The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was first released in 2011 by Polish developer CD Projekt Red.
It is the predecessor to the smash hit The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and also follows the exploits of Geralt of Rivia – a Witcher, or monster-hunter – on a series of open-world adventures.
Sub-titled “Tau Ceti II“, Pete Cooke’s stunning Academy is a brilliant mission-based surface shooter that combines great presentation and atmosphere, with interesting use of light – quite radical for a humble ZX Spectrum.
First released in 2015, CD Projekt Red‘s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a third-person, open world Role-Playing Game that is based on a series of novels by the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.
Obviously it is the third instalment in the series (and last, according to the developers), and in it you play a monster-hunting detective badass called Geralt – a Witcher; a carrier of two swords (one steel, for killing humans, and one silver, for killing monsters); and a superhuman solver of problems with acute senses and no emotions.
PAM Development‘s 2003 release, Top Spin, was the moment when tennis games came of age and went full 3D.
From Match Point on the ZX Spectrum, via Super Tennis on the Super Nintendo, to this… Arguably the pinnacle of all modern tennis games.
I want to post some more grabs from Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City on the Nintendo DS. Because it really is one of the best RPGs of all time, and because I can’t recommend you play it highly enough.
Continue reading Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City, Nintendo DS [Part 2]
For my money: THE best game on the Sega Megadrive/Genesis.
Sega‘s very own level-grinding RPG franchise comes to full fruition in this fourth instalment of the Phantasy Star series, first released in 1993.
Continue reading Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium, Megadrive/Genesis
For me: THE stand-out title on the Sega Master System.
Phantasy Star is a solid – if rather basic – level-grinding RPG/adventure, and it went on to spawn a whole series of other games afterwards.
Steve Turner‘s 1985 sequel to Avalon is about as atmospheric and exciting as a fantasy adventure can get on a ZX Spectrum. It really is amazing that this game fits in to only 48K of memory.
Taito’s Lufia series has enjoyed moderate success over a number of platforms and releases over the decades, but this Game Boy Advance release (out in 2002 in Japan, and 2003 in North America – it never got an official European release) is the best game in the series, in my opinion.
In my opinion the Morrowind Game of the Year Edition on the XBox is even better than the much-loved PC original, because the controls are more intuitive.
You may scoff, but having played all the Elder Scrolls games to death over the past two decades, and having written about them a lot in many different magazines, I think that qualifies me to override the opinion of someone who hasn’t done any of those things! 😀
The King of Grabs 