Armalyte - Commodore 64 - 1988

Static screenshots fail to do Armalyte justice.

Due to only one of my mates owning a Commodore 64, Armalyte is another classic game that passed me by.  It is one of those colourful, loud, scrolling shoot 'em ups the Commodore 64 seems to excel at.  At this point I would normally compare other versions of the game but it doesn't look like it was converted to the Amstrad and there was only a demo made for the Spectrum. A game called Armalyte was released for the Amiga and ST with the only similarity being that it was a side scrolling shoot 'em up.  The level layout and game mechanics were totally different, and it was too damn difficult to be enjoyable.

The plot in this game involves reclaiming a research base with which contact was lost just as they made a major scientific discovery.  The surrounding area has been over run by a race called the H'siffian Khanate and you must fight your way through them to make it to the research facilty.

Armalyte can be played with either a single player or two players simultaneously.  In one player mode the second player is replaced by an indestructible drone which replicates your fire power.  By default it follows your ship around but by hitting the space bar it can be made to stay in one place.   

The drone can do all the work for at least the first two bosses.

Scattered throughout the eight levels are munitions pods.  When collected they will make your craft invincible for five seconds.  Alternatively they can be shot and will cycle through various upgrades such as rear shots, vertical shots and batteries.  The ship also carries three types of 'super weapon', each of varying degrees of power.  The super weapons can be selected from the keyboard and when used drain power from the ships onboard generator.  If the generator is empty the super weapons cannot be used until it has recharged although it can be backed up with up to four batteries picked up from the munitions pods.  If you lose a life all power ups are thankfully retained.

Unleashing Super Weapon B.

I am a big fan of this type of game and Armalyte is an excellent example of the genre.  The graphics are fast and the scrolling is very smooth.  In single player mode the drone gives the game an R-Type/Gradius vibe which is no bad thing.  The sound is also very good and I like the power up system.  Criticisms?  It's tough, very tough. What makes it worse is that the explosions are the same colour as the enemy sprites and travel for a bit which can make the screen cluttered and confusing.  I don't like that your ship and the drone can't overlap - if you are just below it and want move up a fraction you can't, they just swap places.  Also, the 'hit box' for the aliens seems a bit small, although to be fair so is yours and your ship can get away with slightly overlapping the scenery.  All in all the good far outweighs that bad and I can see myself returning to Armalyte a lot.

Overtones of Gradius.

Alien 8 - Sinclair Spectrum - 1985

Alien 8 was released by Ultimate Play The Game in 1985 and employs the same Filmation technique that was used in Knight Lore.  It was, unfairly in my view, criticised on its release as just being Knight Lore set in space.  Back in the day I completed this game prior to playing Knight Lore, and the Sabreman game felt like a big step backwards.  I still hold the same opinion after playing them in chronological order this time round.

The game is set aboard an interstellar starship on which the crew have been cryogenically frozen.  As the ship nears it’s destination it is boarded by aliens who have removed the circuit boards from the cryogenic life support system that keep the crew alive.  You control the titular robot who has to recover the circuit boards and return them to their proper places before the destination is reached.

The game is played against the clock and you have to search the rooms for the circuit boards which are shaped as pyramids, cubes, domes and cylinders.  These must be placed in the corresponding flashing sockets in the cryogenic chambers. The game contains the usual platform type puzzles requiring lateral thinking and/or quick reflexes. The puzzles are generally more complex and varied than that those in Knight Lore as other features have been added such as remote controlled drones and piles of blocks that have to be carefully manoeuvred around.  The ghosts and guards from Knight Lore have respectively been replaced by clockwork mice and a dalek/mouse cross; the sparkly enemies remain the same.

As Alien 8 uses the same game engine as Knight Lore it feels, sounds and plays the same.  The graphics have been updated to give a suitable spaceship look and are a lot more varied than Knight Lore.  The extra objects in this game add to the variety of puzzles, both in the lateral thinking and the more dexterous ones. Where Alien 8 really differs is in the main quest.  Whereas Knight Lore is totally linear, in this game the tasks can be completed in any order you choose. The circuits and cryogenic suspension chambers are scattered all over the ship – there is no central repository you have to take objects to and no particular order in which to complete the rooms.  Another positive change is that there are no objects which randomly drop on you in certain rooms – they are there but are triggered (usually by picking up one of the circuits) so can be avoided.  Finally, the annoying and awkward shape changing mechanic has been removed from this title.  Overall it is a marked improvement over Knight Lore and more of a step forward than it was given credit for on its release.

The sparkly enemy can be 'guided' and is needed to reach the pyramid circuit.

Automania - Sinclair Spectrum - 1984

Colour-clashtastic!  Automania is the first in the series of games to feature the Week family.  In this platform game you play Wally Week as he works in a car assembly plant.  You have to guide Wally as he picks up various parts of car bodywork from the stock room and carries them to the assembly room to place on the car chassis.  There is a time limit which resets when each component is fitted.  You start by assembling a 2CV and once complete you are promoted to the next car and gain a life.  For each car you complete, the stock room changes with the parts harder to reach.  There are various automotive related obstacles to avoid or jump over such as fans and crankshafts falling from the ceiling with wheels and something unidentifiable moving across the floor.

This is another game with that one more go vibe as you want to see what car comes next.  The sound has basic spot effects and an annoying tune which you’ll want to turn off after 30 seconds.  The sprites are big and colourful but clash horribly although none of these detract from the playability.

Attribute clash causes some issues with the colours.

With the Rolls complete the game cycles back to the 2CV.

Atic Atac - Sinclair Spectrum - 1983

 

Atic Atac is the first game on my list from Ultimate Play The Game, one of the foremost developers for the Sinclair Spectrum.  They subsequently sold the name and are now known as Rare.

In Atic Atac you start as one of three characters who has been trapped inside a haunted castle.  You can only escape through the front door by finding three parts of the ACG key.  Pieces of the key are placed over the five level castle that is inhabited by ghostly beings which must be avoided or shot.  There are other enemies that appear which can only be destroyed or repelled by certain items scattered around the castle.  For example, Frankenstein’s monster can be killed if you are carrying a spanner.  Contact with enemies diminishes your ‘health’ which is represented by a roast chicken on the right hand side of the screen.  When you run out of ‘health’ you lose a life, but it can be replenished by picking up food.  If that wasn’t enough there is also a time limit.

The rooms on each level of the castle look very similar so a map is essential.  Most of the doors are unlocked and both these and the trap doors open and close on their own so you can get trapped in a room. There are also locked doors that come in four colours and can only be unlocked with the appropriate coloured key.  You only have three slots to carry objects and keys; additionally each part of the ACG key takes up a slot.  The view is a weird mix of side-on and top-down which doesn’t quite sit right with me.

I didn’t play Atic Atac much back in the day – I couldn’t really get into it then and did not have the patience to map it.  Mapping is vital to complete this game due to the similarity of the rooms making it almost impossible to memorise.  Once mapped the game is very easy and can be completed in minutes.  It’s still a good game though with fast, smooth animation and decent enough spot effects.

The graphics are fast and smooth but the view is a bit strange

Spoilers
Here are some maps I made that may come in useful

Top Floor

First Floor

Ground Floor

Basement 

Dungeon 

Amok! - Commodore VIC-20 - 1981

It’s Bezerk! On a 4k VIC-20! It’s great!  There’s nothing else to say!

Seriously, I don’t intend to include (many) arcade conversions on this list unless they are exceptional but this is a clone so I’ll let it pass.  It is actually a great game. 

 

Basically you fight your way through a series of rooms shooting robots as you go. There are only about half a dozen screen layouts but that’s not bad for only 4K.  Hell, a blank Word document would take up more space.  You start off fighting green robots, if you make it the next room you get cyan robots.  These are a little tougher but are worth more points.  After that you face red then black robots.  If you lose a life it’s back to the green ones. Like Berzerk!, Amok! features the electric walls, and robots that can take each other out.  It is missing Evil Otto which can be a blessing or a curse depending on your viewpoint.

Aside from the slightly flickering main sprite the graphics are well defined.  The sound is as basic as you’d expect and the controls are responsive.  Another cracking game for the VIC.

What a painful system font

You shoot robots.  What's not to like?