I voted "I hate them both", althought an "I dislike both of them so much that I never play either of them" option would have been closer to the mark. Either way, I don't like either of them at all, and can't remember which one I dislike the most, so the "I hate them both" option seemed to be the best way to go for me.
Preferred Gunfright, think 'hate them both' is quite harsh !
Ultimate couldnt win, if they released another Alien 8 it would have got slated for being much of the same. Quite liked Gunfright, the toy horse was very amusing.
'Completed' it using an emulator and save/loading , at the end you just go through the same few ones , remember mexicans you go over several times.
Gunfright. It was the best Ultimate game since Lunar Jetman.
Absolutely right, if you miss out Atic Atac, Underwurlde, Knightlore and Alien 8 :)
I mean, even Knightlore was better than Gunfright, which doesn't say much for Gunfright at all, since Knightlore was a boring game that's only remembered for being so revolutionary, graphics-wise*
* Note: this opinion is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of other people on this forum. It does reflect reality, though, so nerrr!
Preferred Gunfright, think 'hate them both' is quite harsh !
True - it should have been "Which of these crap games do you abhore the least?" :lol:
And the word "games" should be in italics, or maybe left out altogther and replaced by something more accurate (though non-swearing, if possible).
I mean, come on. They made Jetpac, Lunar Jetman, Atic Atac, Underwurlde, and PSSST. All loaded with playability and addictiveness. Then they give us Nightshade...
I'd think that the problem with both Nightshade and Gunfright is that Filmation 2 is far more limited than its predecessor; instead of having puzzles made out of platforms, obstacles, moving blocks and objects you could pick up and push, all they can do with it is create a big scrolling maze.
Gunfright works better of the two because they kept it simple; all you need to do is follow the pointers, get the baddy in the shootout and avoid bumping into anything. In contrast, Nightshade is a tedious mapping challenge, filled with fiddly weapons that you've got to match up to the right monsters.
I was never a fan of any of them and can't say there is much difference between them. Well, Nightshade has more colour.
I guess this is how our psychology works. If you like something, you will notice subtle differences. If not, you won't. E.g. if you don't like techno music, all artists and songs will sound the same for you.
But to say I hate them is much to strong. My options is: I'm not interested in any of them.
gunfright is less boring - you don't have to wander as much as in nightshade (i think) and once you reach the baddie, there's the shooting sequence, which adds something.
Gunfright for me too, Nightshade was quite boring - basically wandering a huge maze in the vain hope you'll see a greeblie & you will have the right weapon to kill it (looked nice though!) Gunfright had a little more to it - the shooting moneybags sequence, the panto horses & the shoot out! (and at least you got a hint as to which direction to travel in).
Nightshade. Wow! That game totally blew me away when I first saw it... Just what I'd been wanting to see in an Ultimate game. Loved the way you needed to chose the correct weapons for the (really freaky) monsters, and the colour and detail in the graphics is fantastic. One of my favorite Ultimate games. Always a pleasure to go back to.
Gunfright all the way! Was one of my favorites back in the day. Money bags shooting, horsy, shootouts, whats not to like? Funny though I got Nightshade later on and didn't like it that much, still played it though.
All of you are right, 'I hate them' might not be the correct name for the 3rd option, but I don't know why, these filmation-2 games were not very popular, frustrating for many, starting Ultimate's decline.
But although not as good as Sabreman games, Nightshade and Gunfright keep the typical adventure atmosphere of Ultimate. Yes, more boring because as Matt said, filmation 2 is far more limited, what implies more boring. But if I must choose one, ruling out the 3rd option, my vote goes for Gunfright, because it's 'a bit more arcade' : shooting, horses, money bags, ...
Many companies did the same. I suppose complicated schemes were useless against powerful piracy...
True, speedloaders introduced a lot of loading problems for genuine users, but didn't do too much to deter pirates, as often a tape-to-tape copy of an original would be more reliable than the original (seriously, though I don't know why). Things did settle down, though, and reliable speedloaders eventually became standard in the late eighties and early nineties.
Nightshade looks like a warm-up for Gunfright to me. It stressed the 'arcade' part in arcade-adventure more, but they didn't quite do it properly. Gunfright was a second attempt and was a lot more successful.
The naysayers must remember that without Nightshade and Gunfright, "The Great Escape" probably wouldn't have happened :)
The filmation II engine would have been put to better use as some kind of RPG game rather than 'arcade'.
That's a very good point. Filmation 2, maybe on a 128K machine (giving enough memory for the graphical engine and graphical data, plus masses of space (in eight-bit computer terms) for game data, could have done a very good RPG. It would have been massively different from Ultimate's usual arcade style games, but it might have been very popular.
Just had another bash at Gunfright - just until I tracked dwn the first outlaw. So many great touches in this game that make it playable. I was never into games that required mapping and so those pointing boys were a great asset. Rotational direction keys were never my favourite but the hunt and shoot gameplay remains really compelling.
Did anyone else find the actual shootouts a bit hard? I 'completed' Gunfright in emulation by taking a snapshot prior to this stage and going back to it until I had killed the outlaw. I know that if you hit your man in the back then he will be slower in the shootout, but I often got killed anyway.
Comments
The last ZX Spectrum game the Stamper Bros. actually worked on I believe.
Gunfright was the usual...'lets copy the last game' tactic.
Sorry, Mr Stampers.
Eh? And Nightshade was something different? :-?
Ultimate couldnt win, if they released another Alien 8 it would have got slated for being much of the same. Quite liked Gunfright, the toy horse was very amusing.
'Completed' it using an emulator and save/loading , at the end you just go through the same few ones , remember mexicans you go over several times.
Liked it back in the day, good for a quick blast.
Absolutely right, if you miss out Atic Atac, Underwurlde, Knightlore and Alien 8 :)
I mean, even Knightlore was better than Gunfright, which doesn't say much for Gunfright at all, since Knightlore was a boring game that's only remembered for being so revolutionary, graphics-wise*
* Note: this opinion is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of other people on this forum. It does reflect reality, though, so nerrr!
True - it should have been "Which of these crap games do you abhore the least?" :lol:
And the word "games" should be in italics, or maybe left out altogther and replaced by something more accurate (though non-swearing, if possible).
I mean, come on. They made Jetpac, Lunar Jetman, Atic Atac, Underwurlde, and PSSST. All loaded with playability and addictiveness. Then they give us Nightshade...
Gunfright works better of the two because they kept it simple; all you need to do is follow the pointers, get the baddy in the shootout and avoid bumping into anything. In contrast, Nightshade is a tedious mapping challenge, filled with fiddly weapons that you've got to match up to the right monsters.
I guess this is how our psychology works. If you like something, you will notice subtle differences. If not, you won't. E.g. if you don't like techno music, all artists and songs will sound the same for you.
But to say I hate them is much to strong. My options is: I'm not interested in any of them.
Yes, it was the first Filmation II game, with the 3D environment scrolling as opposed to being flip-screen.
Quite a bit different to Ultimate's previous games.
But although not as good as Sabreman games, Nightshade and Gunfright keep the typical adventure atmosphere of Ultimate. Yes, more boring because as Matt said, filmation 2 is far more limited, what implies more boring. But if I must choose one, ruling out the 3rd option, my vote goes for Gunfright, because it's 'a bit more arcade' : shooting, horses, money bags, ...
BTW, why did both these games go back to normal loading schemes?
Many companies did the same. I suppose complicated schemes were useless against powerful piracy...
True, speedloaders introduced a lot of loading problems for genuine users, but didn't do too much to deter pirates, as often a tape-to-tape copy of an original would be more reliable than the original (seriously, though I don't know why). Things did settle down, though, and reliable speedloaders eventually became standard in the late eighties and early nineties.
It was the first to use filmation II which was quite different from Filmation I.
EDIT: Eh as Daren already said..
The naysayers must remember that without Nightshade and Gunfright, "The Great Escape" probably wouldn't have happened :)
https://discordapp.com/invite/cZt59EQ
That's a very good point. Filmation 2, maybe on a 128K machine (giving enough memory for the graphical engine and graphical data, plus masses of space (in eight-bit computer terms) for game data, could have done a very good RPG. It would have been massively different from Ultimate's usual arcade style games, but it might have been very popular.
Did anyone else find the actual shootouts a bit hard? I 'completed' Gunfright in emulation by taking a snapshot prior to this stage and going back to it until I had killed the outlaw. I know that if you hit your man in the back then he will be slower in the shootout, but I often got killed anyway.