They're all pretty good, Dizzy is fab, 'n' Ninja Massacre, 'n' all that sorta stuff, but my fave is Advanced Pinball simulator. However, Players games were my absolute faves as far as budgetty games go.
I liked Advanced Pinball Simulator as well. I did manage to get quite far, i nearly managed to destroy the castle.
you can find a list of almost every Codemasters release ever (I bet they've missed some Spectrum titles at least, as the site doesn't have much to do with the Speccy, being an American site mainly geared towards modern machines) right up to date.
I was never a fan of their Spectrum output, and ooking at that list, the only non-Spectrum game I really liked of theirs was the very good Second Sight, which I'd recommend to anyone who likes third person shooters with small amounts of stealth and a good storyline (the story is really very good, which is surprising, as in these sort of games it's usually cliched and forgettable). I don't know how Codemasters came to publish the game, as it is by Free Radical, who wrote the Timesplitters games which were published by Electronic Arts (Timespliiters 3: Future Perfect is my favourite cross-platform game of the XBox/PS2/Gamecube generation, incidentally).
Codemasters also wrote (or at least published) the awful Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, the better but still not too good Clive Barker's Jericho, and Prisoner of War, which I've been meaning to try on Patrick's recommendation when I get the chance (he mentioned it sometime back, in connection with another WW2 game, I think?). They did publish the first Operation Flashpoint, which is supposed to be excellent, even after all this time, by it's many fans (though it's much too hard for me, you need to be a proper military/stealth/realism buff to play it), and the awful (so I've heard) sequel (which is written by a different team altogether, if I remember rightly) Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.
They didn't make 'quality' games for the Speccy. They made mediocre games at best and thought the low price was an excuse. It wasn't.
When Mastertronic first started doing ?1.99 games they had a fair few stinkers, and arcade clones that looked a bit cheap but were still pretty damn playable. So long as you were a bit choosy, you got your money's worth. There was a lot of varied output; some great, some terrible. But getting a really great game more than made up for all the others.
But then CodeMasters came along, and everything they did was average. Nothing hugely disastrous, but nothing hugely interesting either. They did their share of clones of later arcade games too but on the cheap, with all that made the original exciting boiled out. Like someone had done a conversion of Super Sprint or Afterburner from screenshots only, never once playing the game they were supposed to be copying. Either that or it was the same overhead-view 'simulator' with new graphics and still no real handling mechanic.
Then the boxes were covered in quotes to try and trick the few purchasers who were parents (or grandparents) giving a cursory glance that a game had received a good review. Most were bought by kids who didn't believe a word of it, but it always installed a feeling of disillusionment. You knew it was a CodeMasters game, so you knew the quotes were hyperbole and the game would be average. And that's all they ever offered. And now they're still trying to defend that legacy of mediocrity by denying access to those old games.
When I was a kid, I actually BELIEVED those quotes on the Codemasters boxes..
My mother would spend hours playing Pub Trivia and Monte Carlo Casino and she enjoyed them..
Weren't you a CPC user back then? Maybe the majority of Codemasters CPC games were better than their Spectrum counterparts, as I seem to remember the Speccy ones (no idea about other machines' versions) beign mostly rubbish, or at best professional looking but not too much fun.
I did like Pub Trivia Quiz though, buy I thought a different version (one with four answers per question, instead of three) by a different company (Arcade Trivia quiz from Zepplin Games, found first time on on WOS's infoseek!) was much better in every way.
On the CPC, did Pub Trivia Quiz still have the question "Where do Swedish pop qroup Abba come from?"? Yes, that was the question!
My mother would spend hours playing Pub Trivia and Monte Carlo Casino and she enjoyed them..
my mum used to play vegas jackpot (mastertronic) on the atari 800 xl :lol:
but well she is kinda cool, first 2 games speccy wise I ever got from woolies from her.. manic miner / jetman.. nuff said :)
(I still own both some 27 years later)
Weren't you a CPC user back then? Maybe the majority of Codemasters CPC games were better than their Spectrum counterparts, as I seem to remember the Speccy ones (no idea about other machines' versions) beign mostly rubbish, or at best professional looking but not too much fun.
I did like Pub Trivia Quiz though, buy I thought a different version (one with four answers per question, instead of three) by a different company (Arcade Trivia quiz from Zepplin Games, found first time on on WOS's infoseek!) was much better in every way.
On the CPC, did Pub Trivia Quiz still have the question "Where do Swedish pop qroup Abba come from?"? Yes, that was the question!
Yes, I was a CPC user back then.. The games I mentioned - Dizzy (bar Crystal Kingdom), Twin Turbo V8, Pub Trivia, Snooker Sim, Monte Carlo Casino, Advanced Pinball simulator, Grand Prix Sim, Ghosthunters, Super Robin Hood, Ski Simulator were all good and I played them again and again.
As for the question, I have no memory of such a question.
back in the day i thought codemasters contributed massively to the spectrum scene.
however their recent showings have just been poor, and their recent antics have just ruined their reputation:
- Denying distribution of old titles that they will never made any more money on - for a previouly budget only game producer this is just pretentious
- Complaining that current technology "isn't powerful enough for the games they want to create" - then why do their games always look and play like a bag of crap now?
- The "Dodgy porn lawyer" incident. Hiring Davenport Lyons to randomly accuse old ladies of downloading Dream Pinball 3D and demand money with menaces
They have a lot of work to do to build trust back in me now
I'm not sure they were budget-only. While most of their titles were budget titles, I'm fairly certain that they did have a few full price releases too? Rockstar Ate My Hamster springs to mind?
I wasn't aware that they did really, they were amazingly popular during the Spectrum era, but they are rubbish now, I can't remember the last game of theirs I actually enjoyed.
Didn't codemasters do Brian Lara for the PS1? Thereafter they lost their way in my book, and on my console(s). You couldn't do any of the things (easily) that you could on other cricket games, quirks like bowling sides out by bowling round their legs, or for nothing.
The last Codies game I played was Ashes Cricket on the Wii a couple of years back, and it was woeful.
That said, I don't hold denying distribution of their back catalogue against them. It's a tricky position for publishers still going from that era to give games away, as they don't want to erode their intellectual property rights. Plus they'd also have to have all their original paperwork in order lest they get into some sort of dispute with someone else - possibly the developers - over its ownership. Dare I say it, but the chances are that in most cases they've not got it.
The World Championship Snooker on the PS1 was pretty good. Shame they used Doom-esque flat models for the players though.
Best game I ever had by them was Micro Machines Turbo Tournament on the Megadrive. 4 player mayhem :D
Oh, no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
--Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)
Everything they pretty much did in the 8/16 bit era connected with me. Enjoyed there efforts in the realm of 32 bit playstation/pc releases, toca and mcrea were fantastic.
Last couple of years they've sold out on quality though, they've gone the way of nickle and dime dlc's at a detriment of the fun, playable challenges that were the're stable greatness down the years.
Their last release dirt 3 is a prime example of that, virtualy zero challenge, rinse repeat... buy my dlc.
Realy sad the way it's gone for codies in recent times, virtualy everything from the fps's(flashpoint) cricket, and the driving stuff has fallen off a cliff.
I fear for Grid 2, a game i realy want to see after loving the original.
I've nothing against really apart from how they used to have quotes from themselves plastered all over the games packaging about how 'brilliant' a games was.
Apart from that, i loved Super Stuntman, Blade Warrior, Treasure Island Dizzy and Super Tank (amongst others).
One thing, did the Codies ever release an adventure? I don't think they did.
Oh, no. Every time you turn up something monumental and terrible happens.
I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
--Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)
As I mentioned already in this thread, I quite liked a lot of their Playstation games like the TOCA's and Colin McRaes....and this gen they've had Overlord and it's sequel which are pretty good, so yeah...
Have had a quick few goes of Dirt though, and it seemed to be trying really hard to capture the American market...not really my kind of thing, having some random American shouting "Awesome!" every time I turn a corner....
Comments
I liked Advanced Pinball Simulator as well. I did manage to get quite far, i nearly managed to destroy the castle.
Ghost Hunters was also enjoyable.
I wouldn't say the Codies were 'absolutely brilliant' but there were some decent games from them.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/company/6713.html
you can find a list of almost every Codemasters release ever (I bet they've missed some Spectrum titles at least, as the site doesn't have much to do with the Speccy, being an American site mainly geared towards modern machines) right up to date.
I was never a fan of their Spectrum output, and ooking at that list, the only non-Spectrum game I really liked of theirs was the very good Second Sight, which I'd recommend to anyone who likes third person shooters with small amounts of stealth and a good storyline (the story is really very good, which is surprising, as in these sort of games it's usually cliched and forgettable). I don't know how Codemasters came to publish the game, as it is by Free Radical, who wrote the Timesplitters games which were published by Electronic Arts (Timespliiters 3: Future Perfect is my favourite cross-platform game of the XBox/PS2/Gamecube generation, incidentally).
Codemasters also wrote (or at least published) the awful Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, the better but still not too good Clive Barker's Jericho, and Prisoner of War, which I've been meaning to try on Patrick's recommendation when I get the chance (he mentioned it sometime back, in connection with another WW2 game, I think?). They did publish the first Operation Flashpoint, which is supposed to be excellent, even after all this time, by it's many fans (though it's much too hard for me, you need to be a proper military/stealth/realism buff to play it), and the awful (so I've heard) sequel (which is written by a different team altogether, if I remember rightly) Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.
it's have to be mastertronic... (but firebird also did great games aggh!)
solely for 2 titles
kikstart 2 (not got this on a 64 .. your not a 64 owner in my eyes)
gaplus (great conversion.. arcade perfect.. pity the plebs in zzap don't know their stuff)
All Dizzy bar Crystal Kingdom,
Advanced Pinball Simulator
Advanved Ski Simulator
Professional Snooker Simulator
Super Stunt Man
Twin Turbo V8
Quattro Arcade, Adventure, Super Hits, Sports
Completely forgot that RAMH was a Codies release! Ignore my previous statement - RAMH is an absolute classic :D
When Mastertronic first started doing ?1.99 games they had a fair few stinkers, and arcade clones that looked a bit cheap but were still pretty damn playable. So long as you were a bit choosy, you got your money's worth. There was a lot of varied output; some great, some terrible. But getting a really great game more than made up for all the others.
But then CodeMasters came along, and everything they did was average. Nothing hugely disastrous, but nothing hugely interesting either. They did their share of clones of later arcade games too but on the cheap, with all that made the original exciting boiled out. Like someone had done a conversion of Super Sprint or Afterburner from screenshots only, never once playing the game they were supposed to be copying. Either that or it was the same overhead-view 'simulator' with new graphics and still no real handling mechanic.
Then the boxes were covered in quotes to try and trick the few purchasers who were parents (or grandparents) giving a cursory glance that a game had received a good review. Most were bought by kids who didn't believe a word of it, but it always installed a feeling of disillusionment. You knew it was a CodeMasters game, so you knew the quotes were hyperbole and the game would be average. And that's all they ever offered. And now they're still trying to defend that legacy of mediocrity by denying access to those old games.
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -
My mother would spend hours playing Pub Trivia and Monte Carlo Casino and she enjoyed them..
Weren't you a CPC user back then? Maybe the majority of Codemasters CPC games were better than their Spectrum counterparts, as I seem to remember the Speccy ones (no idea about other machines' versions) beign mostly rubbish, or at best professional looking but not too much fun.
I did like Pub Trivia Quiz though, buy I thought a different version (one with four answers per question, instead of three) by a different company (Arcade Trivia quiz from Zepplin Games, found first time on on WOS's infoseek!) was much better in every way.
On the CPC, did Pub Trivia Quiz still have the question "Where do Swedish pop qroup Abba come from?"? Yes, that was the question!
Them's from Scandihoobia, right? Near Australia, if my Arkansas High School education serves me.
[/From_USA]
my mum used to play vegas jackpot (mastertronic) on the atari 800 xl :lol:
but well she is kinda cool, first 2 games speccy wise I ever got from woolies from her.. manic miner / jetman.. nuff said :)
(I still own both some 27 years later)
Yes, I was a CPC user back then.. The games I mentioned - Dizzy (bar Crystal Kingdom), Twin Turbo V8, Pub Trivia, Snooker Sim, Monte Carlo Casino, Advanced Pinball simulator, Grand Prix Sim, Ghosthunters, Super Robin Hood, Ski Simulator were all good and I played them again and again.
As for the question, I have no memory of such a question.
however their recent showings have just been poor, and their recent antics have just ruined their reputation:
- Denying distribution of old titles that they will never made any more money on - for a previouly budget only game producer this is just pretentious
- Complaining that current technology "isn't powerful enough for the games they want to create" - then why do their games always look and play like a bag of crap now?
- The "Dodgy porn lawyer" incident. Hiring Davenport Lyons to randomly accuse old ladies of downloading Dream Pinball 3D and demand money with menaces
They have a lot of work to do to build trust back in me now
Didn't codemasters do Brian Lara for the PS1? Thereafter they lost their way in my book, and on my console(s). You couldn't do any of the things (easily) that you could on other cricket games, quirks like bowling sides out by bowling round their legs, or for nothing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Lara_Cricket_series
Who made the game where you go across a course on a motorbike over ramps and stuff? Can't even think what it was called :-(
That said, I don't hold denying distribution of their back catalogue against them. It's a tricky position for publishers still going from that era to give games away, as they don't want to erode their intellectual property rights. Plus they'd also have to have all their original paperwork in order lest they get into some sort of dispute with someone else - possibly the developers - over its ownership. Dare I say it, but the chances are that in most cases they've not got it.
They've definately made the worst cricket games.
The question is who didn't do one!
Codemaster's one was Atv Simulator and according to David Darling it's absolutely brilliant! :D
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270923258540
I dunno :p
Maybe you should have put the Darling quotes in the item description! :-P
hitler had better tanks than the allies.
think about that.
Best game I ever had by them was Micro Machines Turbo Tournament on the Megadrive. 4 player mayhem :D
I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
--Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)
https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
Everything they pretty much did in the 8/16 bit era connected with me. Enjoyed there efforts in the realm of 32 bit playstation/pc releases, toca and mcrea were fantastic.
Last couple of years they've sold out on quality though, they've gone the way of nickle and dime dlc's at a detriment of the fun, playable challenges that were the're stable greatness down the years.
Their last release dirt 3 is a prime example of that, virtualy zero challenge, rinse repeat... buy my dlc.
Realy sad the way it's gone for codies in recent times, virtualy everything from the fps's(flashpoint) cricket, and the driving stuff has fallen off a cliff.
I fear for Grid 2, a game i realy want to see after loving the original.
Yeah, the micro machines 4 player games have got to be the best 'back from the pub' games I've ever played..! :smile:
Apart from that, i loved Super Stuntman, Blade Warrior, Treasure Island Dizzy and Super Tank (amongst others).
One thing, did the Codies ever release an adventure? I don't think they did.
I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
--Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)
https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
Have had a quick few goes of Dirt though, and it seemed to be trying really hard to capture the American market...not really my kind of thing, having some random American shouting "Awesome!" every time I turn a corner....