The games that had an impact on you

[PeteProdge]

Tired of all the predictable daily "Ten albums that had an impact on you" Facebook posts, I decided to start a series based on the computer/console/arcade games that I found significant.

As this was based across all devices, it wasn't going to be fully Spectrum, but as this is a Spectrum forum, I'll keep the focus on the Speccy games...

Target Renegade (Imagine)
A sequel to an arcade conversion, but this time only for home computer users and surprisingly it's better than the source material. Target Renegade was the Speccy's true Double Dragon (the official version from Melbourne House being a diabolical disappointment).
You have a two player mode, you can pick up weapons and use them. It has a superb learning curve. I think it's the pinnacle of side-scrolling beat-em-ups on the Speccy, and it only just edges its very worthy predecessor.
Just don't even think of trying the sequel, a cartoony 'time travel' abomination that blasphemes the franchise and would left you robbed even if came out at budget price.

Feud (Mastertronic)
Now for something that's like a Sunday drive rather than a eye-opening frenzy of action. Certainly not a prolific title, this was a quaint game pushed out at £1.99 and available from newsagents and other corner shops, yet this pocket-money title has had many hours of gameplay out of me and I still play it today. In fact, last night I beat it again.
The more observant of you will notice there is no score. That's because it's simply a case of win/lose. You and your brother are feuding wizards, you have to kill your brother, it's as simple as that.
And just look at those graphics, very richly defined and highly colourful. You can spend ages wandering the medieval village (which is a necessary duty if you want to collect the best spell ingredients) and never tire of the rivers, mazes, trees, hedgerows, huts and pathways.
It's quite a slow burner, but it really appeals to me. The enemy can meet you suddenly, with a horrifying siren that still sends Pavlovian chills into me. Yes, the AI is a bit sloppy as he's not fully optimised for defeating you, but there are unexpected perils from the owner of the herb garden, so don't get too complacent.
I know the Speccy version nearly inside out, so have been trying a few others. The MSX is the same, albeit with the advantage of having music and the disadvantage of being slower. The Amstrad also has the music, and has a different village map that's a lot trickier, so I'm trying to defeat that now.
By all accounts the Commodore 64 version is a load of dog's eggs and the programmer didn't know what he was doing.
Still, in the scheme of things, handing over two quid for this at Woolworths was a brilliant decision. You could spend upwards of eight quid getting a full price Spectrum game, but few have pleased me as much as Feud.

It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (K'Tel)
Yes, that K'Tel. They made an early foray into the home computer games market, publishing bottom-of-the-barrel efforts like Battle Of The Toothpaste Tubes and the totally lamentable Tomb Of Dracula.
This is a management game, essentially a pop music version of the much-more-celebrated Football Manager. It's also written entirely in BASIC, which is amateurish, plus those badly-drawn stick figures in this screenshot are the only graphics you'll come across, the rest of it is all text.
Not that this is the only example of a pop music management game, there's the far more well-known Rock Star Ate My Hamster by Code Masters. That was based on crude humour, albeit the kind you'd get in one of those Viz-wannabe comics. It really hasn't dated well, and I find it strange anyone talks fondly of it.
Oh and then there's The Biz from Virgin Games in 1984, which was written by Chris Sievey, aka Frank Sidebottom. That means it was at least produced by an actual rock star. Still worth a play today, it is, it really is.
Back to this effort, and although it's technically poor, it at least tells a rough story of how the music industry worked. The computer can write a song for you - sample verse:
Kissing is like killing
They always look into my eyes
You need to make it grow
Give me more of your love
If you don't like the lyrics, you can sell a song for a few bob.
You start out at the level of a busker, but your opportunities widen to pubs and clubs once you hire a manager. Your popularity will gradually increase. Gigging takes a toll on your energy and you can have incidents like audience disinterest (darts night at a pub or a police raid on a night club) that reduce your happiness.
Thankfully you can rest for a number of months to bring your energy back, although your popularity will wane.
At a certain level of popularity, you'll get a recording contract offer. Here, you can stumble upon acclaim if John Peel endorses you or ridicule if Tony Blackburn is a fan. You also get to play university unions and London theatres. Oh, and if you've got enough in the bank, you can go on nationwide or international tours to make serious money.
For some reason, buying a status symbol, such as a private island, makes you more popular. Ah well, it was the 1980s after all.
If you get a record out there, you can mingle in the charts with the likes of The Jam; Spandau Ballet and, er, Sky.
Of course, I didn't play this game entirely honestly. Breaking into the program would show you the crucial variables to alter. A simple LET MU=1000000 made me a millionaire, LET PO=100 brings me jaw-dropping popularity.
You can lose the game by going bankrupt, simply being over the hill or your happiness dropping to zero. There you go, mental heath issues acknowledged in this cheap 1983 effort.

Chaos (Games Workshop) on the ZX Spectrum
Although I've posted the previous nine in any old order, I have saved the best 'til last. This is the greatest game ever made. Nothing can dislodge from the top spot.
Sure, it looks like a monster-themed chess tournament played through the medium of teletext. Yes, it's entirely playable as a board game. And yeah, I discovered this 1985 fantasy battle as a giveaway on a magazine's free covertape.
Although I don't go for wizards and orcs stuff and avoid most turn-based strategy games, this is an incredibly addictive title that I still play today. There are eight levels of difficulty and you can have up to eight wizards. It's your choice which ones are played by humans or the computer.
The playing area fits the screen, something which elevates this game above so many other strategy games and its sequel.
As a wizard, you're given an arsenal of random spells, most of which will be creatures, plus you can fortify yourself with defensive upgrades and take out other things. The toughest creatures are hard to acquire, as the probability of success is set very low for dragons and high for minor things like snakes. Of course, you always have the option to cast the creature as an illusion which guarantees a successful creation. However, any other wizard can cast 'disbelieve' on it, which will destroy any illusion creature, so, them's the breaks.
The objective is to wipe out the other wizards. You can go through all their creations but sometimes, if you can do it, it's great to directly attack a wizard. As soon as that wizard dies, his/her creations vanish.
I kept my ZX Spectrum going to 1993, primarily playing this game and only gave it away to a mate (who I also played Chaos with) because I discovered the Commodore Amiga could emulate the Speccy, and therefore I'd still be able to play this game. That's how bloody good it is.
Yes, there's a 3D high definition sequel for modern computers via Steam, put together by the original author - Julian Gallop - and it is very good indeed, even with a linear storyline. Yet, nothing can topple this original for having simplicity and intelligence in the right places.

Those interested in the non-Speccy games I included, can look here...

Populous 2 (Electronic Arts) on the Commodore Amiga
Double Dragon (Technōs Japan) in the arcade
Golden Axe (Sega) on the Sega Mega Drive
Grand Theft Auto 4 (RockStar games) on the PlayStation 3
Pac Land (Namco) in the arcade
Syndicate (Electronic Arts) on the Commodore Amiga

[Ralf]

How do you define "having impact"?

Is it just that you liked some game very much or "having impact" means something deeper and more serious that it somehow influenced you life, personality, morality etc.

[PeteProdge]

How do you define "having impact"?

Is it just that you liked some game very much or "having impact" means something deeper and more serious that it somehow influenced you life, personality, morality etc.

I see these games as epochs, like, the best of their style and a proper 'go-to' game that I'll play today.

[DarkTrancer]

Elite
Chaos
Cholo
Mercenary

[Juan F. Ramirez]

One of the first games I remember that had an impact was Pyjamarama, the joy of exploring, those sounds: tictactictactictac...

Others were:

Sabre Wulf
Match Day (you could play football on your computer!!!)
Skool Daze
The Great Escape

[druellan]

Elite
Chaos
Cholo
Mercenary

+1000 for mentioning Cholo

[Rorthron]

The first game on my list is probably on no-one else's: Meteoroids, by Softek. It's not the best Spectrum game, but it was the first I played (on Christmas morning 1982) and so it makes the list for that reason.

The others are the usual suspects: The Hobbit (the only adventure I ever really enjoyed), Jetpac (which introduced a whole new level of professionalism), Manic Miner (hello, platformers!), Jet Set Willy (sandbox play), Atic Atac (just plain fantastic), Way of the Exploding Fist (hello, beat 'em ups) and Fairlight (so pretty, even if I never got very far).

[R-Tape]

Saboteur.

It’s a brilliant game with a great atmosphere but mostly it made me realise that I was actually capable of completing a game, and that to be fun and still challenge/engage the player it didn’t need to be impossible like 95% of the other games. The relative ease (or reasonable difficulty) didn’t stop me putting the hours in, quite the opposite in fact.

Even still, I got a hell of a shock when I did finish it*.

*lowest setting

[stupidget]

For Speccy Games:

3D Luna Crabs
Yep, it sounds like an odd selection, but, there's a very good reason. Before we had a Speccy at home we had a Dragon 32 for about 12 months. The graphics on the Dragon were pretty low-res and very blocky. Some of the games were very good such as the Donkey Kong clone Donkey King, and the various Frogger clones as they had the speed of the originals, but, they looked pretty poor. After two Dragons dying for the same reason (no they weren't speared by Bard) we got a speccy and bought some games at the same time. Luna Crabs was the first game we loaded and I was amazed by the high-res graphics and 3d effect. Granted the game was pretty boring after a while, but, for me it was a real eye opener.

Fairlight
For me it felt like a real world. The way you could push items with other items to find stuff hidden behind other things was amazing. The way that rooms weren't simply reloaded each time you went in them, but, remembered what you had done before. Killing a guard and then pushing his helmet (oooh, matron!) off a wall then that's where he would appear next time you went into that room. All in all a groundbreaking game for me. So much so that I fired it up yesterday and after a while I realised I'd spent 30 minutes just walking about. Love it.

Knightlore
Simply because of the graphics and character animations. I found the game slightly boring after a while if I'm honest. I'll get me cloak

3D Deathchase
The shear feeling of speed is brilliant, plus, it's impossible to play without moving you head from side to side to dodge the tress.

Trantor the last Stormtrooper
The music!! I only had the Demo version but sat gobsmacked when I watched that massive ship descend into planet, land, explode (well sort of de-materialise) and then that music kicked in. I thought the game was pretty crap, but, just load it for that music.

Road Blasters.
I had a 48k speccy when I bought this game and thought was just a bit 'meh'. I then upgraded to a 128 and was amazed as to how the game changed. The music was obviously a massive addition, but, the game actually played faster and was now a really great game. This was the first time I though 'So that's what a 128 can do then'

Non Speccy game:-

Streets of Rage - Megadrive
I thought the reflection effects in the water were amazing. I'm easily pleased.

Resident Evil 2 - PS1
I bough this before I'd even opened my xmas present, which I new was a Ps1. Loaded it up and my mind was blown by the visuals, the cut scenes, the gore and everything really. Just WoW

The most recent game that has impressed me the most has been Everybody's gone to the Rapture on PS4. I know some people say it's a 'walking simulator' but for me it was one of the most emotional games I have ever played. As it's based in the 80s in small English village in Shropshire (which is about 5 miles from where I live) made me link with it straight away. Add the 80s feel with things such as ford fiestas, transit vans, trim phones, BMX's lying abandoned on front lawns, jumps made from planks of wood raised by a few bricks, crt tv's and hundreds of other 'retro' things and you've got me hooked. The fact that the story is just beautiful, terrifying, haunting and makes you feel like you're actually in something that affected a tiny village, is just the icing on an already bloody gorgeous cake. Plus, it's the only game that I have ever played, on any format, from start to finish 5 times. Like playing Fairlight for the first time I'm thinking 'how can anybody better this?'

[Ast A. Moore]

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Haha! “Face-book.” You just made this word up, didn’t you?

I don’t know about making an impact, but these certainly impressed me with their high level of programming techniques, graphics, or good gameplay (or the combination thereof):

Micronaut One, Tau Ceti, Academy (Pete Cooke)
Firefly (Joffa Smith)
Flying Shark
Anything with Tim Follin’s music. Could listen to it for hours. Sometimes loaded the games just for the music.
Loved the dragon animation in Thanatos.
Zythum was strangely mesmerizing.
Emlyn Hughes International Soccer
Deviants
Probe’s Savage and Trantor, even though I generally don’t like cell-based movement. Good music, too.