Re: The best classic Speccy game beginning with P: vote
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 5:18 pm
Am surprised how highly rated Popeye is. I thought it was OKish but for me there are lots in the queue before it.
Possibly the most difficult decision so far - a number of games that I loved playing, particularly Pyjamarama, Ping Pong, Pyramid, Pssst, and (probably the best Speccy rendition of) Pinball. Also, I seem to be remembering other games not listed post-poll that I quite liked, like Project Future.
My douze points goes to Penetrator. For me its only weak point is the 'prod P to fire' key orientation, but I've never found the game too tough so I can overlook that.
We all know how its authors wowed us with The Hobbit, the remarkably innovative way the game was structured released in those very early days and acting as a benchmark for other games in the genre. I think the Mitchell/Pegler inventiveness is shown in taking a reasonably-standard-but-nice-to-play scramble game, and adding a few small but interesting features to lift it up a notch:
- a short but nice 'attract mode'
- training mode/allowing the player to choose their level
- fireworks
- the danger level, linked to the radars and affecting the behaviour of the missiles
- leaving the author's landscape editor within the program so you could design your own levels
I thought the last of these was a great idea back then, being able to design levels and get your mates to play them.
Possibly the most difficult decision so far - a number of games that I loved playing, particularly Pyjamarama, Ping Pong, Pyramid, Pssst, and (probably the best Speccy rendition of) Pinball. Also, I seem to be remembering other games not listed post-poll that I quite liked, like Project Future.
My douze points goes to Penetrator. For me its only weak point is the 'prod P to fire' key orientation, but I've never found the game too tough so I can overlook that.
We all know how its authors wowed us with The Hobbit, the remarkably innovative way the game was structured released in those very early days and acting as a benchmark for other games in the genre. I think the Mitchell/Pegler inventiveness is shown in taking a reasonably-standard-but-nice-to-play scramble game, and adding a few small but interesting features to lift it up a notch:
- a short but nice 'attract mode'
- training mode/allowing the player to choose their level
- fireworks
- the danger level, linked to the radars and affecting the behaviour of the missiles
- leaving the author's landscape editor within the program so you could design your own levels
I thought the last of these was a great idea back then, being able to design levels and get your mates to play them.