Random Retro - Duck Out (ZX Spectrum)

Duck Out (ZX Spectrum) :  

I thought it was about time I started writing about some non-Gruesome-Game-type-games on the blog again, as I've been meaning to cover such things ever since I started and have only ever really covered Tusker on the Speccy! And whilst we're sticking with the Speccy for the first Random Retro, I plan to cover games on a lot of different systems in the future....

But what is this oddity that I'm bringing to the table for starters? Well, it's Cartoon Duck a l'speccy...a dish that initially looks quite appetizing but ended up leaving a bad taste in my mouth!

The game starts with our hero (who bears a striking resemblance to a certain daft duck from Warner Bros.) trying to escape the clutches of a bloodthirsty chef who's been trying to cook him! Taking control of Dafty (which is what we'll call the duck from now on) you have to run from left to right through the level, battering enemies with a handy frying pan and dodging flying kitchen utensils as you try to reach the exit of the restaurant!

You're not just trying to stop Dafty from becoming a feathery-flamegrill though! You have another good reason to hurry along, as you're late for an appointment to meet your girlfriend in the park! So you have to battle your way through the streets, avoiding or battling tramps, rats, bats, street cats and ferocious dogs to reach the Park before the impatient lady-duck decides to leave!

It's still not over once you get to the Park either, as to get to the pond you'll have to deal with some thugs, lizards and more rats, bats, cats and dogs before finally making it to your girl and, hopefully, some smootchie-smootch-style action!

As you can tell from the screenshots, programmers Fernando and Ignacio at Dro Soft were really trying to get the cartoony-vibe right with this game, and they pretty much succeed as the graphics do indeed make you think back to lazy Saturday mornings spent watching cartoon animals inflicting torture on each other with whatever implements they could lay there hands/paws/feathers on....

There's just a few problems though. First, dodging and hitting is literally all you'll be doing as you progress through the three levels....and it gets very repetitive, very quickly! Especially when you consider the second problem...the difficulty!! Like most Spanish games I've played on the Spectrum, its just too damn tricky! Touching anything will drain your energy, and the enemies come at you thick and fast which makes the third problem the one I found most frustrating...

In order to batter the enemies you have to first hold the fire button and then press the direction you want to swing the frying pan in. However, pressing down and fire will aim the pan low in whichever direction you're facing, whilst pressing fire and up will aim directly in front of you. For some reason I found this very tricky to nail, and often when trying to hit enemies that I had to aim high for, I'd hit up before pressing fire and jump right in to them instead of smacking them!

Maybe I'm just rubbish at the game and need to spend more time with it, but the difficulty of it all makes me not really want to bother...which is a shame as it does seem like a good game is hidden in there somewhere!
Luckily, someone did indeed finish it with the help of an emulator's rollback feature and there's a play-through on Youtube at RZX Archive, which I used to get the screenshots from the later levels and which you watch below...

If you're too lazy to sit through that though, (or even lazier and don't want to skip to the end of the video) I present here some screenshots of the duck of Dafty's dreams that awaits at the end of his quest....

At least she starts off as a duck, but then bizarrely changes into a human, which suggests a melding of species the likes of which hasn't been seen since Howard The Duck...

Ultimately then, a disappointment...but still worth giving a go out of curiosity! Hopefully the next game I try will turn out better...join me again soon to find out! Later, stuffers!

Game Reviews - 4 Minute Warning (ZX Spectrum)

Many people credit Resident Evil as having invented the Survival Horror genre...others point out that Alone in the Dark came out before it, and so that has a better claim....yet more others point to Sweet Home on the NES and say that it is the real starting point! Well, for modern day survival horror games maybe....but if you look further back into history, you can uncover a few more titles you could arguably include under that heading.....

Earlier this week I purchased a rather spiffy CD that Andrew Green has put together...The Ultimate Guide To Games For The ZX Spectrum.....a PDF file that catalogues every commercial release for the Speccy and includes a screenshot or two of each game. It's a great read, and a great way to find some titles you might not be aware of and that look interesting...you can pick the CD up from here and check it out yourselves if you don't believe me....

Anyway, it was whilst looking through this that I noticed a game called 4 Minute Warning. I'd certainly never heard of it before, and the mini-review said that it was "fun for a while" so I decided to go to the World of Spectrum site, download it and give it a bash....

Upon loading, the game informs you that the world is on the edge of collapse, but in Britain at least we can look forward to the fact that if Nuclear War becomes a reality we get a 4 minute warning before the bombs are dropped.

This then is a simulation of those 4 minutes, and so you can see if you have what it takes to gather up supplies, store them in your bunker and get yourself safely inside before the explosion..and then try to survive the aftermath!

Controls for the game are a bit odd (you move around with 5,6,7 & 8....4 picks up items, 9 drops them) but you can use the arrow keys for moving which makes it a bit easier. You'll find yourself banging off the furniture, and find it quite difficult to position yourself though, as your little character zips round the screen at a manic pace! But this does help build up the tension, as you really do only have 240 seconds to gather up the supplies in your house and retreat to safety...

The first thing you have to do is get the key, and then drop it at the top left of the bunker which is located at the bottom left of the screen. Be sure to pack the other items in carefully, as by pressing 2 whilst you're in the bunker you have to collect the supplies from upstairs too! Once you've collected all the food, water and the radio, hurry back to the shelter before the timer gets to 240 and lock the door by pressing 3! Be sure you're done though, as once you lock the door, it stays locked until the bomb drops!

After the bomb drops and you're treated to some flashy borders and Speccy beeps, you'll find yourself in the darkness of the bunker with a few options...should you eat the food or drink some water? Is it safe to go outside? If you've managed to get the radio you can listen to the BBC and see what they're saying...If you fail to make the right choices and try to venture outside however, you'll die due to radiation poisoning.....

If you manage to get it all right though, you can pop out and see what carnage the bombs have brought down with them! Outside you'll find military men that'll kill you for looting if you touch them or other looters who'll murder you and steal your food if you bump into them!

Unfortunately, I've yet to make it past this screen, as it seems that the general goal of this game is to point out that if there is a nuclear war, you're pretty much screwed whatever you try and do....

At the time Magination Software released this game via mail order way back in 1984, it seems it upset the few games mags that reviewed it. They didn't like it's bleakness and political references..(it says at one point "That's what you get for voting for Thatcher" and tell's Ronnie to keep his finger off the button at another..)...and it only got low review scores. It seems however, that they didn't make it past the first screen and also, I feel they somehow missed the point...

Yes it's difficult to control, and almost impossible to survive...but every time you play you get a little bit further and see a little more of what it has to offer! It's fun and tense trying to gather up all the stuff before the time ends, and despite looking a bit rubbish it still manages to create a panicky atmosphere.

And, as I hinted at in the opening paragraph, given that the goal is to survive, the games shoddy controls and the fact that it doesn't get much more horrific than nuclear destruction, it could be argued that Survival Horror has been with us since at least 1984......

Game Reviews - Blinky's Scary School (ZX Spectrum)

Drumtrochie Castle (like any old castle worth it's salt) was haunted. Ancestral ghosts had wandered it's halls for years...moaning and groaning, rattling chains, all the usual stuff...They had a rare old time of it..

All that is, until Red Laird McTavish decided he'd had enough! "Och! It's ma castle, and nae ghosties or ghoulies or long-leggity beasties are going tae spoil ma legendary Haggis Banquets!" he thought to himself. So he decided to take up ghost-hunting and rid Drumtrochie of every last spooky spectre.

Exactly 100 years have passed since he did just that, and the Head Spectre at the Ghost School has decided that Red's descendant and current Laird, Hamish, has bragged about his ancestor's antics once too often. And anyway, no castle should be without some spooks to scare things up a bit...

And so he sends his star pupil Blinky out on his first assignment..to recapture the castle for haunting! Blinky has only one night to succeed in his mission or he faces another 100 years at scare school! Yipe! Truly a fate worse than death! It is up to the player then, to help our sheet-like chum to accomplish his task and put the wind up Hamish's kilt!

Blinky certainly lives up to his name, fluttering his eyes as you bounce along the platforms trying to round up ingredients for a magic potion. These are scattered throughout the mansion, which although devoid of spooks has a nasty collection of rats, bats, insects and the like..all of which seem to be out to get poor Blinky! The old place is also in a bit of a state and pieces of it keep tumbling down, making it even trickier for our hero to travel unscathed...

Bouncing around on the platforms can be a bit annoying sometimes too, as you'll occasionally clip the edge of one, which sends you bouncing off in a different direction from which you intended to be travelling in...sometimes landing you in one of the castles many spikey trap pits! A bit of practice soon fixes this though, and before long you'll be zipping about over battlements and down the loos!

Oh yes...did I forget to mention the loos? Another way to traipse about is via the toilet-warps, which will flush you away to another part of the castle! You have to make sure you have enough bog paper though.....I suppose Blinky needs to wrap himself in something so he doesn't end up as a poopy poltergeist!

It's the little touches in Blinky that really make it stand out from the crowd a bit....the aforementioned eye-fluttering, the bits when you go into a dark room and can only see his eyes, the toilets...all of these give it a certain charm. The sound is a bit functional, but there's a nice tinkly tune on the title screen that sets it up nicely as a cutesy, colourful little adventure.

Ultimately, I found our pale little pal a lot of fun to hang around with, and although the spikes and falling masonry can get a bit annoying at times, the game has a definite one-more-go quality that saw me jump straight back into it for another attempt. Blinky gets his A+ from me at least....and as it wasn't the last time he haunted the Spectrum, we might be hearing from him in this blog again at some point...

Game Reviews - Tusker on the ZX Spectrum

About time I actually started to do some reviews I reckon....first up, Tusker on the old Speccy, mainly because it was on top of my games pile, staring up at me! Right, what's the story with this one then....

Your father was a great explorer, traipsing around Africa having spiffy adventures and staring danger in the face on a regular basis...you however, have been a bit of a disappointment to him. You prefer to stay at home and write his diaries and act as his biographer rather than follow in his footsteps. You had no wish to experience danger or horrible, icky insects...and sand would get in your undies and everything! No thank you!

However, 3 years ago, your father's mutilated corpse was found floating down the Turkwel River, skewered to a native raft...he had finally met his match. Whilst attempting to write his memoirs, you stumble upon his private journal, and reading through it you discover his life-long quest...to find the treasures of the Elephant's Graveyard ! 2 pages have been torn from the back, but there remains a clue that his last port of call was Nyahururu....

Suddenly filled with a totally uncharacteristic (but helpful for the plot) desire to find out what all the fuss is about, you decide to hurry off to Africa and pick up the trail....

Upon starting the game then, you find yourself stood in a desert, seriously under-equipped...maybe you rushed off a bit too hastily! You take a wander and find the place populated by Arabs intent on ending your little jaunt before you've even had a chance to get properly going...a swift couple of kicks to the groin should see them off until you find some weapons! You also have sandstorms to deal with, and as they have no groins your best bet is to try and avoid them...

Graphics are pretty good and a mix of colourful backgrounds and monochrome sprites, but your character does run like he's had an "accident" in his trousers and looks a bit on the portly side too! There's no music, and sound effects are never more than functional, but what is there is perfectly fine.

For some reason, when I used the joystick I found it incredibly difficult to connect any kicks or punches. It seemed like the game was having trouble receiving the inputs. It does appear to be difficult to hit opponents whilst they are hitting you anyway, and can be quite annoying if they start really smacking you as there's nothing you can do to stop them. But having retried it with keyboard controls I got a lot further and found the game a lot easier! Dunno if that's maybe my Speccy's fault or the game in general, but if you have similar problems with the joystick give the keyboard a bash....

Clearly influenced by Indiana Jones, Tusker is filled with puzzles and traps and you'll need to really use your brain to work out a few of them. I personally even have difficulty getting off of the first level without a solution, but you can look forward to dealing with slug-type monstermen, witch doctors and monkeys...you'll have to hunt around for the right objects for the job.

It does all add up to a quite enjoyable if flawed little adventure, and if you persevere with it you might end up liking a game that feels more like Indiana Jones than any of the actual spectrum Indy games. For me though, it's just a bit too fiddly to control and difficult...the Effalump's final resting place can stay bloody hidden!

Tusker - System 3 -

WOS page = Tusker

Review from fanzine....B.O.B. on the Super Nintendo

Here's a review of  B.O.B. on the Super NES.....this was moved between all my various unpublished fanzines, and so again for posterity, here it is complete with cut out pics.... (..Oh, and the bit at the end with Action Man & Dale Winton was my attempt at some Your Sinclair style humour...)

It's always the same isn't it? You've got to be at a certain place at a certain time but as soon as you try to get there, things start to go wrong. Once, I was going to this posh dinner party but halfway there I was kidnapped by these aliens that all looked like zany ex-Pres..Ronald Reagan!

On their ship there was this giant pink blancmange and it.. *due to limitations of this fanzine, this review has been cut by 47 pages here!* ..256 barrels of fishcakes, 4 pogo sticks and a pint of Guinness!!

The hero of this game is having similar problems. B.O.B. is headed for a hot date.. but, alas, he crashes his transport on the way. In order to fix it, he must make his way through 15 alien infested levels. Once these are completed, he sets off again, only to succeed in crashing on 2 more planets, each consisting of another 15 levels, making that a total of 45 levels B.O.B. has to fight through to reach his dream babe!

Wheee! Just like The Jetsons!

To help him, B.O.B. has a number of items tucked away in his tum! These can be accessed by pressing "X" on the joypad, and include a helicopter hat, an umbrella (to survive long drops) and a smart bomb! He also has a number of weapons to fry those two-bit alien freaks!!

Coo! He's had his Ready Brek!

Both the weapon ammo & gadgets are of limited supply, but he can pick more up along the way. If, however, you do find yourself one Bazooka short of a bloodbath, you can use your built in boxing glove to dispose of the baddies !

Bloody rush hour traffic, eh!?

Bob is a fun little game to play. The death scenes are quite funny, & it's good fun working out which power ups to use at the right time! After a while though, you'll get a bit fed up looking at the same backdrops & doing the same things, & tire of the novelty and humour of the game. All the same, a good few hours fun are to be had with this crazy little bot!

Action Man Says.." Pah! Call that action? I once took on 400 crazed Dale Winton fans single handedly!!"

Dale says.."It's true!!!"

Cover Of MOSH!, The Fanzine that never was..........

Just for the sake of posterity, here's the cover of one of my many Fanzine's that never made it....It went through various incarnations, starting off as an N64 specific title and then just a general retro-zine when I realized MOSH could stand for Mostly Old n Second Hand ... But, as with all the rest, it fizzled away before I introduced it to the public..

 

This cover was put together by cutting up old N64 mags and sticking it all together with a Pritt-Stick...long before I had a PC, y'see.......It turned out quite funky though, if I do say so myself...   :-)