loriciels.


Ocean --- Batman 1, Donkey Kong, Head Over Heels.
Hewson --- Exolon, Nebulus, Stormlord.
Virgin Games --- Sorcery, Silkworm, Dan Dare III.
US Gold --- Bruce Lee, Solomon's Key, Gauntlet.
Firebird --- L'armure Sacrée d'Antiriad, Rick Dangerous, Savage.
Dinamic --- Astro Marine Corps, Navy moves, Phantis.
Gremlin --- Avenger, Deflector, Trailblazer
AMSOFT --- 3D Grand Prix, Astro Attack, Rolland in Time.
TITUS --- Crazy Cars 2, TITAN, Prehistorik II.
Loriciels --- Billy La banlieue 2, Skweek, MGT


EDIT: I just tried to pick from ERE Informatique, but i can't choose between Crafton & Xunk 1, Crafton & Xunk 2, Amelie Minuit, Eden Blues, Captain Blood, Le Passager du Temps, Macadam Bumper, Oxphar, SRAM 1 & 2, Tensions.
Before that, i never realized that they were all from ERE Informatique.
I really love them all, inspite of the fact they are not equal in term of style, quality or else.

Amelie Minuit is a new one on me ,will have a look see what it is about , ERE were possibly my favourite French house , Get Dexter was amazing when I first played the demo loved all the interactive scenery . Captain Bloods graphics blew my mind ,although never actually understood the game when I bought it on budget , which had virtually useless instructions.
Loriciels , there games didn't always seem to work (In a playability/enjoyable sense)Billy la Banlieue 2 , not sure which one that one was , the one I remember involved getting certain objects to open up other areas. Skweek and Pop Up or Bumpy were great games .
US Gold. good nod toward Solomon's key Amstrad version was superb

[Puresox]

Alligata---


Defend Or Die- Absolute classic and really well done for an early game , from the first issue of AA.
Who Dares Wins 2- Another fan favourite despite no scrolling ,plenty to enjoy , great tune too
By Fair Means or By Foul- Great boxing game with nice twist with the illegal moves feature , great risk/reward


Alligata always have a place in my heart ,despite not being a mammoth house ,they had some fun games and Defend or Die is an example of an Arcade Classic done well, Something which I think the CPC lacks imo

[Puresox]

Lol
I'm the only one interested but it entertains me anyhow, so here is my Players top 3.


Doodlebug- Another shit hot Arcade conversion of LadyBug. Absolute classic in my eyes and superb for budget release


Metal Army- I think this game is really well crafted ,the graphics look really clean , great colours, great use of mode 0 , Controls are  spot on, so sharp and precise, i would have been over the moon to have found this back in the day.


Reflex- Again another really polished production imo, looks more expensive than a budget release . The game is bloody tough though, Arkanoid clone for cheap . Remember buying this as a kid and was impressed with how decent it was.Plus it has a scrolling message which always look cool to me.

[dirtybb]

Alligata---
Defend Or Die- Absolute classic and really well done for an early game , from the first issue of AA.

Can't remember how many hours i played it... His clone Gauntlet too anyway.
I definitely love this game.

[Puresox]

Can't remember how many hours i played it... His clone Gauntlet too anyway.
I definitely love this game.

What did you mean BB? You liked Gauntlet too ? If thats what you was meaning yeah that was not bad also ,not a patch on defend or die IMO, definitely enjoyable if I hadn't played DoD,  Defend or Die was just a little more refined , Guardian 2 was a fantastic port of Defender 2 , bloody tough though but very well implemented

[dirtybb]

What did you mean BB? You liked Gauntlet too ?

I did, as i first played it, and found it very enjoyable.
Then my brother caught me a copy of defend or die, and it became my favorite Amstrad shmup.

[Puresox]

 Ariolasoft


Triaxo's- Best isometric puzzle/action adventure ,really clever game and  original idea ,probably not everyone's bag ,but rarely has a game kept me wanting to solve the answer/complete it, as this one has.


Starfox- A game with hidden depths, easily dismissed . Glad to have found it's hook.


Deactivators- Neat little game ,only let down by the game design. Turning things upside down once you get so far? Irritating and ruins it sadly.


Almost picked ---Out of this World-, because this game is a surprising case , beautiful graphics,colours and Scrolling from an early game that pretty much got overlooked.The game is an attempt at a cut down version of the arcade game Fantasy World . The game has its faults though due to the difficulty  in picking out enemy bullets so things get tough with the scrolling and colourful scenery

[Puresox]

Right Family favourite Codemasters,


Bmx Simulator... First Codemasters game I desired and bought and loved great game, sound graphics, awesome tunes, superb two player game


Grand Prix Simulator...Probably the second  Codemasters game I was eager to get , loved it to bits ,trying to get to see all the tracks in the game , brutally hard as things progress though . Preferred it to the Follow up .


Ghosthunters... Real toss up between this Super Robin Hood and Pro Ski Sim. Ghosthunters edged because of the 2 player co-op idea . Pro Ski was a little to tough to enjoy to the max but still alright.


No Dizzy here , didn't really interest me massively , bought the first one and did enjoy it tbh but I get more enjoyment out of other Codemasters games . It is a kids game after all

[Puresox]

Bubble Bus...


1.Starquake--- This has to be their stand out game imo , massive game with some arcade action type qualities in it ,so even though the game was brutally hard to conquer it was enjoyable enough for a track around . When I was a kid I really didn't have the patience to work out the object of the game , so I didn't have a scooby , on what the objective was .My copy was pirate copy so I had no instructions.Totally  Loved the music , the speed of the game, the graphics , the ambiance .


A bit difficult on picking 2 other games and probably not going to be any one elses choices
2. I pick Hi-Rise , Just really enjoyed this game it is sort of crystal castles like , but Unique enough to not be a clone. My only gripe is the inability to see, as the maze has hidden elements due to the Escher style buildings, This is part of the game though and acceptable enough , it just makes the game a little to difficult ,to really enjoy to the max . An Option to switch the view angle would have been great . The ability to pick any level out of the 99 is a great idea though and helps make things more manageable.


Gonna have to go for
3.Wizards Lair. This is an OK game, bit of a rip off of Atic Atac .Problem I have with it is the sheer speed of the game ,it doesn't give you a seconds rest.


The 3 which could easily be in there if it was someone elses choices are Classic Invaders, Classic Axiens,Classic  Muncher. Which are all pretty nice games graphicly and how smooth they run , I just personally find the gameplay too limiting , Muncher is brilliant until you finish the first loop of boards , but then it ups the difficulty to a level that makes the game impossible. Invaders is just too fast and relentless the difficulty curve goes ridiculous straight away , Axiens ,can't recall but suspect it is the same , another thing  which I do not like is the size of the sprites, which makes the screen really cramped . They look lovely and have a quality finish to them granted.

[zeropolis79]

No Dizzy here , didn't really interest me massively , bought the first one and did enjoy it tbh but I get more enjoyment out of other Codemasters games . It is a kids game after all

Each to their own...

Codemasters for me, in no particular order...

Magic Land Dizzy - the best of the Dizzy games

Advanced Pinball Simulator - would kill many an hour playing this one..

Super Tank - a nice underrated Codies game..

Despite being a budget label, Codemasters did produce a lot of quality games. It was a pity that towards the end of the 8-bit era, they produced less CPC games.. but they did well to breath life into Turbo the Tortoise when Hi-Tec went bust.

[Puresox]

Each to their own...

Codemasters for me, in no particular order...

Magic Land Dizzy - the best of the Dizzy games

Advanced Pinball Simulator - would kill many an hour playing this one..

Super Tank - a nice underrated Codies game..

Despite being a budget label, Codemasters did produce a lot of quality games. It was a pity that towards the end of the 8-bit era, they produced less CPC games.. but they did well to breath life into Turbo the Tortoise when Hi-Tec went bust.

Advance pinball Sim was a good pinball so much to do in the game , which elevated it a little compared to other Pinball attempts .
Yeah Super Tank was a nice little budget offering , nice Mode 0 Amstrad graphics on it , and good gameplay to boot, Trying to remember didn't it have a tough Operation Wolf Level every alternate stage? Gonna have to fire it up now.

[CraigsBar]

Ocean --- Pang, RoboCop, Rainbow Islands

[zeropolis79]

It did.. I've not long got it as part of a French Quattro compilation on DISC that my daughter Annabelle brought me.. Suffering severe withdrawal symptoms as I await my disc drive.

Please convert it to the C4CPC people!

[Gryzor]

Advanced Pinball Simulator - would kill many an hour playing this one..

Despite it being budget in all its qualities (certainly not the most realistic physics model ), I, too loved it a lot. So many hours of fun... So much that, due to the wizard at the side for years I thought the name was Pinball Wizard or something!

[||C|-|E||]

That actually looks like a very funny pinball! The physics are way better than in Score 3020 

[/url]

I loved the loading screen and I was playing it like crazy when I was a kid, a sort of masochism 


[EDIT: Please use the YouTube button to embed your videos!]

[Shaun M. Neary]

Oooh, I'll bite!


Ocean----
I'll include Imagine in with this, so it'll be Gryzor, Batman The Movie and Chase HQ


Hewson----
Nebulus, Stormlord, Deliverance


Mastertronic----
Rasterscan, Flyspy, Speed King... leading to


Virgin----
Double Dragon (128k), Shinobi, Continental Circuis


US Gold---- (Oh Jesus, do I have to?)
Bruce Lee, Forgotten Worlds, Gauntlet II


Firebird---- (Another label of wacky releases!)
Flying Shark, Action Fighter and Rick Dangerous.


Dinamic----
After The War, Astro Marine Corps, Satan


Gremlin----
Defektor, Auf Wiedersehen Monty, North Star


Codemasters----


Grand Prix Simulator, Fantasy World Dizzy, ATV Simulator

[Shaun M. Neary]

Despite it being budget in all its qualities (certainly not the most realistic physics model ), I, too loved it a lot. So many hours of fun... So much that, due to the wizard at the side for years I thought the name was Pinball Wizard or something!

Narrowly missed my list too. Although I did think 3D Pinball was better, but I killed so much time playing this one.

[Gryzor]

3020 looks cute, but the ball seems to move too erratically to be enjoyable...

[||C|-|E||]

It moves in a completely random way . Good news is that if you press the space bar you can reverse the direction of the movement. Combining this with the erratic behavior of the thing you can almost manage to control it. Almost, because if you press space too much the little creep explodes  Avoiding the enemies is just a question of pure luck, although they aim so badly that they are usually not a big problem.

[CraigsBar]

Not a single mention of elite. But then again was it released on firebird, rainbird, or BT?

[Puresox]

Not a single mention of elite. But then again was it released on firebird, rainbird, or BT?

All under the same roof , probably would have got round to it