Definitely HoH for me. Finished it countless times, and it's really brilliant and flawless game no matter which aspect I examine. In fact, I dare to say it's my all time Spectrum favorite.
As for KL, I never really got to like it much. I saw Alien 8 first and ever since the KL seemed a little blunt in comparison, with too many empty or almost empty rooms, and the constant changing of the character was more annoying than entertaining to me. So I played Alien 8 instead quite a lot as well and even bothered to draw a map and finish it once, but still neither of these is a real match for HoH, apart from KL being THE original isometric game.
Interestingly though, the same thing with Alien 8 vs. KL happened to me again with HoH vs. Batman. After playing the HoH first, I tried Batman few times, but never really forced myself to get further than collecting the boots. I always keep saying to myself I'll try once I finish ZXDS and have more spare time to play it properly, but I am not sure it will ever happen (playing Batman, not ZXDS)...
HOH is the better game BUT you had to be there at the time of Knight Lore's release to appreciated the awe we all felt when the game loaded up.
We'd already had Ant Attack but that still didn’t prepare us for what we were about to see.
3D Cartoon graphics that moved "in front" of and "behind" other graphics, pushable objects with inertia that you could be use to solve the rooms problems, fantastic animation, wicked sound effects. This game had it all.
I don't think I even noticed the slow down at the time, I was that excited.
How long would it have taken other software houses to come up with something similar if the Stamper brothers hadn’t pointed the way forward?
Knight lore for me , the most jaw dropping moment in spectrum history. Even when i play it now it still whizzes me back to the first time i saw it.
Yep i feel that way. I still like having the odd game at it now just to get all those memories flooding back. I know a fair few people at the time were going on about Alien 8 being basically the same but when they created the jaw dropping Knight Lore it was obvious they would use the 'Filmation' technique a fair bit !
Still remember that great Ultimate box and the instructions which wouldnt give much away
I loved both Batman and HoH, such great games! I could really recommend Batman, there seems to be many people not having played it? The idea of having you to collect different utils in the beginning and have more abilities is really good, and it feels nice to be more and more competent. :)
Regarding Knight Lore and Alien 8 I did never really like them. There was something they lacked which I found in the Ritman games.
A stupid memory by the way. In Knight Lore I was so angry with the "turning-into-werewolf"-thing that I actually considered writing to Ultimate and complain and tell them that I sometimes have lost lives during these moments. Of course, I was only about 10. :) And I did never write.
I do like the isometric game style and I love Alien 8, Knight Lore, Batman & Head Over Heels, but Knight Lore is the daddy and that was where my vote went. I completely agree with everyone who was there to see it first hand, it was truly breathtaking. I sometimes think that Batman & HoH's graphics were a bit too busy compared to the stylish Ultimate depictions, I liked the detail, but floor grids were unnecessary IMHO and I think the KN/A8 style was more impressionistic rather than trying to be representative, which I think added much to their atmosphere.
Knight Lore was more pioneering (especially as it was actually finished before Underwurlde (Edit: SabreWulf)
By examining the code of these games and the way the various games were programmed this has actually been quite convincingly proven to be a self publicized urban myth created by Ultimate.
Check out the link below - and click on the "facts" link and make your own mind up.
The idea of having you to collect different utils in the beginning and have more abilities is really good, and it feels nice to be more and more competent. :)
Of course it does! No doubt that's why Nintendo keeps using this formula in every Metroid and Zelda game ever created... ;)
I completely agree with everyone who was there to see it first hand, it was truly breathtaking.
I can understand that, I felt the same when I saw Alien 8 first on my classmate's 48k, boy, I loved that game, I begged my parents so badly to buy me a Speccy so I could play great games like that as well. Very strong memories indeed. Still, my vote goes for HoH, which I consider superior in most aspects and equally good in the rest.
I knew I was getting a serious sense of deja vu with this thread. :smile:
Anyway, I'll stick by my earlier comments. HoH is a better designed and more playable game, but KL trumps that by virtue of coming first and having a huge subsequent influence on the genre.
You do know most people in the world (99%) could never complete Knight Lore ! Let alone in an hour !
Dunno why..once you learn the map the only reason you don't complete it is by making silly mistakes...there are a couple of rooms that I have problems with (the ghost with the block on his head...and the 2 ghosts in the same area), but other than that its pretty straightforward. Once you complete it a couple of times its a doddle.
I find atic atac much more difficult to complete and others say thats easy....I guess it depends on the person!
Erm a tip for Knight Lore-ers (pretty obvious really). Just collect everything you come across and 'store' it in the rooms directly around the wizard. That way when you have a bunch of items you can usually drop 5-6 in one go in the pot.
I usually just start by collecting 8-10 objects before I even look at the wizards pot.
Comments
As for KL, I never really got to like it much. I saw Alien 8 first and ever since the KL seemed a little blunt in comparison, with too many empty or almost empty rooms, and the constant changing of the character was more annoying than entertaining to me. So I played Alien 8 instead quite a lot as well and even bothered to draw a map and finish it once, but still neither of these is a real match for HoH, apart from KL being THE original isometric game.
Interestingly though, the same thing with Alien 8 vs. KL happened to me again with HoH vs. Batman. After playing the HoH first, I tried Batman few times, but never really forced myself to get further than collecting the boots. I always keep saying to myself I'll try once I finish ZXDS and have more spare time to play it properly, but I am not sure it will ever happen (playing Batman, not ZXDS)...
HOH is the better game BUT you had to be there at the time of Knight Lore's release to appreciated the awe we all felt when the game loaded up.
We'd already had Ant Attack but that still didn’t prepare us for what we were about to see.
3D Cartoon graphics that moved "in front" of and "behind" other graphics, pushable objects with inertia that you could be use to solve the rooms problems, fantastic animation, wicked sound effects. This game had it all.
I don't think I even noticed the slow down at the time, I was that excited.
How long would it have taken other software houses to come up with something similar if the Stamper brothers hadn’t pointed the way forward?
Again, HOH is better but is that the point?
Yep i feel that way. I still like having the odd game at it now just to get all those memories flooding back. I know a fair few people at the time were going on about Alien 8 being basically the same but when they created the jaw dropping Knight Lore it was obvious they would use the 'Filmation' technique a fair bit !
Still remember that great Ultimate box and the instructions which wouldnt give much away
I loved both Batman and HoH, such great games! I could really recommend Batman, there seems to be many people not having played it? The idea of having you to collect different utils in the beginning and have more abilities is really good, and it feels nice to be more and more competent. :)
Regarding Knight Lore and Alien 8 I did never really like them. There was something they lacked which I found in the Ritman games.
A stupid memory by the way. In Knight Lore I was so angry with the "turning-into-werewolf"-thing that I actually considered writing to Ultimate and complain and tell them that I sometimes have lost lives during these moments. Of course, I was only about 10. :) And I did never write.
By examining the code of these games and the way the various games were programmed this has actually been quite convincingly proven to be a self publicized urban myth created by Ultimate.
Check out the link below - and click on the "facts" link and make your own mind up.
http://retrospec.sgn.net/users/nwalker/filmation/
Of course it does! No doubt that's why Nintendo keeps using this formula in every Metroid and Zelda game ever created... ;)
I can understand that, I felt the same when I saw Alien 8 first on my classmate's 48k, boy, I loved that game, I begged my parents so badly to buy me a Speccy so I could play great games like that as well. Very strong memories indeed. Still, my vote goes for HoH, which I consider superior in most aspects and equally good in the rest.
*cough* *choke*
Nope, not stylish, especially compared to some of the isometric 3D games that came out on budget labels later.
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14527
Necros.
I knew I was getting a serious sense of deja vu with this thread. :smile:
Anyway, I'll stick by my earlier comments. HoH is a better designed and more playable game, but KL trumps that by virtue of coming first and having a huge subsequent influence on the genre.
Necros.
Head of Heals....never liked....too much/too big.
Knight lore you could pick up blast away and complete in under 1hr. Head O Heals always struck me as being a 'grind'.
No comparison.
Dunno why..once you learn the map the only reason you don't complete it is by making silly mistakes...there are a couple of rooms that I have problems with (the ghost with the block on his head...and the 2 ghosts in the same area), but other than that its pretty straightforward. Once you complete it a couple of times its a doddle.
I find atic atac much more difficult to complete and others say thats easy....I guess it depends on the person!
I usually just start by collecting 8-10 objects before I even look at the wizards pot.