Ubisoft‘s point-and-click Dawn of the Dead rip-off originally came out for the Amstrad CPC in 1986, and this ZX Spectrum version followed four years later, in 1990. It was converted by a three-man team: Geoff Phillips, Colin Bradshaw-Jones, and S. Chance and is a faithful recreation of the Amstrad original, with the same clunky controls and zombie-bashing combat.
Category Archives: Ubisoft
Zombi, Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC version of Ubisoft‘s Zombi was the first version of the game released, in 1986, and also Ubisoft‘s first ever published game. And – considering the giant that Ubisoft is now – it’s pretty amazing to think that this weird movie rip-off on the Amstrad was the one that started it all for them…
South Park: The Stick of Truth, PC
South Park: The Stick of Truth is a – gasp – turn-based RPG based on the popular South Park animated series. It was developed by Obsidian and published by Ubisoft in 2014. It was co-written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, co-creators of South Park, and is a hilarious level-grinder with tons of detail, loads of quests, graphics that are identical to the TV show, and all the voices that South Park fans have come to know and love (most provided by Stone and Parker).
E.T.: Interplanetary Mission, PlayStation
Known as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary in Europe, Interplanetary Mission is an isometric action adventure featuring the famous movie character, E.T. And, while the game is no classic, it is at least much better than the infamous Atari 2600 game from 1982. In fact: it’s not too bad at all.
Jimmy Connors’ Tennis, Atari Lynx
Featuring the name and likeness of American world number one tennis champion, Jimmy Connors, this tennis game – as far as I can tell – is the one and only tennis game on the Atari Lynx, and it’s pretty average.
Beyond Good & Evil, PC
Michel Ancel (the creator of Rayman) and his team produced a video gaming classic in 2003 with Ubisoft‘s Beyond Good & Evil.
It is a pseudo sci-fi fantasy, third-person action/adventure where you control a young woman called Jade, with a pig sidekick called Pey’j, and who is battling against the sinister “DomZ”.
Grandia, PlayStation
Grandia was initially released in 1997 on the Sega Saturn in Japan, and then later in 1999 on the Sony PlayStation.
Only the later PlayStation version received an official English translation (although the Sega Saturn version does have a fan translation, using the same text as the PlayStation version, but was not available in English until the patch was released in March 2019).
Zombi, Atari ST
A strange game, and Ubisoft‘s first ever video game release; the Amstrad original coming out in 1986 and this conversion in 1990.
Zombi is a clear appropriation [ie. lift] of George A. Romero‘s classic 1979 zombie film, Dawn of the Dead, although I don’t think Ubisoft actually bought an official license for it. They just changed all the names of the characters…
Far Cry 2, PC
Far Cry 2 first came out in 2008 and is a first-person shoot ’em up set in a war-torn, fictitious African country. It was developed by Ubisoft Montreal.
The game mixes open world exploration with brutal violence, best-in-class combat, and also showcases many exciting action game concepts – such as great vehicle use and a large arsenal of weapons to choose from.
Darkwatch, XBox
Developed by High Moon Studios, Darkwatch is a First-Person Shooter/survival horror game that crosses the American “Wild West” with ghosts, zombies and werewolves and that kind of material.
When it was first released, back in 2005, is was quite impressive for the time. In this day and age Darkwatch looks and plays very simply, but is not entirely without its redeeming features.