The 1990 version of Judge Dredd, developed by Random Access and published by Virgin Games, is a frustrating and barely playable platform action game that is hamstrung by restrictive game mechanics.
Tag Archives: Sci-Fi
Judge Dredd, Atari ST
The Atari ST version of the 1990 Judge Dredd game from Virgin Games is pretty much identical to the Amiga version – and the 8-bit versions – which means that it’s another failed attempt to bring the famous 2000AD comic character to life in a video game.
Judge Dredd, ZX Spectrum
This second attempt at a Judge Dredd game on the Spectrum was developed by Random Access (the development team at The Sales Curve) and published by Virgin Games in 1990, although there is some debate about how widespread the game’s release actually was.
Was the game even properly released, or was it cancelled and some copies leaked out? Few people seem to have had a copy and it only recently turned up on game preservation sites. There were reviews in most of the major magazines at the time, although this doesn’t indicate whether the game was released or not.
Strontium Dog: The Killing, ZX Spectrum
Quicksilva‘s second attempt at a Strontium Dog video game in 1984 – released the same year as the awful Death Gauntlet on the C64 – is only marginally better than their first attempt.
The Killing, on the ZX Spectrum, was written by Paul Hargreaves and once again sees you playing mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha, trying to survive a gauntlet of hostility on an alien planet. This time, though, he’s voluntarily participating in a contest where vicious murderers fight to the death for cash, in a tournament called “The Killing“.
Strontium Dog and the Death Gauntlet, Commodore 64
Strontium Dog and the Death Gauntlet for the Commodore 64 was the first properly-licensed video game based on a 2000AD character. It was coded by Stephen Kellett; co-designed by Mark Eyles, and published by Quicksilva in 1984.
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Syndicate, PC
Syndicate is a classic isometric action game with point-and-click gameplay. It was developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts in 1993.
Star Fox 2, Super Nintendo
The sequel to the classic Super Nintendo 3D shooter, Star Fox, Star Fox 2 is infamous because it was actually cancelled before it was completed, way back in 1995, but was finally finished and released in 2017 on the SNES Classic Edition retro console.
Fade to Black, PlayStation
Fade To Black is a 3D action adventure game developed by Delphine Software and published for the PlayStation by Electronic Arts in 1996 (the MS-DOS version came out earlier, in 1995). It is the sequel to the classic 1992 platform game, Flashback.
Guile, Archimedes
The best way to describe Guile on the Archimedes is: it’s a lot like David Braben‘s Zarch (aka Virus), but set in tunnels. And if you’ve ever played Zarch before then you’ll know that that means that this game is gonna be difficult…
The box describes Guile as: “a unique three-dimensional flight simulator set in a dungeon adventure“, which is sure to have any rational gamer scratching their head in confusion.
Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Super Nintendo
The third and final entry in the “Super Star Wars” series was of course Super Return of the Jedi, which was first released in 1994 through JVC. It was again developed by Sculptured Software for the Super Nintendo. Unlike the other two games in the series this one also made it onto the Sega Game Gear and Nintendo Game Boy that same year (no other platforms received it, though, until the Wii Virtual Console in 2009).
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The King of Grabs 