John Phillips‘ fabulous Nebulus attracted rave reviews when it was first released in 1987, and – to be honest – it still gathers rave reviews now. The Commodore 64 original in particular.
Commodore 64 Celebration
I’m going to have a Commodore 64 Celebration this week.
I decree this week (beginning Saturday the 27th January 2018), to be Commodore 64 Week, and thus all the updates will be Commodore 64 games.
There are so many GREAT Commodore 64 games around that are still worth playing. And they grab like a grabber’s dream!
If you want to grab Commodore 64 games, get your hands on VICE, or if you want to go full commando: get yourself a real Commodore 64.
Here’s what was published that week:
Nebulus,
HES Games,
World Games,
Winter Games,
Summer Games,
Summer Games II,
California Games,
International Karate Plus,
Scarabaeus,
Paradroid Metal Edition,
Ancipital,
Wizball,
Exile,
Bruce Lee,
Dropzone,
Gribbly’s Day Out,
Uridium Plus,
Alleykat,
Intensity,
Morpheus,
Friday The 13th,
Field of Fire,
Racing Destruction Set,
Spore,
Rescue On Fractalus,
Impossible Mission,
Iridis Alpha,
Mercenary,
Pastfinder
Enjoy!
The King of Grabs
Drill Dozer, Game Boy Advance
Drill Dozer is a fun, side-scrolling “drill ’em up” where you take control of a small tank with a drill on the front, which allows you to dig your way through the landscape and bump off your enemies. You can upgrade the drill as you play, which then requires the learning of new control techniques – using a kind of gear type system. It’s all quite clever and original.
Lunar Jetman, ZX Spectrum
Another hugely memorable Ultimate game (and the official sequel to the hit game Jet Pac), Lunar Jetman was first released in 1983 for the ZX Spectrum.
Cyclone, ZX Spectrum
Manchester-based Vortex Software first published Cyclone on the ZX Spectrum in 1985.
A colourful helicopter action game, Cyclone was created by Costa Panayi – an early pioneer of ZX Spectrum games design, and an alumni of The University of Salford – and is a challenging race to pick up crates from a series of islands that are caught in the grip of a powerful weather system.
Legend of Grimrock, PC
This incredible “indie” dungeon crawler absolutely drips atmosphere and is bloody terrifying in places! It’s a heck of a challenge too…
Legend of Grimrock plays very much in the mould of Dungeon Master, and other first-person, tile-based RPGs, but it does it so much better than almost all of the others.
APB, Arcade
Atari Games‘ 1987 arcade hit APB (All Points Bulletin) is a humorous, fun, overhead driving game where the object is to chase down and ‘catch’ perpetrators in the act of breaking the law, and eventually pulling over targets who have had APBs called on them.
Little Big Adventure 2, PC
An excellent sequel to Little Big Adventure, once again developed by Adeline Software International and published by Electronic Arts, this time in 1997.
Little Big Adventure 2 is more detailed, more varied, and more fun than its predecessor, and, technically, it is also something of a leap forward – this second game having fully-rotating 3D exteriors, as well as the usual isometric, pre-rendered backgrounds seen in the first game.
Little Big Adventure, PC
French developer Adeline Software International created Little Big Adventure (or LBA as it is affectionately known), for Electronic Arts in 1994.
The game is an isometric 3D adventure, with simple beat ’em up combat elements, and features an interesting mix of pre-rendered backgrounds (popular at the time of release, but dating badly these days), and 3D polygonal characters.
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, PC
The second of two ground-breaking Ultima Underworld games made by Blue Sky Productions (later to become Looking Glass Technologies) and Origin Systems.
Labyrinth of Worlds, first released in 1993, again features a very early (and successful) attempt to create a Role-Playing Game with a fully-explorable 3D environment. Both this – and its predecessor, The Stygian Abyss – were developed concurrently, and were a significant leap forward in terms of software technology at the time.
Continue reading Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, PC
The King of Grabs 