The best Speccy game by Durell: vote

[PeteProdge]

They're still going! But, um, nowhere in this poll will you find an option for their 'comprehensive industry-specific software solution for general insurance brokers and financial advisers', because I tried loading it into a 128K last night and got a '4 Out of memory, 0:1' error message. Otherwise, you know it'd have thrashed Saboteur!

Anyway, here's the poll..

Combat Lynx


Critical Mass


Deep Strike


Fat Worm Blows A Sparky


Harrier Attack!


Jungle Trouble


Saboteur!


Saboteur II


Scuba Dive


Sigma 7


Thanatos


Turbo Esprit

[Matt_B]

1. Saboteur
2. Turbo Esprit
3. Combat Lynx

Honourable mentions go to... everything else, other than Jungle Trouble. I never got on at all with that game.

[blucey]

Thanatos.

Thought about Turbo Esprit also but where both games.are technical marvels, Thanatos has a few more tricks up.its sleeve and is more fun to play now. TE hasn't aged all that well.

No idea what you lot see in Saboteur. It looks good but the gameplay is slow and clunky. The worst combat in any fighting game.

[MarkRJones1970]

Spitfire?



https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4 ... m/Spitfire

Chain Reaction?



https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/8 ... n_Reaction

Death Pit?



https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/9 ... /Death_Pit

[Pegaz]

I was just wondering why there is no Chain Reaction on the list.
Itis an official sequel to Critical Mass, but the game is most interesting because the 128k version has an "unplanned" easter egg.
Due to a bug in the game, its not possible to hear the beautiful Jean-Michel Jarre tune, adapted by Rob Hubbard and a Poke is needed as a fix.
As always, I will vote for the games I played the most, so:
1. Critical Mass
2. Turbo Esprit
3. Thanatos

[Stefan]

Spitfire?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4 ... m/Spitfire

Chain Reaction?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/8 ... n_Reaction

Death Pit?

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/9 ... /Death_Pit

Those links all explain why they are not in the poll.

[redballoon]

Chain Reaction must’ve been released after Durrell sold it’s stuff to Elite but it was released under the Durrell name, so I suppose that probably should’ve been in the poll out of those 3, I suppose.

[ParadigmShifter]

I came here to vote for their Client Relationship Management (CRM) software for the General Insurance and Financial Services industries so was disappointed to find it was Speccy games only

I love how vague it all is, it's like a game in itself finding out what they are selling these days.

EDIT: I only owned Combat Lynx and only played Harrier Attack otherwise out of those... didn't they do Scuba Dive as well? (YES - read the OP lol) (Which had nice graphics). Combat Lynx best of those I think.

[Stu]

I was just wondering why there is no Chain Reaction on the list.
Itis an official sequel to Critical Mass, but the game is most interesting because the 128k version has an "unplanned" easter egg.
Due to a bug in the game, it’s not possible to hear the beautiful Jean-Michel Jarre tune, adapted by Rob Hubbard and a Poke is needed as a fix.

The game’s source indicates there should have been a music credit on the title screen which isn’t in the release version -- looking at it in a hex editor shows it was crudely patched out with space characters, so I suspect it was deliberately removed at a late stage (due to copyright worries?) rather than being bugged.

[toot_toot]

Chain Reaction must’ve been released after Durrell sold it’s stuff to Elite but it was released under the Durrell name, so I suppose that probanbky should’ve been in the poll out of those 3, I suppose.

Yeah, it’s definitely a Durrell game. The original news release for it in YS mentions it alongside Saboteur II and Thanatos, but it sounds like it was delayed to the point where Elite were doing the distribution part, however it was marketed as a Durrell game.

[redballoon]

I was looking at my actual copy of Chain Reaction as I replied! I forgot I could’ve just looked at the inlay section in SC!

[Andre Leao]

1. Saboteur
2. Turbo Esprit
3. Saboteur 2

[Mpk]

The best Speccy software house? Could be.

Anyway, I've gone for
1) Turbo Esprit, years ahead of its time. Knock a dude off his ladder. Hilarious.
2) Thanatos. Grab a dude with your mighty talons, drop him again from a great height. Hilarious.
3) Saboteur. Hard to spell, but you can murder a dog. Hilarious?

[PeteProdge]

Right then, to address the Chain Reaction thing...

First off, I always do a 'The best Speccy game by [software label]: discussion' post seven days before the poll begins properly, and this is no exception. These discussion threads are to iron out any issues - sometimes I miss a game or too, sometimes I suggest a game that doesn't really meet the qualification to included. Here's the discussion thread for Durell and nobody brought up the issue of a lack of Chain Reaction.

Also, this site counts it as an Elite game. Now, I am prepared to accept the argument that it's certainly sold as a Durell game, as several posts here have definitely proved the point and I think it should be included. (Plus, I never included it when I did the Elite poll, the right thing to do.) Alas, I can't edit this poll.

Should I just consider this poll null and void and start a proper one with Chain Reaction included?

[redballoon]

Nah, let the poll carry on…nobody is going to vote for it anyway
@PeteProdge
I’d just like to add that the time and effort you’re putting into these is outstanding. Thanks and keep up it up!

[ParadigmShifter]

You took a mystery and made me want it
You got a pedestal and put me on it
You made me love you out of feeling nothing
Something that you do
Oh, and I was there, not dancing with anyone
You took a little, then you took me over
You set your mark on stealing my heart away
Crying, trying, anything for you

[PeteProdge]

Nah, let the poll carry on…nobody is going to vote for it anyway

I've no idea how unpopular it is/was!

I mean, obviously, Saboteur, Turbo Esprit or Thanatos would be the popular choices by some margin. If I had to bet on an outcome, I was going to say Saboteur (also my choice), but it turns out Turbo Esprit is way ahead (not that I'm complaining, that's also a really cracking game, I guess it's deserved really).

If Chain Reaction is that bad, then yeah, let's keep this poll going. But do add Chain Reaction in your 'top three' proportional votes if it applies of course.

[PeteProdge]

You took a mystery and made me want it
You got a pedestal and put me on it
You made me love you out of feeling nothing
Something that you do
Oh, and I was there, not dancing with anyone
You took a little, then you took me over
You set your mark on stealing my heart away
Crying, trying, anything for you

Very good!

And I do often wonder what software label of the Speccy era can be considered the 'Motown' of them all? (Yeah, my head is filled with very bizarre comparisons that are often illogical.)

[redballoon]

Just as an aside, I’m intrigued by this also known as “Critical Mass 2” for Chain Reaction, which is something I’ve never heard of until this morning. Had this ever been confirmed? I can’t see any mention of Critical Mass in any Chain Reaction adverts or documents, there seems to be no link in the plots and the only link seems to be nuclear terms, slight overlapping of plot elements and they’re both published by the same company…so where has this Chain Reaction is the sequel to Critical Mass come from?

[hitm4n]

Scuba Dive
Turbo Esprit
Saboteur

Harrier Attack would be number 4.

[Rorthron]

Also, this site counts it as an Elite game.

It seems as though the database should be corrected, and the publisher changed to Durell.

[PeteProdge]

It seems as though the database should be corrected, and the publisher changed to Durell.

Yep, agreed.

[R-Tape]

1 - Saboteur!
2 - Thanatos
3 - Jungle Trouble

It's looking like an interesting one between Saboteur and Turbo Esprit. It's an easy first place for me: the graphics, the atmosphere, the big subway train, and it's completable - Saboteur!! (added exclamation to emphasise just how good it is)

The bloody big dragon sprite is doing most of the heavy lifting to get Thanatos into second place.

And sorry, I had to vote Jungle Trouble for third. No accounting for taste eh.

[stupidget]

!!!!Warning!!!! Some comments in the following post may offend!!!




I don't like either of the Saboteur games!!!

1 - Turbo Esprit
2 - Scuba Dive
3 - Combat Lynx

[sn3j]

Saboteur because of the big sprites and their realistic animations. The stippled textures sometimes made my eyes hurt but that's greatly outweighed by the gameplay.