Shit Game Time: Rastan

[ZEUSDAZ]

Well the 7th and last part of my Rastan marathon is now up, no doubt the crappest had to be left last, you never kick-off a marathon with the shittest.
Asked by many of my Youtube subs and members on the Amstrad forums who sent me PM's requesting me (and on 2 occasions begging me) to SGT the Amstrad version, I played it, my dog puked and it crashed,...seriously, It's in the video.
No doubt a worthy place as a result of a crud conversion from such a great software house, the only good thing about it is the nice colours and some stolen music from the 128k Spectrum version title page.

So before anyone bitches and cries about it being placed on the SGT section (the ammy fanatics who just cannot accept when a crap game really is crap on the Amstrad), just remember, I had 15 requests asking me to SGT this version including 7 members from this forum who PM'd me, so if you don't like the result,...complain to them!!! 
RASTAN, SGT:


[EDIT: I CAN'T BELIEVE I STILL HAVE TO KEEP DOING THESE EDITS TO POINT OUT THAT, PEOPLE! PLEASE USE THE YOUTUBE BUTTON TO EMBED YOUR VIDEOS!!! NOT THAT HARD! PROMISE! ~GRYZOR

[arnoldemu]

I agree it's shit. It's slow, it's unresponsive, it's not fun.

It needs to be faster.

Game uses hardware scrolling, uses rupture to split the screen between play area and panel. Looks like the rupture lost sync and it just broke.

[Arnaud]

One of my four games bought on my 6128.
The arcade version was so great...

[Shaun M. Neary]

So before anyone bitches and cries about it being placed on the SGT section (the ammy fanatics who just cannot accept when a crap game really is crap on the Amstrad), just remember, I had 15 requests asking me to SGT this version including 7 members from this forum who PM'd me, so if you don't like the result,...complain to them!!! 
RASTAN, SGT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkX47MAzyLU

Regarding your last post, sorry, but Green Beret wasn't "shit", it could have been better and didn't utilise the machine to it's full potential, but it was certainly wasn't shit. I think it's more you and your fanboys out there who have a hard time getting over the fact that it wasn't as bad as you made it out to be. 


In the case of Rastan, that *is* an abortion and is rightfully labeled with the term Shit Game Time.
As Kev already said, it's slow, it's unresponsive, the sprites are messy, hell, the swords don't even look like swords!


The ONLY good thing I'll say about Rastan though, is that they manage to map the game very well and it resembled it's arcade counterpart in terms of level design. But when you start to move and swing the sword, the wheels just come off the wagon.


Luckily, I got it as part of the Taito Coin Op Hits compilation, so didn't feel too cheated compared to some of the good games in that comp.

[Puresox]

Rastan is pretty awful really , I suppose there will be some out there that can bare with the slowness and enjoy the rich colours in the game and faithfullness to the layout , it's enjoyable finding out what the next section is like . Not for me though.


Is it an impossibility to do the game justice on the CPC? Does the size of the game prevent making a scrolling Hack and slash game like this? When you consider the game Potsworth and Co. does a fine job of having beautiful sprite design , vivid colours and smooth Multi directional Scrolling . It doesn't seem beyond the realms of possibility . Not sure if that had music as well?
Hey Zeus why don't you be a good soul and give a review of Potsworth and Co . At the very least it would be the right thing to do . We don't really take kindly to this Public humilitation of our beloved machine.And the cheek of Advertising on the Site  . I'm only messing with ya .but still...

[ZEUSDAZ]

Hey Zeus why don't you be a good soul and give a review of Potsworth and Co . At the very least it would be the right thing to do . We don't really take kindly to this Public humilitation of our beloved machine.And the cheek of Advertising on the Site  . I'm only messing with ya .but still...

Hi there, ha don't worry, amiga, c64, spectrum and the Amstrad have games featured on the SGT section but I only advertise a SGT on the relevant forums, in other words I wouldn't advertise a C64 SGT on here, or an Amstrad SGT on a Spectrum forum,...so basically no machine is left out of the SGT ;-)
As for that game you mentioned,...sure I'll take a look at it, is it a 64k game as I don't own a 6128 128k machine at this moment.
There is a "let's play" section on my channel and a video dedicated for anyone to place a request just like the SGT vids :-D

[ivarf]

I had a quick look at your video and as an Amstrad fanboy I must say it looks better there than I remember it...  I guess that's because when you play it you get a better feeling for how sluggish it is.

[ZEUSDAZ]

Regarding your last post, sorry, but Green Beret wasn't "shit", it could have been better and didn't utilise the machine to it's full potential, but it was certainly wasn't shit. I think it's more you and your fanboys out there who have a hard time getting over the fact that it wasn't as bad as you made it out to be. 


In the case of Rastan, that *is* an abortion and is rightfully labeled with the term Shit Game Time.
As Kev already said, it's slow, it's unresponsive, the sprites are messy, hell, the swords don't even look like swords!


The ONLY good thing I'll say about Rastan though, is that they manage to map the game very well and it resembled it's arcade counterpart in terms of level design. But when you start to move and swing the sword, the wheels just come off the wagon.


Luckily, I got it as part of the Taito Coin Op Hits compilation, so didn't feel too cheated compared to some of the good games in that comp.

Yeah Green Beret was certainly not as shit as Rastan on the Amstrad but it certainly had faults so let's say it was sort of shit ;-)
Rastan looks great in still pics but as you said, once it moves the wheels fall off :-(

[ZEUSDAZ]

I agree it's shit. It's slow, it's unresponsive, it's not fun.

It needs to be faster.

Game uses hardware scrolling, uses rupture to split the screen between play area and panel. Looks like the rupture lost sync and it just broke.

It has lost 100% of It's fun factor during the Arcade to Amstrad transistion,...a damn shame :-(

[Puresox]

Hi there, ha don't worry, amiga, c64, spectrum and the Amstrad have games featured on the SGT section but I only advertise a SGT on the relevant forums, in other words I wouldn't advertise a C64 SGT on here, or an Amstrad SGT on a Spectrum forum,...so basically no machine is left out of the SGT ;-)
As for that game you mentioned,...sure I'll take a look at it, is it a 64k game as I don't own a 6128 128k machine at this moment.
There is a "let's play" section on my channel and a video dedicated for anyone to place a request just like the SGT vids :-D

Potsworth is a 64k game I am pretty sure 

[Puresox]

potsworth & co &copy hi-tec software (1992)


Course thinking about it , you are a Genuine machine user as opposed to Emu's . Here is the link anyhow

[sigh]

Yeah Green Beret was certainly not as shit as Rastan on the Amstrad but it certainly had faults so let's say it was sort of shit ;-)
Rastan looks great in still pics but as you said, once it moves the wheels fall off :-(

Nope. Green Beret is a shit game. You review is right.

Regarding Rastan:

I enjoyed playing this game as a kid, even though I disliked the scrolling and how slow it played back then. The sprites are nice but the whole game lacks atmosphere.

However - it is a shit game for all the reason stated even though I enjoyed it.

You might want to try Rodland next:D

[Shaun M. Neary]

Nope. Green Beret is a shit game. You review is right.

Regarding Rastan:

I enjoyed playing this game as a kid, even though I disliked the scrolling and how slow it played back then. The sprites are nice but the whole game lacks atmosphere.

However - it is a shit game for all the reason stated even though I enjoyed it.

You might want to try Rodland next:D

Your honour, the prosecution rests! 

[remax]

There must be a thread somewhere were the author explains the constraints of the development.

[andycadley]

It's a shoddy port and much could be done better, but to describe the music as "stolen" from the Speccy version belies rather too much of the author's bias. It was undoubtedly converted to the AY by one musician and then used on multiple ports, as was common back in the day.

[sigh]

Your honour, the prosecution rests! 

Not so fast. You forgot the most important line:

"However - it is a shit game for all the reason stated even though I enjoyed it."

At least I admit that it was shit.

[Shaun M. Neary]

Not so fast. You forgot the most important line:

"However - it is a shit game for all the reason stated even though I enjoyed it."

At least I admit that it was shit.

Rastan *is* shit. Certainly wouldn't put Green Beret in that exact category of Rastan levels though!

[dlfrsilver]

Rastan on CPC is a very sad story. And i think i know what exactly happened, considering what Brian Beuken has explained here on CPC-Wiki.

Basically, the master disk sent for mastering was a not finished version of Rastan. Brian told us that the game he had finished had no graphic corruption, and worse, the pictures taken for the CPC advertisement showed what the final release of Rastan really looked like.

And look : which company, one like Ocean which had a quality assurance department, would have released a game with not only bugs, but also missing features (the bonus are useless in this version), and it's impossible to play against the bosses without patching the loader.

So yes, we have all the green light for somebody completely fucking out back in the day, who took the wrong disk to send to the protection maker.

It's not the first time it happens, the ST version of Mercs from US GOLD also got a pre-release sent for mastering, instead of the final release.

I'm sure the final version of Rastan was better than the shitty buggy crashing loader version we got. Even Worse, Rastan got removed from the shops because it was junk (it has been explained in the magazine Amstrad CPC 100%, where Ocean had to remove the game for bug revision, but finally, the game never was corrected, it stayed as the version we know : crap and rubbish.)

Just have a look at a screen of the M.I.A. final release for amstrad CPC :

[attachimg=1]

as you can see, the final release has a blackish bottom screen, there is a split screen used in mode 1, and the game screen is in mode 0.

The status panel is fully effective, with the bonus displayed and taken in account, and the round number is displayed, and you can notice that the graphics have correct colors.

Sad that it's a miss......

[arnoldemu]

Rastan on CPC is a very sad story. And i think i know what exactly happened, considering what Brian Beuken has explained here on CPC-Wiki.

I agree that is sad, the pictures show a much better game.

I wonder how many other games were released in non-master form?

[dlfrsilver]

I agree that is sad, the pictures show a much better game.

I wonder how many other games were released in non-master form?

I know at least one : Mercs for ST from US GOLD. The coder went in holidays, and an idiot sent to duplication the pre-release instead of the master disk......

[Carnivius]

Nope. Green Beret is a shit game. You review is right.

Regarding Rastan:

I enjoyed playing this game as a kid, even though I disliked the scrolling and how slow it played back then. The sprites are nice but the whole game lacks atmosphere.

However - it is a shit game for all the reason stated even though I enjoyed it.

You might want to try Rodland next:D

Yeah, CPC Rastan is not a great convestion but I still enjoy it more than even arcade Green Beret.  Just something satisfying about that chunky sword swinging violence.  And it's not like I expect a huge barbarian to move very fast.  Still I would liked to have seen the proper completed version.   I hope it appears one day.  Or maybe it can be made anew?

[Xyphoe]

I looked at doing a longplay of this a while ago. And gave up.

My memory is poor but I tried to get a long way into the game... I know there are loading problems - is there a patched version out there? CPC Power doesn't list one.

I think there was problems with the bosses - I think one didn't load at all then the game crashed.

It was also stupidly hard, unavoidable hits and gaps to jump that were near impossible unless you were pixel perfect and it was still pot luck if you would make it for some reason.

[Shaun M. Neary]

The CPC464 tape version definitely had a series of loading issues.
I don't think I was able to get off the third round as a result of them.


Never had *that* problem with Green Beret... just saying. 

[sigh]

The CPC464 tape version definitely had a series of loading issues.
I don't think I was able to get off the third round as a result of them.


Never had *that* problem with Green Beret... just saying. 

Your right. There were other crap problems in Green Beret.

[Shaun M. Neary]

Your right. There were other crap problems in Green Beret.

Yet despite those, it was still more playable than Rastan!