Reviews

Where to start? After reading and rereading the preview in Your Sinclair my expectations were sky high for this game. To think decades and 100's of games later, Head Over Heels is still hands down my favourite game of all time. I still own my original copy and those YS magazines that covered it and have returned to this game more than any other, I'm playing through the Amstrad cpc version now. After that I have completing Monster Max on the GameBoy in my sights. HoH is not only a classic, but for me, has never been surpassed and I suspect never will be.

My first Speccy game! I got this along with my zx48k (and the pack in games) and never got tired of it, but never did reach the surface. The loading screen is excellent too, setting up the story in a way unlike any other speccy game I've seen. That dragon is scary too, always made me jump!

This game rocks! Frantically collecting incrediants to cast spells at your opponent wizard is tense, and really gets your adrenaline going. The sprites are big and colourfull and the spells really satisfying to cast. Always thought this would make for an outstanding two player game.

This was the first Dizzy game I played and as it happens it is also the best. The puzzles require thought but are never so difficult you would need a guide. I did complete the game withought having worked out what the rope was for though, d'oh. The graphics are excellent and the yolkfolk, dragons,etc, really ooze character. There's some great set pices here too, like the magic beans or the well. Definite contender for best game on the speccy!

This game is as tough as nails! A seriously unforgiving game where every move has to be carried out with pixel perfection and under a time limit to boot. It's like a hybrid of Manic Miner and Scooby Doo and very addictive as you progress just a little bit more on each play through. I could complete this back in the day, no chance now tho :P

A budget classic! The way you float around with the jet pack is fun all in itself. Puzzles are great and theres real satisfaction just from exploring a la Jet Set Willy. Always found typing the Slartibartfast password difficult tho. Theres little sound in the game but within the code is a recommendation to have the Prince 1999 album on while playing, can't say better than that :D

A nice little budget game this. Its easy to pick up and play and I remember even my non gaming friends being charmed by its quirky humour. The gameplay is similar to Marios Cement Factory but with babies that get electrocuted or fall to thier deaths down lift shafts - whats not to love?

I was obsessed with the Renegade series as a kid but the first one was always my favourite. In fact I prefer the specy port over the arcade original. This game has atmosphere to spare and plays like a dream.

I think Arkanoid was my first full priced game and its one I played right through until my specy retired to the atic to make way for my Sega Mega Drive. This is a better port of the arcade classic than other systems got. Theres a lot of little nuances in the gameplay that set this apart and it looks great too. Love it!

I loved The Great Escape but it suffered from a steep learning curve. WTSS however is much more accessible. The story guides you, tutorial like, though the early stages, and before you know it your shooting dinos with the best of em. There were a lot of glitches unfortunately and it was frustrating to get stuck in scenery with no choice but to quit and restart. Still its easily one of the best games on the system and not to be missed.

I never had a clue what to do in this game yet it was just great fun running around. First game I ever played where you chose your character(!) and the bad guys Dracula et all looked awsome. Falling down the trap doors was a highlight and the sound was real nice, kinda soothing.

I jumped through hoops to get a hold of this game but boy was it worth it! Never having had Driller this blew my mind. I played this to death and when I finally competed it I just kept going back to do it all over again. One of my favourite games ever, take that Mass Effect!

I take my hat off to anyone who can get through this game without cheating. Its really difficult and if it where a little more forgiving I think it'd be more fun. Its certainly packed with humor, has a huge map and Jack was worthy of a franchise, a real gem.

This game is gorgeous, it has a real 2000 AD vibe which I love. Its tricky to get into at first, but once you get used to moving around the terrain and managing your shields your off! A great game thats been maybe overlooked - highly recommended!

I'm a huge Nemesis fan and this game doesn't disappoint. Hacking away at Torquemada's minions is great gory fun and the limited ammo available for your gun adds some strategy. Graphics however atmospheric are quite blurry. Be pure! Be vigilant! Behave!

Everything was going so right for the MOTU franchise then suddenly so so wrong. The movie was patchy at best but the game of the movie is just not good. Imagine Atic Atac but with every iota of charm sucked out of it and your half way there. Not even Kevin and Julie could save this game :(

More puzzler than platformer, Nebulus always has you coming back for one more try. Addictive and fun to play with friends, Nebulus has aged gracefully. Just this once I will concede the C64 version is slightly better, and available on the Wii virtual console(!)

Arkanoid was a mainstay when I was a young un so purchasing the sequel was a no brainer. And it was.....ok. The problem is it tries to do too much, graphics wise, and it all falls a bit flat. Better than Batty, not a patch on the original. D'oh!

I know a lot of people compare this unfavourably to the original, but they're so different. Chuckie Egg 2 is more like the spiritual successor to Jet Set Willy and in that it exels.
It has one of the best first 5 minutes of any game I've played and it may have been nice if that initial inventiveness had carried on throughout the game. However it is a very solid platformer and unlike JSW it can be completed(!) The controls in particular are ultra tight and responsive. It looks like a dream come true and the sound, its like sped up farting but in a good way, mental.
Challenging, fun, epic!!!

Unlike many conversions I owned I had actually played the arcade Out Run and would compare it to say, the second coming.
So I didn't have high hopes for the speccy version and therefore wasn't as disappointed in what we got as many of my friends were.
I did persevere with it tho and it is by no means the worst port of the game.
Out Run is not so much a classic arcade game but a Legend. The speccy version, not so much.

Unlike Head Over Heals, which I'd recommend to anybody, you'd have to be a fan of isometric games to really appreciate this one.
First up its all too easy to wander aimlessly and if you don't know how to deal with the underwater denizens they'll make short work of you.
Fortunately this game looks excuisite, it really feels like your underwater. Its also incredibly smooth, none of the slow down you find in the likes of (the also excellent) Greyfell.
Hydrofool has a real charm and I've come back to it again and again.

Greyfell is an isometric adventure par excellence. The charcters are cute and memorable, its very much like an 8 bit Animal Crossing in fact. The puzzles are real head scratchers and require quite a bit of lateral thinking which is part of the fun. Similar to Hydrofool you could wander around a lot getting lost so using a guide or making a map is a must.
There is a major downside though. Greyfell suffers from serious slow down, almost making it unplayable. I would recommend using an emulator for this one.