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avatar_Zoe Robinson

The Amsoft 12 Pack

Started by Zoe Robinson, 18:28, 04 December 17

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Zoe Robinson

Hey guys,

I never had this set of programs back in the CPC's heyday, my CPCs were either too early or too late in production time (depending on which one I'm talking about - I ended up having three of them over the years) so I never owned most of these games. I played a good deal of them on friends' computers though and I remember them being good at the time.

How do they fare in the face of more than thirty years of gaming?


Dagger

There is a few that I still play fore more than a few minutes. Galactic Plaque is hard but I like this one, some people can get frustrated with this one as you can get killed very quickly, worth persevering with. Oh Mummy is still a good game to play, most of the family can still play this one. Xanagrams is good for a brain workout. Roland in the Caves is another frustrating one but still playable. The others I don't bother with, I know some people like Harrier Attack and Fruit Machine etc but not for me.
Life's a bitch. You marry one or two then you die !

Zoe Robinson

Galactic Plague is a game that requires you to memorise patterns. Once you know the patterns, it's actually not that difficult to play. I'm surprised it has such a bad reputation because it's actually quite fun.


Oh Mummy is an absolute classic in my view. I love it. It's good, clean fun.


You can keep Xanagrams, however. I'll stick to a decent crossword. ;)

EgoTrip

Xanagrams has potential to be a much better game, but it's just a half-assed attempt. 5 words max? Really? It's not terrible, and when I was a kid it was educational to a degree but it's only type-in quality and not worthy of a full release.


Besides that there were no other bad tapes. AVM and Timeman One both served their purposes as educational tools, the latter being the better of the two. I never used Easi Amsword as I never had a printer.


I liked Bridge-It. Once you got the hang of it, it was quite addictive, like an old LCD game with better graphics. Galactic Plague is tough but again its got an addictive quality to it, you want one more go to get further than before, as does Fruit Machine. Harrier Attack isn't my thing but for one of the first games produced for the machine, it's good.


The two Roland games were high quality, even if flawed, for the time they were released, and Oh Mummy is a classic. Sultan's Maze is slow, but it's a good game. Very primitive and basic yes, but it's still playable.

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 18:01, 06 December 17
Galactic Plague is a game that requires you to memorise patterns. Once you know the patterns, it's actually not that difficult to play. I'm surprised it has such a bad reputation because it's actually quite fun.

THIS! Finally someone speaks sense about the Galactic Plague.
It was by no means a bad game at all. But if you're a lazy gamer that wants to finish a game in 30 minutes with ease, than this isn't for you. Lazerwarp was also good, but it wasn't a freebie.

- Harrier Attack was also awesome. First two levels are a load of shit, but from level 3 on, it got more frantic.
- Enjoyed Roland On The Ropes for a short while but it got repetitive very quickly.
- Timeman One and Animal Vegetable Mineral were fucking awful, even a six year old would think they were shite.
- Bridge it: "This is the game that ne-ver-ends!"
- Roland In The Caves never did anything for me at all.
- Sultans Maze was terrible. 17 minutes load from tape for some of the slowest loading mazes in history.
- Oh Mummy: Killed so much time on this one. Just a same once you got past level 5, you went around in circles again.

Everything else, I'm reserving comment on for the sake of being polite.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

chinnyhill10

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 18:01, 06 December 17
Galactic Plague is a game that requires you to memorise patterns. Once you know the patterns, it's actually not that difficult to play. I'm surprised it has such a bad reputation because it's actually quite fun.


The reason it has a bad reputation is because you die a few seconds after starting, over and over again until you work out what is going on. I suspect many people never got past that.
--
ChinnyVision - Reviews Of Classic Games Using Original Hardware
chinnyhill10 - YouTube

chinnyhill10

Quote from: EgoTrip on 00:38, 07 December 17


The two Roland games were high quality, even if flawed, for the time they were released, and Oh Mummy is a classic. Sultan's Maze is slow, but it's a good game. Very primitive and basic yes, but it's still playable.


Sultan's Maze is written in BASIC. I always wondered if someone might try to optimise it and generally improve it because all the code is there if you quit the game and type LIST.
--
ChinnyVision - Reviews Of Classic Games Using Original Hardware
chinnyhill10 - YouTube

Zoe Robinson

Quote from: chinnyhill10The reason it has a bad reputation is because you die a few seconds after starting, over and over again until you work out what is going on. I suspect many people never got past that.


It's a fair point. I won't deny the game has flaws but if you're prepared to give it a chance, it's a lot of fun.


When I first tried it, I'll admit I died a lot within seconds of starting. I do understand how people can get put off by that - but this game is from the very early days of gaming. It's only a handful of years after computers started arriving in peoples' homes and designers were still working out what games were never mind how to make them good. I'm prepared to take it for what it is, a flawed but fun game. Not a classic, not by any means, but it's fun in its own way.

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 14:04, 16 December 17

It's a fair point. I won't deny the game has flaws but if you're prepared to give it a chance, it's a lot of fun.


When I first tried it, I'll admit I died a lot within seconds of starting. I do understand how people can get put off by that - but this game is from the very early days of gaming. It's only a handful of years after computers started arriving in peoples' homes and designers were still working out what games were never mind how to make them good. I'm prepared to take it for what it is, a flawed but fun game. Not a classic, not by any means, but it's fun in its own way.

Well this is it, if you can't learn to get the hell out of the way after being hit by the same guy the last time, then video games were not for you. If you want the game to be done for you, go watch a demo. ;)
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

Galactic Plague was a good game for the time, but I preferred Classic Axiens from Bubble Bus Software I believe


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Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: ukmarkh on 16:20, 16 December 17
Galactic Plague was a good game for the time, but I preferred Classic Axiens from Bubble Bus Software I believe


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Classic Invaders was also pretty good too.
On the Amsoft side, Lazerwarp was really good, although I think that's Mikro Gen's title initially.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 17:00, 18 December 17

Classic Invaders was also pretty good too.
On the Amsoft side, Lazerwarp was really good, although I think that's Mikro Gen's title initially.


Yep, I bang on about Classic Invaders all the time  :laugh:  I think Bubble Bus or Alternative released that one. They also did a fantastic little PacMan clone in Classic Muncher.

Shaun M. Neary

Bubble Bus did em separately as full price I think, then Alternative released all 3 as a pack in 89 as Classic Arcadia.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 14:24, 19 December 17
Bubble Bus did em separately as full price I think, then Alternative released all 3 as a pack in 89 as Classic Arcadia.

I think Classic Arcadia is the one I had, great little pack. I saw someone mentioned Bridge IT earlier on, no idea why it gets so much negativity, it's a great little early game of nerves and reflexes. Very challenging. Oh Mummy, Harrier Attack, Roland on the Ropes and Fruit Machine as far as I'm concerned were amazing back in the day, the whole family played Oh Mummy and loved it, my uncle used to bunk off work just to stop off and play on it, my dad would stay up till all hours playing Fruit Machine, I remember the first time he won the jackpot, but Oh Mummy was the original party Game for the CPC.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Gryzor

Late to the party, but since Bubble Bus was mentioned, I always loved Classic Invaders (the intro tune is still in my head!) and Classic Axiens. Also loved their other titles... honest and cute.

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: Gryzor on 13:18, 04 January 18
Late to the party, but since Bubble Bus was mentioned, I always loved Classic Invaders (the intro tune is still in my head!) and Classic Axiens. Also loved their other titles... honest and cute.


Starquake comes to mind when Bubble Bus gets mentioned. I never really got the point of the game yet I wasted countless hours playing it. Also had a great tune too.
Came as part of 4 Amtix Accolades with Monty On The Run, Bounder and the giant nut filled turd known as Sweevo's World.

Bought it with my Confirmation money when I was 11. Played three out of those four games to death in '88.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

Zoe Robinson

Sweevo's World is a weird game. I'm going to have to give it another go soon but from what I remember, it was basically a Batman rip-off with more stupid puzzles.

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 20:45, 04 January 18
Sweevo's World is a weird game. I'm going to have to give it another go soon but from what I remember, it was basically a Batman rip-off with more stupid puzzles.


Gargoyle Games. Enough said!
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

So basically I'm the only one in here who loved Sweevo's World, I thought it was a cracking little game [emoji23]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: ukmarkh on 12:22, 23 January 18
So basically I'm the only one in here who loved Sweevo's World, I thought it was a cracking little game


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Isometric adventure wasn't really anything I had the patience for back then.
Maybe now, my tune will change. But there were too many unnecessary ones. I always classed Sweevos World and Hydrofool in that categories.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 12:31, 23 January 18

Isometric adventure wasn't really anything I had the patience for back then.
Maybe now, my tune will change. But there were too many unnecessary ones. I always classed Sweevos World and Hydrofool in that categories.

If you ever do go back in, start with one of the earliest and work your way up to Head over Heels, probably the best game I've ever played. It's one of those games you appreciate and fall in love with the further you progress. The Amstrad version is definitely the best of the lot, although I did like the PCW and Amiga efforts.


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ukmarkh

Hey! It's the politician from up north, you were on the telly just the other day [emoji1303]


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Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: ukmarkh on 12:35, 23 January 18
If you ever do go back in, start with one of the earliest and work your way up to Head over Heels, probably the best game I've ever played. It's one of those games you appreciate and fall in love with the further you progress. The Amstrad version is definitely the best of the lot, although I did like the PCW and Amiga efforts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yeah, I'll probably do Batman and then HOH. I'm avoiding Knight Lore like the plague though.
Quote from: ukmarkh on 12:37, 23 January 18
Hey! It's the politician from up north, you were on the telly just the other day


I'm almost afraid to ask...
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

Zoe Robinson

Quote from: ukmarkhHey! It's the politician from up north, you were on the telly just the other day
Y'know, it seems I'm the only person who didn't see that! I hope you enjoyed the show (I certainly did!). :)

Quote from: Shaun M. NearyI'm almost afraid to ask...
I was on Question Time Extra Time, the show that comes on Radio 5 and the BBC Red Button straight after Question Time.

Shaun M. Neary

Ah ok... I got a little confused, I thought it was directed at me cos it was under the quote that was.  :laugh:
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

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