Retro Rant - Gaming Review Youtube Channel

[manossg]

It is time for some speccy goodness, reviewing Castlevania: Spectral Interlude, an unofficial addition to the franchise from 2015. We shall see in this review, in typical Retro Rant fashion, if this highly praised title is any good...or not!

[Gryzor]

Dude, wrong forum.

[manossg]

 

Sub-forum: Other retro
Description: Not CPC-specific, but still retro-related!

I think I have posted in the right place. If not, feel free to move this thread to the appropriate sub-forum.

[Gryzor]

I'm trolling you man, never mind

[manossg]

I'm trolling you man, never mind

[manossg]

This is Heart of the Alien, the sequel to Another World. A 1994 Sega CD exclusive that didn't come out for the Amiga until 2016. So let us see if we missed out on a great sequel back in the day!

[Gryzor]

Α big reason I'm sad I can't emulate the SCD on the Sg...

[manossg]

Α big reason I'm sad I can't emulate the SCD on the Sg...

Have you played the original? I haven't, but, having watched some videos, I can say that the miggy port is almost identical!

[Gryzor]

Which original do you mean? The CD version of HotA? A bit, yes, but only emulated...

[manossg]

Ah, ok, nevermind, I hoped you could tell me how it compares.

[Gryzor]

Nah apologies

[manossg]

Licensed games on the home micros were a mixed bag back in the day, so let's take a look at one such game on the Amstrad CPC, Blues, Brother, which got a whopping 95% from Amstrad Action.

PS. Not 100% sure about the release date, since various sources mention this as a 1992 game, but the title screen says 1991.

[eto]

which got a whopping 95% from Amstrad Action.

Unbelievable! What were they thinking? But also at the and of the Atari ST live, any game that was released received 80%+, probably just because it was released.

Btw: So funny, just when I thought "oh my god - and how awful is the music" you mention the great music :-D To me it sounds like one of these abysmal BASIC programs that try to play some tunes based on DATA statements without appropriate usage of envelopes. But hey, different opinions ;-)

Great review, thanks for that! I never came across this game - and now definitely will not try it out.

[manossg]

Unbelievable! What were they thinking? But also at the and of the Atari ST live, any game that was released received 80%+, probably just because it was released.

Btw: So funny, just when I thought "oh my god - and how awful is the music" you mention the great music :-D To me it sounds like one of these abysmal BASIC programs that try to play some tunes based on DATA statements without appropriate usage of envelopes. But hey, different opinions ;-)

Great review, thanks for that! I never came across this game - and now definitely will not try it out.

I don't think this thing would have gotten 95%, even if it was a game for the tiger handhelds! I would like to actually read this review, see how the hell they justify such a rating.


About the music, well, I love it and I am not even a fan of the original versions!


Thank you for watching, mate!

[manossg]

It is time for the next part of my Amiga totally sacrilegious top 100 games!


Here is the playlist with the videos so far, in case you have missed any:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEl4_SLyU3avcv9Zrv3qwjoFSYYbQHE0c

[Gryzor]

Nice trip down memory lane

[manossg]

Time for James Pond - Underwater agent, a beloved Amiga platformer...let's see if it was truly a gem or if it was (sea) garbage.

[manossg]

Time for a retro styled modern point 'n' click adventure game, Kathy Rain from 2016. This is a game that takes place in the 90ies, in which you control a badass biker that investigates the death of a relative and visits places riding her Corley motorcycle.

Warning: Some video and audio issues in the footage have to do with my recording setup and not with the game.

[Gryzor]

Honestly, never understood the combination of pixel/retro gfx with high-res 'modern' sketches...

[manossg]

Honestly, never understood the combination of pixel/retro gfx with high-res 'modern' sketches...

I know what you mean, it doesn't always work, but I think it is very successful in this one. It gives me the feeling of delicious VGA graphics with a bit of modern polish.

[manossg]

Time for yet another recent Amiga release, Magica, a 2020 port of the 2016 Amstrad CPC single screen platformer by Juan Martinez. Is it a worthy addition to Amiga's library or not?

[Gryzor]

Ah I remember this being a pleasant surprise The gfx are certainly not Amiga-level, but I remember it being quite smooth (smoother than the vid) and of course very enjoyable...

[manossg]

Yes, I was also pleasantly surprised by this one! I found the graphics upgrade pretty decent, but the best thing is the immense playability of the game, so big kudos to everybody involved!

[Gryzor]

True. I mean, even a version with placeholder gfx would be enjoyable because it's such a good game, but the upgrade was nice indeed

[manossg]

True. I mean, even a version with placeholder gfx would be enjoyable because it's such a good game, but the upgrade was nice indeed

I agree 150%. Too bad bitd publishers often made the graphics a top priority (understandable, since screenshots sold copies) and the core gameplay was quite often an afterthought. Both Amstrad and Amiga owners got shafted numerous times because of that.