On the face of it the Atari ST conversion of Williams Electronics‘ classic Smash TV looks pretty good, but scratch below the surface and you might realise that it has one or two major deficiencies.
Tag Archives: Retro Gaming
Halls of the Things, ZX Spectrum
Halls of the Things is a 1983 release from Design Design and Crystal Computing. On the surface it looks like an RPG, but it’s more of an action game than anything.
Looping, ColecoVision
The ColecoVision conversion of Venture Line‘s Looping is much easier than the arcade original, which is a relief because the original is mind-bendingly hard.
Super Cycle, Commodore 64
Epyx‘s Super Cycle first came out for the Commodore 64 in 1986. It was critically well-received and sold reasonably well. I remember buying the cassette version and very much enjoying it.
Boulder Dash, ColecoVision
The ColecoVision conversion of Peter Liepa and Chris Gray‘s classic Atari 8-bit game, Boulder Dash, is really quite wonderful. It was converted by Micro Lab and published on the Micro Fun label in 1984.
Crystals of Arborea, Amiga
Trees, trees, and more trees! That’s what you get when you explore the ancient island kingdom of Arborea. And with a name like that it is no surprise.
Crystals of Arborea is a real-time, first-person, tile-based, party-driven RPG with combat, exploration, and day/night scenes where the colours cycle to give you a nice atmospheric setting.
Crystals of Arborea, PC
Crystals of Arborea is the predecessor to the Ishar series of games. It’s a first-person, tile-based RPG, with a character-based party system and turn-based combat.
Ishar 3: The Seven Gates of Infinity, Atari ST
The third and final instalment in the Ishar series, Ishar 3: The Seven Gates of Infinity was released by Silmarils in 1994.
It plays similarly to the previous two games (ie. first-person, real-time RPG), but with further refinement and a somewhat different setting – at least initially.
Continue reading Ishar 3: The Seven Gates of Infinity, Atari ST
Ishar 2: Messengers of Doom, Atari ST
The sequel to the interesting Ishar, Ishar 2: Messengers of Doom is a French, first-person RPG with atmospheric graphics and challenging party-based gameplay. It was first released in 1993.
Thankfully, Ishar 2 rights some of the wrongs of the first game. You can actually see where you are on the map now, which is a blessed relief, and the interface has been cleaned-up a bit, making movement and combat a bit easier.
Ishar: Legend of the Fortress, Atari ST
The first in a trilogy of French Role-Playing Games published by Silmarils, Ishar: Legend of the Fortress is an atmospheric, first-person, party-based RPG with challenging gameplay, released in 1992.
The King of Grabs 