• Commodore Free, Issue 54 - Part five

    From Stephen Walsh@39:901/281 to all on Tue Oct 11 21:23:39 2011
    xperience; and a re-write of a game
    written in basic some years ago; and has now been revamped by the coder into a full machine code program. I suppose as it’s a first attempt at machine code we can’t be to hard on he writer. The game does get confusing; for example it took me some time to find an exit for level 2, things all sort of blur into each other, with the black rocks merging with the black hole. Maybe a better idea would have been to have the word EXIT in a different colour to stand out more from the rest of the screen, its more of a frustration than a game
    playing experience as the “baddies” seem to be able to move faster than our hero and with the jerky movements its really hard to gain any real joy from
    the game play.

    You don’t need to collect all the diamonds to exit the level, in fact you don’t need to collect any but then you wont receive any points, and just progress to the next level were the gameplay becomes harder. All the levels seem to be randomly created and it wasn’t long before this happened.

    OUCH
    stuck behind a wall of trees with no way to move out.

    Sound is minimal. Some sounds and a small melody plays on your death, during the game you can here clicks as your hero moves left right etc. and there are some sounds on your collision with “the bad guys” that’s about all though.

    I can’t say it’s a game I would go back to, (although I have played it now a
    number of times! The game is sound just the implementation needs working on)

    Animation is quite minimal and the whole game feels like an old type in
    listing from the past. I think the game needs a little refining; the idea is neat (although not original)

    So scores then
    Graphics 3
    Gameplay 3
    Sounds 3

    Overall 3

    I did so want to give more in the scores department especially as this is a coding exercise; I don’t want to put the developer off, and with so little memory on the unexpanded Vic, managing anything can be an achievement sometimes. However; I have to score in line with the other releases reviewed
    in C= Free

    A good effort just needs refining


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    Commodore Free review Heroes of Midgard
    *******************

    Another SEUCK 2011 competition entry, This time we have a game called
    “Heroes of Midgard”.

    If you have ever started to play a SEUCK game and longed for some
    instructions, then your longing and yearning are over; for this game has a DOC file downloaded within the Zip image. The file has been created in Ms Word format; so you will need a compatible viewer to read it. Still it’s better than nothing and has pictures so couldn’t be created realistically as a text file. The DOC file even has a short story to help you along and get you in the mood for medieval action.

    Story:
    On an alternate world, where myth and reality collide …

    The peaceful nation of Malexheim has been invaded by the monstrous legions of Hel, goddess of death and war. Though vastly outnumbered, the brave citizens raise an army to repel this abominable incursion, and then to advance into the foul region of Niflheim and strike at the very heart of Hel’s empire.

    The game has two modes of combat, and these are Campaign phase with scrolling background and seige phase where you have a static background or if yo prefer
    a still screen. The game has three levels of action and these are divided into two distinct phases as stated above, the interesting use of terrain is well implemented with various things that slow you down or block your way, you can for example walk through water but it’s slower than going over the bridge etc.

    Booting the game up gets quite exciting, again the Tape version has the
    loading screen for SEUCK competition and some loading music, to tide you along until the game actually starts. Although the title screen doesn’t really set your heart beat racing it’s the usual SEUCK static screen. The D64 image just has one file "midgard data .i" prg, running this gets you to; as you expect the title screen and ready for action.

    Don’t let this put you off, especially if you read the DOC text file! Music is
    interesting on the title screen, sort of medieval and electronic mix of Drums and warbles and a fat pulse melody playing. I quite like it when it breaks
    down to a pulsing beat then the lead comes in, heck you need to listen to understand. Quite nice music let’s leave it there.

    The In game sounds are minimal as you could expect from a SEUCK. The game
    opens with our troops leaving the castle and an order to battle, then we are shown the harsh realities of war with invaders setting fire to vast areas of maps, thus causing mayhem no doubt they will be stealing vast quantities of local ale and coins of the realm as well.

    After what seems like an age we are taken to a siege it’s at this point my skills with the joystick and fire button fall down and I am left for dead by the attacking troops.

    An interesting SEUCK game and a grand concept, it’s a mad idea to try and create a SEUCK from such an idea, and for me it worked really well.
    Graphically (as far a SEUCK) goes its pretty good, with some nice animations and movements. The game seems to cover a large range of attackers including zombies, witchcraft, vampires and orcs. It’s a very good effort indeed; and again could warrant a full commercial release. Although my skills are quite poor I do still find myself going back to the game just to advance a little further.

    So scorewise

    Graphics 5
    Music 5
    Gameplay 6

    Overall 6 (I have sort of weighted the overall score into its favour)

    Working within the limitations of SEUCK (and this is the main problems really; not the implementation) it’s a good game, well thought out with good animation
    and game play, worth of a download.

    The SEUCK 2011 competition has now finished and the results are shown below, and to be honest its how I would have scored the game’s myself, although not sure why Richard decided to enter himself with a fake entry, still it kept people on their toes (erm I think).

    OVERALL RESULTS
    Position:
    Name of game:
    Author:
    Score:
    1
    Forgotten Forest
    Alf Yngve
    61
    2
    Heroes of Midgard
    Anthony Burns
    53
    3.
    Action Def
    Christian Siege
    40
    4.
    Flawshow
    Anthony Burns
    38
    5.
    Missile Madness
    Alf Yngve
    37
    6.
    Escape from the Annoying Chavs
    Joshua Green
    17
    7.
    Deff-Ender (This was actually a fake entry to surprise gamers)
    Pav Loda (Richard/TND)
    39, but has been disqualified


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