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Retro Rant - Gaming Review Youtube Channel

Started by manossg, 08:24, 17 May 20

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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


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 :D


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

Quote from: Gryzor on 11:15, 27 April 21
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

#159
Ah, ok, nevermind, I hoped you could tell me how it compares. :)

Gryzor


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

Quote from: manossg on 10:25, 03 May 21
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

Quote from: eto on 11:49, 03 May 21
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

Quote from: Gryzor on 12:19, 25 May 21
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

Quote from: Gryzor on 10:36, 02 June 21
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.

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