Bad CPC games you can't help but "love"

[cwpab]

In my case, I would say this one:

Because it's really cute and I love the little sound effects, but I remember getting angry with this as a kid (Electro Freddy in case you're a newbie). Only finished it as an adult decades later!

So I will go with this one:

Amsgolf for the ones starting in the CPC world. Both have 1/10 on CPC Game Reviews, but I believe they deserve a bit better. Especially the golf game.

I can't help but "love" this one because of the relaxing map screen and ugly-but-cute graphics. It's hard to forget this experience when you're 8 years and 6 months old. I didn't even know what "club" meant! (For a Spanish kid, this meant "bar" or "association".)

The dedicated "green" screen is admitedly terrible (with a side view of the golfer) and you need a fucking ruler to measure your shot, but I sill feel "love" for Amsgolf.

What bad CPC games do you "love"?

[eto]

I couldn't find anything below 3 that I like. 

But from the 3s and 4s on CPC Game Review I played A LOT: Daily Thompsons Decathlon, Ghostbusters and Moon Buggy. 

[dthrone]

For all the hate it gets, I do enjoy having a play through No Exit from time to time, I think it's the cool backgrounds and doesn't require a lot of thought.



My other is Qabbalah, not understanding what to do gave this game a real sense of mystery, and this is the one I went back to as an adult to conquer once and for all!  I'm pretty sure I was the first person to ever see the ending outside of the programmers 

[cwpab]

Some of the "4" scores seem surprising... Moon Buggy is kind of a good version of a classic (Moon Patrol). And the Ghostbusters game, well... I didn't know it was that  bad. About No Exit, they gave it an 80% at the time! And now it has a 4.

I suspect many of these scores need a bit more "context" from the reviewer. Of course, some CPC games are actually bad, as in really bad. But some others seem more like a simple concept than a failed one.

If you play a game for some minutes and have fun, only to get tired of it because it's repetitive... Is it really bad? That is the question.

[andycadley]

Some of the "4" scores seem surprising... Moon Buggy is kind of a good version of a classic (Moon Patrol). And the Ghostbusters game, well... I didn't know it was that  bad. About No Exit, they gave it an 80% at the time! And now it has a 4.

I suspect many of these scores need a bit more "context" from the reviewer. Of course, some CPC games are actually bad, as in really bad. But some others seem more like a simple concept than a failed one.

If you play a game for some minutes and have fun, only to get tired of it because it's repetitive... Is it really bad? That is the question.

Some games just age badly, they looked impressive at the time and maybe that suckered reviewers in (or the publisher advertised heavily in the magazine, which often factored into "higher" review scores).

And yeah, sometimes modern players will downgrade the scores on simple games but such is life.

As for No Exit specifically, I think 4/10 is unbelievably generous. A fighting game in which you lose health just by attacking your opponent! What were they thinking!

[norecess464]

I can't wait for the opposite topic  Great CPC games you can't help but "hate"     

[dodogildo]

I can't wait for the opposite topic  Great CPC games you can't help but "hate"     

Prehistorik 2

[abalore]

I think some scores in CPC Games Reviews are biased to the owner taste, he overrates beat' em ups, text adventures (which seem to be his favourite genres) and homebrew in general. And underrate everything that looks remotely like an Spectrum port. But it's just that, subjective reviews, it's not a democracy, just the creator and collaborators freedom to estimate the scores they want.

I love and play many games that are not even in the list like Admiral Graf Spee or have directly 0 score like The Galactic Plague, because they were the first games I played on my 464. There are others with bad scores like Badlands (3) or Oh Mummy (4) which I don't think are so bad. Some others have average scores like Catch 23 (6) or the "original" R-Type (6) which I think deserve a lot higher score.

The truth is that our favourite games usually are for sentimental reasons, more than game quality.

I love Rock Hopper, a pretty simple BASIC game just because it was one of my first type-ins from a magazine.

I love Big Trouble In Little China (5), Back to the Future (6), Howard the Duck (2) and Ghostbusters (3), which I know are objectively bad, but they were one of my first XMas presents for the CPC in a pack with Aliens (the good one in the pack).

I love Zorro (6) and Army Moves (5) because they were the first original games I borrowed from a friend.

Apart from that, perfection is boring. I mean, Chase HQ is a great game but if I want a quality driving game I play in my PS5. Part of the fun in the CPC is to deal with these dull, awful, jerky, eye-stabbing games.

[Devlin]

of all the ones rated 2 and under I quite enjoyed playing these ones:

Leviathan - 2
Roland in the Caves - 2
Xanagrams - 2

anything under 3 and that number goes up a surprising amount:

Android One - 3
Daley Thompson's Decathlon - 3
Dizzy Panic - 3
Ghostbusters - 3
Roland in Space - 3
Roland in Time - 3

[Nich]

I think some scores in CPC Games Reviews are biased to the owner taste, he overrates beat' em ups, text adventures (which seem to be his favourite genres)

You couldn't be more wrong.

and homebrew in general.

I admit that I am a bit biased when it comes to rating modern releases. One reason is that the overall quality of modern releases is higher than it was in the 80s and early 90s, but another is that I feel bad giving such games a low rating when the authors spend many hours creating them as a labour of love, in many cases without any financial reward. On the other hand, there is one guest reviewer in particular who gave really high marks (usually 10/10) to almost every modern CPC release.

[Shaun M. Neary]

Yeaaaaah, I'm gonna pipe up here.

As an occasional contributing reviewer to CPCGR, and someone who have has met, drank with, and overall partied with Nich in general, we have butted heads on many occasions when it comes to Amstrad (and other platform) games. And @abalore, I've all the respect in the world for you, but you also have to remember other people review games on that site other than Nich. Being honest, I'd trust Nich's reviews as opposed to Chris Lennard, who has given ratings that has left me scratching my head.

But you need to understand, CPCGR is an independent website. Anyone reviewing games on that website is doing it voluntarily and it's simply their opinion, which they're free to give when Nich gives them a platform to do so. Likewise, you're also free to question it. Also I'm definitely more a beat em up guy. I've been to several retro parties and he's more an adventure / platform gamer from what I've witnessed through these eyes.

And for the record, I was the one who glowingly reviewied Alcon 2020... wait... wasn't that one of yours?

It's opinion at the end of the day. But accusations of bias? Nah... not standing for that one.

Keep doing what you're doing @Nich and I hope to contribute more soon once I get my legal shit sorted out.

[abalore]

It's opinion at the end of the day. But accusations of bias? Nah... not standing for that one.

What's wrong with bias? Everyone has a bias. What you are not standing for? I don't get you.

[abalore]

And for the record, I was the one who glowingly reviewied Alcon 2020... wait... wasn't that one of yours?

If you think you rated the game higher than it deserves feel free to lower it. That's not a problem to me.

[Anthony Flack]

Oof, yeah I struggle to enjoy Prehistorik 2 as well.

If Roland in Space/Time are "bad", then those are bad games I like. I liked Roland in the Caves too, although it really needed more levels.

And yeah we all have bias. I know Xyphoe doesn't care much for isometric games; me I thought they were great. And I see one of my favourite CPC games, Radzone, only gets 5/10. on CPCGR.

Oh I know a really bad game I liked. I'd probably struggle with it now because it's so slow, but I had fun trying to figure out Streaker as a kid. It's like a Magic Knight game, but very weird. I also have a real fondness for Technician Ted which most people probably don't feel.

[Shaun M. Neary]

It's opinion at the end of the day. But accusations of bias? Nah... not standing for that one.

What's wrong with bias? Everyone has a bias. What you are not standing for? I don't get you.

Heh... I guess I don't get you either as being biased was what you argued for initially?

If you think you rated the game higher than it deserves feel free to lower it. That's not a problem to me.

Angry much?

I don't change my ratings unless it's under extreme circumstances. Alcon2020 is a great conversion. My only gripe was initially the power ups were icons instead if words and my criticism was taken under advisement and it
was updated.

Another reason why you have high respect from me.

[abalore]

What I struggle to enjoy is almost all Plus games. They are in gray zone between too advanced for a CPC game but too bad for a hardware accelerated console.

With the exception of Burnin Rubber and some modern releases I remember to get bored very quickly with almost any title I tried.

[cwpab]

Great "charming bad games" suggestions, guys. That Admiral Graf Spee seems really cute, it gives me Amsgolf vibes. If Amsoccer (a "bad" game that nobody "loves") is there, Admiral deserves its own review.

I'm tempted to send a review of another bad game that's hard to "love", Amstrad Jumper, to the site, as it's missing. Perhaps my score would be an 1 instead of 0 simply for the surreal sprites of the enemies: a boat? An evil tea pot?

[Egg Master]

Since the topic is being discussed, I also think that homebrew games on CPC Game Reviews are overrated compared to commercial games, but I imagine so as not to offend those who have developed, nor to discourage them. IMHO, it is not a good choice. I also don't think it's serious to say that Abalore is wrong, since you did indeed overrate his game*. On the contrary, it confirms that. So I'll take this opportunity to offer my opinion:

* The Alcon 2020 version (released the same year) had a lot of room for improvement; the shots were difficult to read and the scrolling was unpleasant. Furthermore, the difficulty was too uneven. It was generally good, but I wouldn't have given it more than 7 out of 10 at the time. (You gave it 9)

The final release from 2022 is a clear improvement. Everything is very fluid and readable, the weapons are well balanced, but the difficulty on easy mode sadly too high for most players, which can spoil the fun to play it. I'd give it a score of 8 or 9 out of 10, depending on your skill with this type of games. Your review hasn't changed since 2020, but now, the score is consistent.

Back to the topic, 3D Fight was scored 3/10, while it deserves a lot more. I really love this game!

[abalore]

As a developer and being mentioned repeatedly, I can say I don't fell either encouraged by good ratings or offended by bad ratings in personal websites or individual comments. I have many other ways to get feedback about the game, like winning the "Game of the year" and "Best technical achievement" of the Sugar awards the year of the release, because that involves the average opinion of the community, not of a single person.

Regarding the improved quality of modern developments, I can say that we also have tools for development that programmers of the time only could have dream about: emulators with integrated debuggers, advanced graphics editors, free game engines and infinite knowledge on Internet. Not to say we have unlimited time to make our creations instead of being constrained by commercial deadlines.

For me, the merit is bigger in an average game of the 80s than in a spectacular looking modern game. Or in the best case the same merit.

As a last word: rating a game with a single number from 0 to 10 is meaningless IMO, because there are a lot of aspects involved that you can't encode in such low amount of information.

[norecess464]

Oof, yeah I struggle to enjoy Prehistorik 2 as well.

The press coverage for this game was incredible (at least in France, thanks to the review in Amstrad Cent Pour Cent #48). As a teenager back then, that article made me dream, and when I finally got my hands on the game, I wasn't disappointed at all. I never thought it was possible to push the machine's technical limits even further! It was the first time I had seen such scrolling in a game -- sure, the gameplay felt slow, but not to the point where I would "hate" it. On top of that, the game was visually stunning, and the music was incredibly catchy. To me, it felt close to a console gaming experience.
Nowadays..... nostalgia completely clouds my judgment, so please forgive me! 
But I still launch it from times to times, while there are many other games I did not launch in years.

On the other hand, Xyphoes Fantasy also received great press coverage, but... despite all the great words, I tried it and hated it right from the start. Too slow, not fun, endless loading times, boring gameplay, and awkward character animations while walking. That was a true disappointment to me.

[norecess464]

I think rating systems are useful if we see them as an indicator -- at least to determine whether a game is worth checking out or not.

But yeah, they're still just opinions, and some people might find a single feature absolutely amazing and give it a 9/10 just because of that!

[norecess464]

What I struggle to enjoy is almost all Plus games. They are in gray zone between too advanced for a CPC game but too bad for a hardware accelerated console.

With the exception of Burnin Rubber and some modern releases I remember to get bored very quickly with almost any title I tried.

Out of all the launch titles, Pang was the only one that truly stood out, in my opinion.

[Egg Master]

I like Plotting on GX4000.

@norecess464 One more message and you will fill the maximum of 512 posts!

[Shaun M. Neary]

Since the topic is being discussed, I also think that homebrew games on CPC Game Reviews are overrated compared to commercial games, but I imagine so as not to offend those who have developed, nor to discourage them. IMHO, it is not a good choice. I also don't think it's serious to say that Abalore is wrong, since you did indeed overrate his game*. On the contrary, it confirms that. So I'll take this opportunity to offer my opinion:

* The Alcon 2020 version (released the same year) had a lot of room for improvement; the shots were difficult to read and the scrolling was unpleasant. Furthermore, the difficulty was too uneven. It was generally good, but I wouldn't have given it more than 7 out of 10 at the time. (You gave it 9)

The final release from 2022 is a clear improvement. Everything is very fluid and readable, the weapons are well balanced, but the difficulty on easy mode sadly too high for most players, which can spoil the fun to play it. I'd give it a score of 8 or 9 out of 10, depending on your skill with this type of games. Your review hasn't changed since 2020, but now, the score is consistent.

Back to the topic, 3D Fight was scored 3/10, while it deserves a lot more. I really love this game!

Because I knew there was better scrolling in the works and improvements were being worked on. But even the 2020 version was damn good for its time especially when you compare it to the 87 version. I gave it a 9 at the time based on my own personal enjoyment playing the CPR on my GX4000.

I enjoyed it so much that I threw my name into the second batch of pre orders along with a play2cpc.

After all, it saved me the time of re-reviewing it!

[Shaun M. Neary]

What I struggle to enjoy is almost all Plus games. They are in gray zone between too advanced for a CPC game but too bad for a hardware accelerated console.

With the exception of Burnin Rubber and some modern releases I remember to get bored very quickly with almost any title I tried.

I really dislike Burnin Rubber. Trying to turn on it is such a struggle. It's a great demo to display the machines capability but I found it sluggish as hell to play.

Robocop 2 had potential but it was just way too difficult and I'm a guy who likes challenging games but that game almost made me take my C4CPC and thrown it at the wall!