Classic Replay

You might not have heard of Amsoft, but you might be familiar with some of their games. As a kid, I had an Amstrad CPC; it was of immeasurable importance to me. I still remember peering through the window of Dixons , past the disorganised arrangement of goods, situated between a Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, was the Amstrad CPC. It stared straight back at me with its large colour screen and towered above its competitors. This machine's primary function was not intended to be gaming, but Renegade, Operation Wolf, ChaseHQ, Wec-le-mans and Robocop soon changed that!  The Amstrad came with a hefty amount of free software, which included Harrier Attack, Sultan's Maze, Roland on the Ropes, and a handful of US Gold classics, thrown in as an extra incentive to buy this machine. My cousin and I spent hours with Harrier Attack, although we had hoped it'd been a two player game! I'd fly hard, low, and fast, bombing a string of hi-rise buildings, before rejoining the fleet. T...

Opening with cold-blooded murder, this game relentlessly pushes your emotional boundaries, as you are taken on a journey of wonder, mystery, and vengeance. Released in 1999, #Shenmue was a #Sega Dreamcast exclusive  from the same team that brought us Sega Rally and Virtua Fighter and was also produced and directed by games designer Yu Suzuki, the same chap responsible for programming the original Space Harrier, Outrun and Hang-on.  Maintaining and average 89% on Game Rankings, Shenmue received the "Excellence Prize for Interactive Art", at the 2000 Japan Media Arts Festival, and was voted "Console Game of the Year" by Game industry News. However, despite the rave reviews and seemingly obvious success, sales simply couldn't justify its staggering budget, which has been estimated to have been between $47 million - $70 million - unheard of at the time, rendering Shenmue, arguably the most highly revered 'flop' in gaming history. During the first sce...

Batman; the hero who offers us everything - drama, emotion, glory and devastation. In its day, it was the game to own. And what games developer could have done a better job of humbling the SNES, by so excellently tra nslating the comic shredding tension, not to mention, gripping plot line of the film, than Konami?  Set against a beautiful, yet eerie backdrop, graphics are sometimes a little messy, but with a dimly lit, grimy feel, the scenery easily makes up for this. Particularly on the SNES, the game effectively manages to re-capture the presentation and atmosphere of the movie and is further testament to how amazing and powerful Nintendo's console really was. The Batman character looks awesome; the best I've ever seen depicted in a video game, other than Arkham. And as you'd expect, he's hard as nails, packed full of gadgets, and can punch faster than a Kangaroo! The game is slightly reminiscent of Streets of Rage, with a splash of Final Fight and Renegade! Y...

Rumour has it Yu Suzuki wants to make Shenmue 3 and that he's already finished the story, but apparently SEGA aren't willing to take the risk! It's looking increasingly like SEGA has pulled the rug from underneat h both him and the fans. When you have a massive software company, like SEGA, shying away from such a project, and leaving fans in the balance, is confirmation that we're living in strange times. But for some unknown reason, our bond with SEGA appears to have strengthened.  For whatever reason, the HD age hasn't tempted SEGA to re-release many of their flagship games onto next generation systems. In fact, HD to SEGA has been the equivalent of what the ice age was to the dinosaurs. There's been the occasional effort, like Daytona and AfterBurner, but classics, the likes of Shenmue and Sega Rally, remain on the Sega software scrap heap. Very sad, as even the most unimaginative Sega fans could daydream for hours about a remastered Shenmue, and how aw...

In 1989, long before the likes of Need for Speed petrol heads got their hi-octane fix and highway entertainment from 'Chase HQ'. Borrowing a lot from SEGA's Outrun, but with enough spin to go it alone, this pseudo 3D racer had you chasing down the crooks Miami Vice style.  Originally released by Taito, it was subsequently left with Ocean software to work their 8-bit magic, and boy, they didn't disappoint! Although it was released on several platforms, the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions are generally believed to be the most superior conversions which, surprisingly, only took three months to program.  The main protagonists resemble Miami Vices's Crockett and Tubbs and even sport a cool looking black Porsche.  ChaseHQ is really easy to get into and the car features steady, responsive handling, a manual gear shift, and three nitro boosts! Unfortunately, there are a few issues with collision detection, on both the ZX Spectrum and CPC versions, more so on...