The best Speccy game by Beyond Software: discussion

[PeteProdge]

Right, the EMAP-spawned software house that had Mike Singleton on its roster? Here's a list of games I've come up with...

Bounces
Doomdark's Revenge
Enigma Force
Lords Of Midnight, The
Psytron
Shadowfire
Sorderon's Shadow
Space Station Zebra
Spellbound
Spy vs Spy

Now, there are two other published titles that I'm not sure what to do with.

Romper Room: I Love My Alphabet is definitely educational software, aimed at young children. I've not downloaded it, but with the screenshot, it seems that it's a quiz...



I suppose a quiz counts as a game, right? It's hardly likely to win, or even pick up any votes, and I've no idea why a British software company picked up the license of an American children's TV show that hadn't been on British screens for over a decade.

The other thing is Shadowfire Tuner, which seems to be a utility for owners of the game Shadowfire, to make it easier or harder. I guess it doesn't really count as a game in its own right.

Any suggestions?

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Seems Lords of Midnight will be the winner

[Dark]

I had a copy of Lords of Midnight, but as with other adventure games, I just never got into it.

For me Spy v Spy is the stand out from that list - though in saying that I am concerned I didn't actually play it, and my memories of it being good are in fact from Spy v Spy III.

[Andre Leao]

Spy vs spy

[DouglasReynholm]

I'd leave the last 2 out Pete, appreciate the attention to detail, but is anyone really going to vote for them? Never a 'Lords' fan so it'll likely be The 2 Denton Designs games, which made me feel like I owned an Apple Mac - without giving Apple a penny!. Living the dream, as my employee Maurice Moss once said.

[stupidget]

For me it'd have to be Spy vs Spy. Spent many hours with playing this one with me mate.

I remember having a go at LoM, but, at 11 years old it was beyond (excuse the pun) me.

[hitm4n]

Shadow fire was a good un wasn't it? I'll have to see the poll screenshots to get some reminders on a few of these games...

[Vampyre]

I guess a Mike Singleton game will probably win this but I never could get into the Midnight games. A lot of the Beyond game were marmite for me - they had a lot of style and undoubtedly huge depth if you could get into them but I never could. Didn't like Psytron or Shadowfire either. Funnily enough I did complete Engima Force BITD, and Spy vs Spy was a really good game too.

Guess where my votes will be going!

[Juan F. Ramirez]

I've never played shadowfire enough to appreciate it but I presume it's an interesting game.

[Spud]

The only Beyond game I ever played was Sorderon's Shadow. No idea what the heck it was about but it sure looked nice. My mate left it on my porch one day out of the blue with a post-it note saying this is bird's crap. I guess he didn't like it.

[SteveSmith]

There seems to be a theme developing here: a lot of Beyond games seem great in theory and have lots of great ideas, but somehow never quite live up to themselves in reality.

[Morkin]

Never quite got to grips with Spy vs Spy, working out how to do all the traps.

I got a little bit further with Shadowfire, managing to move the different units around the place, but struggled with the icon-driven control system. Though it did look good. Then again, I did have a <cough> less than official copy and didn't have the instructions...

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Then again, I did have a <cough> less than official copy and didn't have the instructions...

I think that was my problem as well...

[toot_toot]

Best of Beyond was a great compilation - Doomdark’s Revenge, Sorderon’s Shadow, Shadowfire and Enigma Force. It even came with an audio tape containing the Doomdark’s Revenge story!

So if you can’t decide, give that a try!

[Pegaz]

I love Beyond games, I think Lords of Midnight is one of the top three Spectrum games of all time, though I have to admit I didn't finish it.
In fact, Enigma Force is the game I played the most, it had a great atmosphere and interesting gameplay.
She looked advanced and polished at the time, I really loved to play and that's why she's my favorite here...

[WhatHoSnorkers]

I loved Lords of Midnight and still do, so that gets my vote.

I played Shadow Fire but I think I teleported in the wrong order which was bad. I finished Enigma Force though which was ace.

I didn't like Doomdark's Revenge as much. The reduced draw distance, the mist, the colours, the names weren't as good, even if the land was much bigger.

I'll probably be doing a video on Sorderon's Shadow later in the year. I never heard of it until last year and it looks amazing!

[uglifruit]

Those Beyond big boxes...
I said how inconvenient, unnecessary and difficult to store they were when I was buying them way back when.

But oh how I wish I had them all now, lined up like some hoarder.

And Spy Vs Spy. My third favourite two player Speccy game (when you do that list it goes: Rebel Star 2 / Batty / Spy Vs Spy ).