I agree (in fact I'll vote for it as I said above).
But I had the feeling that people preferred Atic Atac, Inight Lore or Alien 8 to it.
The best Speccy game by Ultimate: discussion
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Juan F. Ramirez
- Bugaboo
- Posts: 5137
- Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2017 6:55 am
- Location: Málaga, Spain
Re: The best Speccy game by Ultimate: discussion
Jetpac remains a favourite of mine and as enjoyable Psst! and Cookie are if you didn't have a joystick then the QWERT controls made keyboard play, for me at least, a bit awkward.
Likewise I found the whole rotate and move controls of some of their earlier isometric games spoiled my enjoyment of them.
At the moment I'm torn between Jetpac, Sabrewulf, Atic Atac and Gunfright. I actually think that Gunfright is a quite a decent and underrated game.
Likewise I found the whole rotate and move controls of some of their earlier isometric games spoiled my enjoyment of them.
At the moment I'm torn between Jetpac, Sabrewulf, Atic Atac and Gunfright. I actually think that Gunfright is a quite a decent and underrated game.
Re: The best Speccy game by Ultimate: discussion
Unfortunately I didn't play all these games back in the day. The one I played the most was Jetpac, loved the wasps and taking care of the flower on Pssst. Never got far in Underwurlde though always enjoyed its graphics and the bounce off challenge.
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CaptainKrenon
- Drutt
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- Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 4:15 pm
Re: The best Speccy game by Ultimate: discussion
I didn't have a Spectrum when the Ultimate games came out, I only played them when the company had already disappeared.
I can imagine that when most games looked like Chuckie Egg or Horace and the Spiders then something like Atic Atac or Sabre Wulf must have caused a great impression. I missed that surprise factor, but I still enjoyed their games. I think my favourites were Knight Lore and Sabre Wulf.
And yet I cannot help but feel that Ultimate were very good at writing game engines, great and colourful graphics, catchy tunes, fast movements, ..., but not so good at actually polishing the final result, gameplay, level design, etc.
Atic Atac is one of their best games but I always thought that it would be much better and more immersive if the mechanics were something different from doors opening and closing randomly for no reason and enemies respawning all the time in the room.
Underwurlde has a great atmosphere, nice graphics, ... but it's so difficult to control that I find it barely playable.
Lunar Jetman is even more difficult, I never liked that game. It's the only one from their first period that I can't stand.
I think many of their games relied too much on randomness. Sabre Wulf works better because it's much easier to control, and also because due to the way the labyrinth is designed you get a sense of actually exploring, progressing and moving forward every time you play.
Knight Lore is great although it was surpassed in every way by the Jon Ritman games, that had much nicer graphics and much better puzzles. But I like it a lot, and it's the only one that I managed to finish.
In retrospect I think their 16K games are the ones that aged better: they're simple, addictive and unpretentious. You can see it when people play Rare Replay: Jet Pac is the one that they like.
I think Alien 8 was their last great game. From the ones that came after that I enjoy Gunfright (although it's a bit silly and simple).
The rest are forgettable, with the exception of Bubbler.
Bubbler is actually a pretty decent game. It's the only one in a long time that doesn't feel like a rehash of their previous ideas. The gameplay is interesting, plenty of map to explore, and variety of enemies and things.
The flaws, we already know: it's too hard, even after getting used to the control system. It's often hard to tell the position of the things on the screen due to the isometric perspective (Bubbler suffers from this more than others). But it's still a game that I come back to every once in a while.
I can imagine that when most games looked like Chuckie Egg or Horace and the Spiders then something like Atic Atac or Sabre Wulf must have caused a great impression. I missed that surprise factor, but I still enjoyed their games. I think my favourites were Knight Lore and Sabre Wulf.
And yet I cannot help but feel that Ultimate were very good at writing game engines, great and colourful graphics, catchy tunes, fast movements, ..., but not so good at actually polishing the final result, gameplay, level design, etc.
Atic Atac is one of their best games but I always thought that it would be much better and more immersive if the mechanics were something different from doors opening and closing randomly for no reason and enemies respawning all the time in the room.
Underwurlde has a great atmosphere, nice graphics, ... but it's so difficult to control that I find it barely playable.
Lunar Jetman is even more difficult, I never liked that game. It's the only one from their first period that I can't stand.
I think many of their games relied too much on randomness. Sabre Wulf works better because it's much easier to control, and also because due to the way the labyrinth is designed you get a sense of actually exploring, progressing and moving forward every time you play.
Knight Lore is great although it was surpassed in every way by the Jon Ritman games, that had much nicer graphics and much better puzzles. But I like it a lot, and it's the only one that I managed to finish.
In retrospect I think their 16K games are the ones that aged better: they're simple, addictive and unpretentious. You can see it when people play Rare Replay: Jet Pac is the one that they like.
I think Alien 8 was their last great game. From the ones that came after that I enjoy Gunfright (although it's a bit silly and simple).
The rest are forgettable, with the exception of Bubbler.
Bubbler is actually a pretty decent game. It's the only one in a long time that doesn't feel like a rehash of their previous ideas. The gameplay is interesting, plenty of map to explore, and variety of enemies and things.
The flaws, we already know: it's too hard, even after getting used to the control system. It's often hard to tell the position of the things on the screen due to the isometric perspective (Bubbler suffers from this more than others). But it's still a game that I come back to every once in a while.