Published by Salamander Software in 1984 the Spectrum conversion of Jeff Minter‘s Matrix: Gridrunner 2 is a decent enough game, with non-flickery graphics and responsive controls. The conversion was coded by Shaukat Ali Tenquist, who kindly commented below to let us know.
Tag Archives: lasers
Hawkeye, Commodore 64
Hawkeye is a scrolling run-and-gun platform shooter developed by Boys Without Brains and published by Thalamus for the Commodore 64 in 1988. It is considered to be one of the best C64 releases of all-time, with simple gameplay, attractive graphics, and memorable music by Jeroen Tel.
RayForce, Arcade
Also known as Gunlock and Galactic Attack in some territories, and Layer Section in Japan, RayForce is a vertical screen bullet hell shooter released into arcades by Taito in 1994. And it is quite impressive, as arcade shooters go.
Half-Life 2: Episode Two, PC
The second episodic chapter in the Half-Life 2 series is arguably the best of the adventures of Gordon Freeman, and maybe even one of the best games of all-time. Half-Life 2: Episode Two was first released by Valve in 2007.
Half-Life 2: Episode One, PC
The first sequel to the classic Half-Life 2 takes the form of an episodic chapter in the adventures of Gordon Freeman. It carries on directly from the end of Half-Life 2, with Gordon and Alyx actually going back into the crumbling Citadel to try to stop the reactor from exploding. Half-Life 2: Episode One was first released in 2006.
Legends, Amiga
Legends is a cutesy action adventure game developed for the Amiga by Yorkshire-based Krisalis Software and first published in 1996 by Guildhall Leisure Services. It takes many of its cues from Nintendo‘s early Zelda games, but unfortunately doesn’t come close to the greatness of those games.
Turrican, Amstrad CPC
Rainbow Arts‘ classic C64 shoot ’em up, Turrican, was converted to the Amstrad by Probe Software, and it demonstrates how to do this kind of side-scrolling run-and-gun shooter on the CPC. Compared to something like Gryzor, Turrican is streets ahead in terms of presentation and playability.
Dark Side, PC
The 1988 MS-DOS version of the classic Freescape game, Dark Side, is arguably the best version of the game available, since it runs fast and the controls are very responsive.
Incentive Software published the game in Europe and Microprose published it in North America.
Arena, Game Gear
The game’s full North American title is Arena: Maze of Death, but it was released as just Arena in Europe so that’s what I’m going to call it. It’s an isometric shoot ’em up with you playing a “pro-democratic freedom fighter” called Guy Freelander who must fight his way through a variety of industrial locations in order to reach a television station to broadcast proof of an evil corporation’s wrongdoings.
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, XBox
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect is a first-person shooter developed by Free Radical Design and published by Electronic Arts in 2005. It is the third game in the TimeSplitters series and was released for XBox (the version shown here), GameCube, and PlayStation 2.
