Dizzy - Commodore 64 - 1988

Dizzy on the Commodore 64 boasts better 'Spectrum-style' graphics than the Spectrum.

Dizzy is a simple platform/graphic adventure game released in 1987 for the Sinclair Spectrum and Amstrad CPC with the Commodore 64 conversion arriving a year later.  As usual I tested all the versions to find the best.  As the game was originally programmed by the Oliver Twins I expected the Spectrum version to come in first place.  Although it has no border graphics and therefore a larger play area than both the Amstrad and Commodore versions, Dizzy on the Spectrum suffers quite badly from colour clash and has limited sound.  The Amstrad CPC offering only has four-colour graphics so was immediately discounted.  This leaves the Commodore 64 version which has the best graphics of the three and adequate (though sparse) sound effects.

The Spectrum version is colourful but suffers from clash and poor sound.  The Amstrad version on the right can only manage four colours.

In the game you take control of an anthropomorphic egg called Dizzy.  The ovoid sprite was apparently used as it was easy to rotate and animate.  The aim of the game is to collect ingredients for a potion with which to banish the evil wizard Zaks.  The ingredients need to be collected, deposited in a cauldron, cooked, then poured into a flask.  Helpfully the cauldron is on the start screen and a flaming torch and glass flask are nearby.

Dizzy is viewed from the standard side-on platform view and he somersaults around the screen rather than jumps.  Apart from the ingredients there are many other items to find a use for.  Most allow you to open up new screens or to dispatch some of the nasties that inhabit the game.  The puzzles are all logical, for example you would use the grease gun to move a rusty mine cart, a crowbar to open a trap door, a raincoat to dispel rain, or make a bucket rise from the ground by dropping a purse of gold into it.  Ok, so maybe not all of them are logical. A little trial and error is required and there is quite a bit of backtracking due to the single inventory slot.

One of the tougher screens.  I lost several lives retrieving the purse of gold.

There’s not really much more to say about Dizzy.  The graphics are good for the time and the few sound effects are ok.  The platforming elements of the game can be very challenging in places even using the extra lives that are scattered around.  The somersaults can also pose a problem as Dizzy can occasionally roll further than you want him to. It is a cheap and cheerful, enjoyable game and was a bargain at only £1.99 on release.

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.

Wizball - Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64 & Atari ST - 1987

Atari ST and Commodore Amiga ports share the same programmer and are virtually identical.

Wizball was initially released in 1987 for the Commodore 64 with other conversions quickly following.  Zzapp!64 magazine gave it a score of 96% and later awarded it the Game of the Decade accolade.  I gave it about five minutes of my time and never bothered with it again.  I never bought it so must have played it at a friend's house and had been put off by the frustrating controls, high difficulty level and the fact that your character looks like an anthropomorphic Brussels sprout.  Trying it again, the first issue can be overcome by purchasing upgrades and the second by playing one of the 16-bit ports. The third?  Well, two out of three ain't bad.

The story goes that Wiz and his cat happily lived in the brightly coloured Wizworld.  For some untold reason the evil Zark came along and removed all the colour, leaving the landscape in various shades of grey.  It is your task to control Wiz in his bouncy green transporter and return Wizworld to it's former glory.

Wizball on the Spectrum and Amstrad are left in the shadow of the C64 original.

In spite of its name the Spectrum does not handle colour very well so was immediately discounted.  The Amstrad game has more colour than the Speccy version but loses the scrolling. Neither have very good sound. Wizball on the Commodore 64 is in a different league compared to the other 8-bits.  Graphically it's as near as it can be to the 16-bit versions and aurally it is actually superior.  My main issue is with the controls - I don't know if it's because I played the 16-bit conversions first but the controls feel a tad 'sloppy' next them.  Maybe if I'd have played the game on the C64 first it might have been a different story so I'm still recommending it here.  This leaves the better balanced and graphically identical Amiga and ST as the top dogs. While the Commodore machine edges out the Atari with marginally (and I do mean marginally) better sound effects, it is not so superior that the latter can be discounted.  The difficulty level has also been slightly tweaked allowing only a single wave of enemies to appear at once compared to more on the C64.

Commodore 64 almost matches the 16-bit conversions.

 
You start the game semi-controlling your Wizball which bounces up and down at a fixed height.  Initially you can only adjust the rotation speed making just getting around both difficult and frustrating.  The first enemy sprites you come across are thankfully static and when shot drop a green bubble.  These bubbles (or pearls as they are described in the instructions) allow you to choose upgrades from a Gradius-style power-up meter.  The first two power-ups you will need are Thrust and Anti-Grav after which the game plays more like a regular shoot 'em up.  Other power-ups include shields, weapon upgrades, a smart bomb and the essential Catelite.  Lose a life and you lose your power-ups.

The Catelite acts as a drone following the Wizball around.  By holding down the fire button it can be controlled independently (or by a second player in two player mode).  The Catelite is needed to collect droplets of colour that are released when Red, Green and Blue enemies are destroyed.  Each of these enemies occupy a different level so you will need to move between the levels using pipes and holes in the ground. Initially three levels are available but more open up as the game progresses.  The droplets are collected in three cauldrons displayed on the screen.  You need to collect enough of these to fill a fourth cauldron which shows a target colour.  Completely filling the fourth cauldron brings up a bonus stage.

Two colours complete and the third is coming along nicely.

 
The bonus stage involves destroying as many enemies as possible to increase your score.  After this you enter the 'Wiz-Lab' where you can choose a power up which will be automatically assigned to any lives you have left.  From here you return to the game with one shade of colour restored on one level.  In all there are eight levels with three shades to restore on each.

In the 'Wiz-Lab'.  Here you can choose a upgrade that stays for the rest of the game.

I'm glad I didn't dismiss this game as easily as I did twenty-odd years ago. The Commodore 64 version is a revelation and is easily one of the best games to appear on the machine.  Until now I haven't been impressed by the much vaunted SID chip, but Wizball makes good use of it, surpassing even it's younger stablemate.  Naturally, though,  the Amiga and ST conversions have more colourful, detailed and higher resolution graphics.  As I mentioned earlier I also found the controls to be a little sharper than on the 8-bit C64, but that's just my preference.  Get past the bouncy ball stage of Wizball and you'll find a fun and challenging (read difficult) shoot 'em up.


Commodore Amiga gameplay....

 

Exolon - Sinclair Spectrum & Commodore 64 - 1987

[Spectrum] Just before Game Over.  I don't have enough ammo left to break the force field.

Exolon is a flick screen run and gun game released in 1987.  It was originally released on the Spectrum, C64 and Amstrad CPC, with the feeble Amiga and ST offerings following on in 1989. The game was designed by Raffaele Cecco who produced some highly regarded shooters in the mid to late eighties.  The best versions of Exolon were on the Spectrum and Commodore 64.  The gameplay on both versions is the same but whereas the Spectrum has sharper graphics, the Commodore can boast superior sound.  The graphics on the Amstrad are colourful, though very blocky and it feels slightly sluggish so it didn't make the cut.  The 16-bit versions are completely forgettable.

[Commodore 64]  Better sound than the Spectrum but blockier graphics.

Exolon is a very simple game - basically you walk left to right shooting anything that moves and firing RPGs at anything that doesn't.  The game is set over 5 levels each made up of 25 zones (screens).  The fact that you start the game with 9 lives means it's not going to be a walkover and it's very easy lose several lives on one screen.

[Commodore 64] Entering a teleporter to get to the ammo boxes.

You start the game with 99 bullets and 9 grenades.  These can be replenished from the ammo boxes that are dotted over the landscape.  Enemies normally come in two forms - flying and static but both can lead to cheap deaths as you get near the edge of the screen.  Some of the screens are split into two levels with teleporters allowing access between the two.  On each level there is also a dressing unit where you can pick up an exoskeleton.  The exoskeleton doubles your blaster power and provides extra protection against some of the nasties, but your bravery bonus takes a hit.

[Spectrum] A reaction test game at the end of the first level.

At first glance Exolon seems like a simple game, and it is, but it is also pure mindless blasting and quite addictive once you get into it.  The good reviews it got on release are well deserved.

Spectrum gameplay

Uridium - Commodore 64 - 1986

After his success with Paradroid, Andrew Braybrook comes up trumps again.  After we read the review and the 94% score it got in Zzap!64, me and my mate headed straight into town to get this for his Commodore 64.  We were allowed to play it on his big downstairs telly and I still remember being blown away by the graphics - it was like having an arcade machine at home.

The plot goes that fifteen enemy super-dreadnought starships have gathered in the solar system and are draining minerals from the planet cores.  Each of the super-dreadnoughts is named after a metal, culminating with the titular (and fictional) Uridium. As per usual it falls on your shoulders to take a lone starfighter and destroy the enemy vessels.

Uridium takes place over the smoothly scrolling decks of these super-dreadnoughts.  The game uses an unusual viewpoint as it is a side scroller viewed from above.  You control a fighter called the Manta which is rather nippy and can travel in both directions.  You start at one end of the enemy ship and have to travel to the other end strafing objects on the surface and downing waves of airborne enemies.  Once enough of the enemy defences have been destroyed you get a 'Land Now!' message and can land on a runway at the back of the ship to presumably plant a device to destroy it.

Most of your lives will be lost colliding with the superstructure of the dreadnought.  There are pylons and walls to be avoided whose height can be determined by the length of the shadows they cast.  The game plays so fast it quickly turns into a memory test.   The further you progress, the narrower the gaps get between the tall structures. There are also homing mines that are occasionally launched from from flashing ports and these have to be dodged until they self destruct.

Attempting to out-manoeuvre a pesky homing mine.

Once you have landed on the enemy vessel you can earn extra points in the form of a reaction test mini-game.  You then take off and fly back over the dreadnought while it vaporises before heading off to the next one.  

Each level ends with a mini-game.

This is one impressive game with outstanding graphics and good sound.  The scrolling is fast and silky smooth running at 50fps - which is faster than my video clip.  It can and does get frustrating when trying to get through the same gap or flying into the same wall time and again  but once you memorise a layout you can get that bit further each time you play.

The gaps are starting to get narrow.

The Commodore 64 is far and away the best version of Uridium.  The other 8-bit machines can't hope to match it graphically, lacking as they do the hardware scrolling and sprites.  The Atari ST version looks the same as the C64 but the game is so slow and cumbersome it feels like you're playing in treacle.  Not to mention the worse scrolling and a lack of destruct sequence at the end of each level.  A very, very lazy port indeed.  A version also appeared in 1990 on the NES as The Last Starfighter with different sprites. It lacked that 'certain something' the C64 had and was ultimately a charmless version of the game.

A vaporising dreadnought.

The Way Of The Exploding Fist - Commodore 64 - 1985

Ah, a fighting game from simpler times.  Times before health bars, fatalities, combos, special moves and umpteen buttons.  The Way Of The Exploding Fist is unashamedly based on the 1984 arcade game Karate Champ but makes do with a joystick and a single fire button.  The game was released in 1985 for various 8-bit computers with the Commodore 64 version being the best.  I used to play it on the Spectrum a lot with my brother until he discovered there is no defence against the leg sweep.

The Way Of The Exploding Fist is a 2D fighting game using a side on view.  There are a total of 18 different moves available including blocks, kicks, punches and somersaults. Although there are a lot of moves the controls are very intuitive. Kicks are achieved by pressing the fire button and moving the joystick in the appropriate direction, giving 8 kicks. All other moves just require you to move the joystick.  Some manoeuvres require two moves of the joystick - to perform the low punch, for example, you need to pull back on the joystick to crouch then move it the direction you're facing to punch.

Rather than a health bar each bout is fought for points (like a real Karate tournament).  If you hit your opponent with a perfectly executed move you will score one full point.  You can still down your opponent with a less that perfect hit but will only obtain a half point.  Points are represented by yin-yang symbols at the top of the screen and the first person to gain two full symbols wins the round.

The game can be played as single player against the computer where you progress from Novice to Tenth Dan by beating progressively tougher adversaries. Apparently there is a bonus round where you have to take down a bull with a single punch but I've yet to see that.  Where the game really comes into its own is when played against a human opponent.  The game is not so fast that button mashing works and games can become quite tactical against an evenly matched player.

As I said, the Commodore 64 boasts the best version of the game.  Although the graphics are blockier, the game runs a tad faster than on the Spectrum or the Amstrad.  The sound is also better comprising a suitably oriental tune and some (very) primitive digitised spot effects.  It’s still a fun game when played against another person and can prove a tough challenge in the single player mode.

Super Pipeline 2 - Commodore 64 - 1985

Super Pipeline 2 is the sequel to the excellent Commodore 64 game Super Pipeline.  Your task is to once again keep the pipes flowing long enough to fill barrels at the bottom of the screen.  Various tools such as drills, hammers and sink plungers have run amok and are out to scupper your plans, along with the bugs and lobster from the first game.  These enemies run along the pipes and try to put holes in them.  You are armed with a gun to shoot the enemies but you can only shoot left or right.  To repair the pipes you need to use your endless supply of repairmen.  At all times there are two repairmen roaming the pipework which must be collected and guided to the leak.  The leaks need to be fixed quickly as there is only a finite supply of liquid supplied by a tank at the top of the screen.  If the tank is emptied before the barrels are full, your score is rapidly depleted until they are.

The lobster from the first game makes another appearance.  It can only be killed from behind.

Super Pipeline 2 is a brilliant arcade game that has enough changes to make it better than the first game.  Once again the blocky graphics suit the game though lack a little of the character they had in Super Pipeline.  There is some decent music and sound effects to accompany the game.  The game also features inter-level cut scenes which are played out at the bottom of the play area. 

A short cut scene plays after each level.

Starquake - Sinclair Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 (1985) & Atari ST (1988)

[Commodore 64] The pick of the 8-bits

Starquake is an addictive and very slick arcade adventure with platforming elements.  It was released for a host of 8-bit machines in 1985 and for the Atari ST three years later in 1988. Your goal is to repair the unstable core of a planet that has appeared from a black hole before it destroys the Universe.  

You control a character called BLOB (Bio-Logically Operated Being) and your first task is to search for the planet’s core.  The core is made up of a number of objects that must then be located by searching the 512 screens that make up the planet.  The objects then need to be returned to the core to make it stable.

There are various aliens that inhabit the planet that can be dispatched with your laser.  Most of the aliens will drain your energy but there is one that can kill you immediately.  You can also build short-lived platforms beneath you to reach higher places as you are unable to jump. BLOB has a limited supply of ammunition and platforms, and his energy supply constantly depletes though further supplies of each can be picked up.  There is also a generous scattering of extra lives in the form of joysticks (remember them?).

While on foot BLOB can only move left and right (and fall down) so there are a number of other ways to navigate the planet.  The most useful form of transport is a hover pad.  These can only be boarded and dropped off in particular places but can fly in any direction. The major disadvantage of a hover pad is that you can’t pick up any core objects while on board. Teleports are another quick way of getting around.  Each teleport has its own unique code and one is handily located quite close the core.  In some areas there are also vacuum tubes which can suck BLOB up to higher levels.

[Amstrad CPC] BLOB about to pick up the most useful item in the game.

The most useful object that can be found is the Access card.  Numbered chips can be picked up to get you through security doors and to gain access to the Cheops pyramid.  An Access card can replace all these chips.  The security doors allow you to explore further areas of the planet and the Cheops pyramid can be used to trade one of your objects for another (usually one needed to repair the core).

[Spectrum] The Cheops pyramid allows you to trade unwanted items for something more useful

I had Starquake for the Spectrum back in the 80’s and completed it again with my old map.  I achieved an adventure score of 58% which is roughly the percentage of the map I used so I’m guessing you need to visit every screen to get 100%.

The game is very polished and would be worthy of being published by Ultimate.  Of the versions I played, none of them stand out aurally with the sound mostly consisting of effects.  The Commodore 64 has the best visuals of the 8-bits.  The graphics are colourful and forego the chunky sprites the C64 is normally known for.  The Spectrum version, as usual, is brightly coloured but has monochrome sprites.  In contrast the Amstrad version has rather subdued graphics which puts it in last place.  All games play the about the same which is the important thing.

Coming 3 years later and with more power behind it, the Atari ST unsurprisingly boasts the best looking version although it is hardly stretching the hardware with a game such as this.

[Atari ST] As expected the ST version has the best graphics of all.

**SPOILERS**  [Spectrum] Completing the game....

Paradroid - Commodore 64 - 1985

Static screen shots do not inspire you to play the game.

Having not had much exposure to the Commodore 64 in the 80s, Paradroid is another one of those classics I'd heard about but never had the chance (or desire) to try.  Like Impossible Mission, it is one of those games the does not look much from the screenshots but really comes into its own when you start to play.

The game is based on a fleet of spaceships that has been overtaken by errant robots.  It is too dangerous to board each ship so an 'influence device' has been sent down to destroy all the droids.  The influence device is a helmet-like contraption that attaches to the hostile robots and allows the player to take control of them.  It is also armed with a rather puny laser.  Each spaceship is made up of 20 decks.  You know when you have cleared a deck as the lights power down. Once you clear a ship you are moved onto the next.

One deck cleared, nineteen to go.

The ship is viewed from a top-down perspective and uses line-of-sight mechanic so you can't see enemies around corners or through closed doors.  The play area, which is rather small, scrolls as you move about the ship.  You initially control the rather weedy influence device which is depicted as a white sphere numbered '001'.  The other droids are also depicted as numbered white spheres with the first digit denoting their power (1 is the weakest, 9 is the strongest).  You can destroy enemy robots by either ramming (only works against weaker enemies), shooting or temporarily taking control of them.  If the influence device is destroyed it's game over.

Each droid has a unique portrait though in-game they appear as white spheres.

Starting off with such a weak machine you will want to take control of a stronger robot as soon as possible. Attempting to transfer to another droid brings up a mini game where you play against the computer in an attempt to take over the enemys circuit board.  You firstly choose which side to work from and then, playing against a time limit, have to change at least 7 of the 12 rectangles in the centre of the screen to your colour by 'firing' down the connecting wires.  The more powerful the robot, the more 'shots' are available.  If the mini game ends in a draw you play again.  If you lose while already controlling a robot, the robot is destroyed and you return to controlling the influence device.  If you fail while controlling the influence device the game ends.  Once you take control of an enemy droid you can use it against its former comrades.  It will also start to lose power and will eventually burn out unless you transfer to yet another droid.  

Preparing to take over another droid.  The number of available 'shots' are shown down the side.

Also dotted around each level are lifts, energisers and consoles.  The lifts can carry you between the decks on the starship.  The energisers can be used to restore energy lost due to laser damage.  When accessing the console you can view a plan of your current level, a side view of the starship showing the decks and can access a database showing data for robots of a lower class than your host.

A plan of the current deck as viewed through the console

Overall Paradroid is an excellent game.  The bas-relief graphics are extremely effective and the scrolling is silky smooth.  The sound effects are nothing to write home about but are suitable for the game.  The blend of strategy and shooting is set just about right and there is quite a complex scoring mechanism.  I've still got a few years of Commodore 64 games to play but I'd be amazed if I come across (m)any games better than this one.

Doomdark's Revenge - Sinclair Spectrum, Amstrad CPC & Commodore 64 (1985)

Doomdark’s Revenge is the follow up to the seminal The Lords of Midnight and was once again released for the Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and Sinclair Spectrum.  The playing area is half as big again as the former game making a total of 6,000 locations and 48,000 views.  The Landscaping engine has been given an overhaul with improved graphics and a mist which can rise up to obscure features in the landscape and sap strength from your armies.  There are also underground tunnels though I’m quite sure of the point of them.

I didn't find tunnels useful as you are forced in a certain direction and it's hard to determine where you will end up.

Doomdark’s Revenge is set in the Land of Icemark to the north of the Land of Midnight.  The instructions contain a short story setting the scene for the game which basically says Morkin has been kidnapped by Shareth the Heartstealer in order avenge the death of Doomdark, her father and adversary in the earlier game.

The Land of Icemark has five races: Giants, Barbarians, Dwarves, the Fey and the Icelords.  You start the game controlling three characters this time.  Luxor the Moonprince and Rorthron the Wise start at the Gate of Varenorn – the entrance to Icemark - in the Barbarian Outlands.  Morkin’s betrothed, Tarithel the Fey, starts a little further north near the forest dwelling Fey. Again you need to travel around to persuade Lords to join your cause while Shareth the Heartstealer does the same.  The characters roam about independently this time rather than waiting at their stronghold to be recruited. In Doomdark’s Revenge it’s not usually clear cut who is friendly and who isn’t.  When coming face to face with an opposing force you have two options – Approach and Attack.  If you approach an army and they are unfriendly you are put at a disadvantage in battle (I don’t know how you determine who is friendly and who to attack).

Hmmm... Approach or Attack?

Like The Lords of Midnight various ruins, lakes, temples and other landscape features can reveal clues and objects to help or hinder you on your quest.

The game can be won in several ways with various levels of victory.  All involve Luxor returning safely to the Gate of Varenorn. The most basic victory will be to rescue Morkin with Tarithel the Fey being the main protagonist.  If you also return with Rorthron, any of the Crowns of Icemark and objects of Shareth’s power then the greater the win.  If Morkin dies then the only way to win the game will be the complete destruction of Shareth. The greatest victory can be achieved by destroying Shareth and the safe return of all four main characters.

The only goal for Shareth is the destruction of Luxor the Moonprince - if he should die then the game is lost. 

So, Doomdark’s Revenge is bigger, has more features and is better looking than The Lords of Midnight yet I’m not convinced it is necessarily a better game – it’s basically just more of the same.  It would be unfair to discount a good game just for its unoriginality so it still makes it onto the list.

Thigrand the Fey could do with finding horses, not dragons.

Space Taxi - Commodore 64 - 1984

Space Taxi does not exactly stretch the graphical capabilities of the C64 

Space Taxi is a very addictive arcade game for the Commodore 64.  The aim of the game is simple – ferry customers from platform to platform around the screen in the quickest time possible.  The joystick controls thrusters that fire in the four cardinal directions and the fire button lowers or raises the taxi undercarriage.  With the undercarriage lowered, the left and right thrusters are disabled. There is inertia and gravity which must be taken into account when controlling the vehicle.

When you enter a scene a customer materialises on one of the platforms and shouts “Hey Taxi!”.  You have to land on the pad to pick him up.  If you hit anything, land too hard or don’t land fully on the platform you lose a life.  If you hit the customer he disappears and you lose some money.  When a customer boards he tells you where he wants to go.  You earn a fee when dropping him off and a tip based on the time taken and the smoothness of the landing. If the customer says “Up please” you can move to the next level by flying through a gap in the top of the screen.  As you get further, levels get progressively harder with smaller gaps to get through, more things to avoid and objects such magnets and a black hole that interfere with the handling of the taxi.

Space Taxi is an excellent game.  The speech is rudimentary, the sound limited and the graphics extremely basic but the gameplay and controls are spot on.  Now I must go and try for that next level…

Things start getting tricky when moving objects appear - in this case the white ball.

Raid on Bungeling Bay - Commodore 64 - 1984

Bland graphics, great game.

Raid on Bungeling Bay is a multi-way scrolling shoot ‘em up released on the Commodore 64 in 1984, and for the MSX and NES in 1985.  The best version is on the Commodore 64.  It was the first commercial game designed by Will Wright who would go on to design SimCity and cash cow The Sims.

The game is set on a planetoid that has been occupied by the Bungeling Empire where they are constructing a war machine with which to attack Earth.  They have built 6 different coloured factories which produce their weaponry.  The factories are supplied by ships of the same colour.  The game takes place on a large 2D wraparound playfield viewed from above.

In Raid on Bungeling Bay you take control of a helicopter and start on an aircraft carrier which acts as your base.  The helicopter is armed with an unlimited supply of missiles and 9 bombs.  Your aim is to disrupt the Bungeling infrastructure and ultimately destroy the factories whilst protecting your carrier.

Most of the enemy installations and weapons can be destroyed by missiles but the factories need to be bombed. These factories are protected by AA batteries initially but as the game progresses the enemy develops a more advanced arsenal of weaponry including tanks, fighter and bomber aircraft.  Your helicopter can take a certain amount of damage before it is destroyed although this can be repaired and your bombs replenished when you land on the carrier.  A nice touch is that the screen border changes from green to yellow to red as you take more damage so you know when to land without looking at the damage counter.  You start with five lives but if the carrier is destroyed you are only left with the helicopter you are currently flying. 

At its heart Raid on Bungeling Bay is a simple shoot 'em up but there is some strategy involved in disrupting the Bungeling supply lines and destroying the factories to slow down their technological advancement.  Your helicopter is quite nippy but can initially be difficult to control accurately due it's inertia.  Graphics and sound are best described as adequate, the graphics mostly being a drab combination of black, blue and gray.  Overall, though, it’s a fun little game.