Classic Replay

I've finally played it, admittedly only a demo of the first level, but so far things look and play just as good as the Amiga original. This will never replace a real life Pinball experience, but it's bloody good for a computer simulation. The ball moves exactly as you'd expect, and the flippers are highly accurate, you can even give the table a shove. Graphically I've never seen anything like it on the CPC, initially I was convinced it was Plus only, but the programmers have outdone themselves with this one.  Time will tell how good this game translates to the CPC, but so far, on current form, this could go down as the best game ever for the CPC! Published on 27 Oct 2016 * October 2016 PREVIEW for Amstrad CPC * First presented at RetroSevilla 2016 * IMPORTANT! We strongly recommend to play the game on real CPC & monitor! * Minimum requirements: - 128kb of RAM - Floppy drive * Instructions: run"disc

The Soviets strike again, only this time with innovation! I'm still struggling to understand how this one slipped me by. Twenty-six years later I'm scouring eBay, and the next minute, it's delivered through the letter box. This is basically Tetris with a 3D perspective, created by the same Alexey Pajitnov. There're three levels of difficulty, starting with beginner, advanced and finally expert. Each difficulty settings features its own game speed, with the latter seeming almost ridiculous. WELLTRIS continually chucks shapes at you, this bit being similar to the original, the difference now is that you can rotate each shape around the four outer walls as you watch it fall deeper towards the ground. There's sound, but nothing in the music department, sad really as I half expected the Tetris original, instead I found myself humming the original Korobeiniki soundtrack. The graphics are well defined, but seriously lack any real colour, it's also disappoin...

One of the greatest games ever made is now on its way to the Commodore 64! Originally developed by Danish studio Playdead, they've given the go-ahead for Søren Trautner Madsen to code the game for the C64. Limbo's visual style is amazing, especially when you consider the games this went up against on the Xbox One and PlayStation store, it truly was an inspiration in gaming. This puzzle based platformer, sounds like it's in the early throws of development, and who knows, maybe there's a possible Amstrad CPC and ZX Speccy release planned down the line. The bad news is, we're probably going to have to wait a while, although I can't help think that being a paltry 64 or 128k game, surely this should speed up the process? Oh well, I'm quietly confident the game will still be brilliant if it one day does eventually arrive on the C64. Until then, fingers crossed and bring it on!

Just a few thoughts on the tribute game made with AGD, for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. It's great and everything, but I'm confused? I'm still a massive fan of the original Donkey Kong arcade-style platformer from the 1980's. It is said to be the game that launched the career of Shigeru Miyamoto, but more importantly, Mario and Donkey Kong. The game went on to give Nintendo international stardom, with Miyamoto creating a legacy so powerful, that Nintendo and Japan should pray daily for his continued existence. However, Donkey Kong Jnr wasn't a great sequel, in fact, Miyamoto himself thinks it's a weaker game. It sold well, but so did the USGOLD home conversion of Outrun, so sales don't really mean diddly squat, in regards to us gaming enthusiasts. I did like the way this game reversed the characters roles, with Kong now caged and Mario becoming the antagonist. The game featured a good premise as well, instead of ...

Yippee! A new Amstrad game called Defence just arrived through my letter box, it's my very own, unique custom personalised edition. It comes in a big plastic box, with many extra features. I've not played it much, but the graphics, presentation and general feel of the game so far are looking positive. I hate to admit it, but I'm finding initial progress quite difficult, but that's probably down to me, as I'm used to modern games holding my hand. Update with more info soon...

Solomon's Key, Out of This World, 720, Sorcerer Lord, Red Led Anywhere you look on the internet, you'll find scores of videos and top ten articles from Amstrad CPC enthusiasts. But what about the games that never make these lists, the unsung heroes that programmed these unknown classics. Now is the time to don my cape, and celebrate the forgotten games of the CPC. So, here we go, these are a few games that I feel deserve a mention and recognition.   Sorcerer Lord - PSS, Amstrad Action, Rave, 81% This was great back in the day, no issues here, a great early 8bit strategy game, graphics as with all these types of games do their job, sound and presentation is nothing to write home about either, but engagement and play are where it shines best.   Western Games - Magic Bytes,  Amstrad Action, Rave, 76% These are some of the best graphics on the Amstrad, in fact, it's difficult to set them apart from the Atari ST version. The gameplay is great, with ...

There are so many new games available for the PS4 and Xbox, I really struggle to keep up, let alone sift through the good ones. I’ve come up with a cunning plan to combat this - I’m going to stop playing new video games! Instead, I’ve decided to do a retro rewind, take stock, and hunt through my collection of forgotten classics from the 80’s and 90’s, no internet required. I’m just as entertained playing old games, as I am playing new. Most of these games feel terrific and familiar, which means I can now break free of the video game rat race, and the constant fear of being left behind. For the first time in my life, I don’t have to play ‘em all.   With that in mind, I head to my garage, fight my way through all the crap piled up over the years, and stretch across an old sofa, in the direction of an old box. I catch it slightly with the edge of my fingers and pull it slowly towards me; it’s on top of an already unsteady pile. There’s dust everywhere, I blow at the to...

#Bigtrak gave us a glimpse into the future, it felt like cutting edge entertainment, and late seventies kids were the first to own their very own robot. At the time, TV advertisements showed it effortlessly, but very slowly delivering apples and other items to parents. You'd see it carefully navigating around a dog or cat, narrowly avoiding a flight of stairs, firing a laser, before dropping off its payload to an unsuspecting parent. What made Bigtrak really cool, is that you pre-coded it with a set of instructions, up to sixteen commands and three laser blasts, and it obeyed. You watched in awe as it cleverly followed your preset path. I tried all sorts of manoeuvres that would potentially scupper Bigtrak in its tracks, going up ramps, driving along steep ledges, but mostly used it to terrorise our dog. If you were lucky enough, Bigtrak came with an optional trailer, allowing you to impress friends by...

I'm sure the #CPC community at large has already played this wireframe wonder from Alberto Rodriguez. I personally can't get enough of it, in fact, I like it so much, I purchased the bugger on 3" Disk. These are exciting times for the CPC community, I can't believe that after decades of being commercially dead, the #Amstrad CPC lives on, and appears to be going from strength to strength. I'd have been happy if everything would have stopped after the remake of R-Type, it was everything I'd hoped for, justice was served, the community could have packed up and gone home at this point, mission accomplished, Badda bing, Badda boom! Thank the heavens they didn't, as what came after, continued to deliver, with the same high standards. It's a very strange thing that has happened, I'm witnessing games and graphics I never thought possible, but equally praying this sweet spot in CPC gaming, won't turn sour. I can't prove it, but I reckon ...

The promise of instant loading, outstanding gameplay, improved graphics, were now and truly into full swing. The front page of nearly every CPC or high street computer magazine were still displaying adverts, as though carts were here to stay. Navy Seals, Robocop 2, Shadow of the Beast and Pang, were cited as some of the best games to happen to an Amstrad in years.   Meanwhile, USGOLD announced Gauntlet 3, whilst continuing to plug away at their lackluster back catalogue, with the launch of Coin-Op Hits 2, it featured terrible CPC conversions of Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Vigilante and Dynasty Wars, with a half decent version of Ninja Spirit, not sure why they included Hammerfist, It was never an arcade game, to begin with.   The excellent people from Probe announced that Back to the Future, Part III was imminent, featuring four levels of movie action, horse riding, shooting, pie throwing and traversing a moving train. It turned out to be actually rather good and...