Considered by those who know it as an early precursor to Grand Theft Auto, Mike Richardson‘s excellent Turbo Esprit is an action/driving game where the aim is to catch and arrest drugs smugglers by driving around a city and pinpointing them using a map. It was first published for the ZX Spectrum by Durell Software in 1986.
Tag Archives: British
Rambo: First Blood Part II, Commodore 64
Rambo: First Blood Part II, by Ocean Software, is a legendary Commodore 64 game without much substance. People revere the music (by Martin Galway), and also like the simple 360 shooter gameplay, but the truth is: this is an example of an early video game without much to do, and what there is is rather simplistic.
Pogo, ZX Spectrum
Ocean Software‘s 1983 release, Pogo, is arguably the best Q*Bert clone on the ZX Spectrum. And there were a lot of Q*Bert clones around at the time.
It was one of the very first Spectrum games I ever bought and it kept teenage me occupied for a few days, before I eventually grew tired of it.
Pi-Balled, ZX Spectrum
Pi-Balled was published by Automata UK in 1984 and is basically a Q*Bert clone. And it’s not a bad one at that.
R-Type II, Game Boy
A 1992 sequel to the excellent first Game Boy conversion of R-Type, developed by the same company as previously (Bits Studios).
R-Type, Game Boy
This 1991 handheld conversion of Irem‘s classic arcade game, R-Type, is surprisingly good.
Yes: it’s monochrome, and yes: the graphics are tiny, but the gameplay is spot on, which is the most important thing.
R-Type, ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum conversion of Irem‘s classic arcade game R-Type is considered by many to be one of the best games ever made for Sir Clive‘s classic 8-bit home computer.
Pi-Eyed, ZX Spectrum
This infamous ZX Spectrum game was released way back in 1983 by Automata UK (one of the first video games companies ever set up in the UK), and is basically about visiting pubs and going out “on the razz”.
Knight Games, Commodore 64
Knight Games, by English Software, was something of a sensation when it was first released in 1986. It is an historical fighting game, featuring knights in armour, fighting for victory in a multi-event tournament.
Desert Strike, Atari Lynx
This conversion of the classic Sega Megadrive/Genesis game, Desert Strike, is about as good as you could expect on the Atari Lynx. Meaning: that it is very, very good indeed.
In fact: it is surprisingly close to the original, but obviously with smaller, more condensed graphics.
