Same with Head over Heels, i realised what a huge huge game this was, i couldnt be bothered back then with the time in learning how to complete it when i had 100's of other games to play. Always appreciated how good this game was but again it was a case of just exploring really
Thing is, that's pretty much all you have to do. Unlike KnightLore and Fairlight and most of the others, which have that annoying "find object X, take to location Y, repeat ad nauseum" approach, HoH distills it down to just exploring further.
If you explore enough, you'll escape and maybe liberate a planet or two on the way!
Yep, the early part of the game is fairly linear - you just have to go as far as you can with each character until you can join them up. But later on you have to split them up, take alternative routes (and try not to go round in circles instead) and you have the option of transporting to various worlds to capture crowns, before finally escaping.
But looking at a map is a big help, to get an idea of the layout of the game rather than to necessarily find your way from room to room.
Except that rarely happens, because you have the memory fish, which act a bit like save points. I can see how a save feature would've been handy, it's a big game and there was always the danger of dinner interrupting, but then you could say that about loads of 8-bit games.
Yes, except for the ones that have save games. :smile:
The resurrection fish are indeed very useful though.
Except that these games also came with directional control selectable on the main screen along with keyboard/joystick.
Not for keyboard players they didn't, the directional control option was only available for joystick users, for some reason.
Never played it but to me the Amiga one is the definitive version, it's probably based on the multicolour Amstrad version but probably with better colour combinations as the Amstrad palette was somewhat gaudy. However, I will concur wholeheartedly if you were to say that the Amstrad was the king of the 8bit isometric game genre.
I can't comfirm or deny that of my own experience as I've not played many Amstrad games, but I do wish that Get Dexter had been converted to the Spectrum. I tried to play it under Amstrad emulation, but didn't know how to play the game.
for its time it was a great game and showed you could have 2 controlible peeps in 1 game and when you got them together (if you was good you could do it right away) then you could use them to great effect.
I didnt mind the game although i was not a fan of that type.
Not for keyboard players they didn't, the directional control option was only available for joystick users, for some reason.
Ahh, I stand corrected, thank you. I never played it with anything else than joystick (and nowadays joypad). I can see that being rather infuriating at the time.
If only more emulators supported the 256 colour thing. I use EmuZWin for HOH 256 and a few other 256 colour games but it is not very stable and my computer things it contains some trojan virus things and gets very upset about me using it.
Forgot to mention Arjun's, 256 color version of the HoH.
Its even better than Amstrad version and is really worth playing.
That is absolutely lovely.
Even on the Amstrad there's a subtle improvement in the graphics from Knight Lore to Head Over Heels.
They're both done in the four-colour mode. Now on the Spectrum the sprites have two bits for every pixel - one for the mask, one for the sprite data. On the Amstrad the two bits give you four colours, but one of those will be black and another will be transparent, so all the sprites are drawn in just two colours and black.
In Knight Lore / Alien 8, look at how red and yellow are used. Then a third colour, white, is used for the scroll at the bottom.
In Head Over Heels, they've realised that the backdrop and floor aren't masked, so you'll see the third colour used to give more detail to the scenery, even though the sprites don't use any more colours.
Comments
Thing is, that's pretty much all you have to do. Unlike KnightLore and Fairlight and most of the others, which have that annoying "find object X, take to location Y, repeat ad nauseum" approach, HoH distills it down to just exploring further.
If you explore enough, you'll escape and maybe liberate a planet or two on the way!
But looking at a map is a big help, to get an idea of the layout of the game rather than to necessarily find your way from room to room.
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -
Yes, except for the ones that have save games. :smile:
The resurrection fish are indeed very useful though.
In the remake I used the resurrection fish to give you one save game oppurtunity - you could use it anywhere you like in the game.
Not for keyboard players they didn't, the directional control option was only available for joystick users, for some reason.
I can't comfirm or deny that of my own experience as I've not played many Amstrad games, but I do wish that Get Dexter had been converted to the Spectrum. I tried to play it under Amstrad emulation, but didn't know how to play the game.
I didnt mind the game although i was not a fan of that type.
"the resurrection fish" - new band name
https://discordapp.com/invite/cZt59EQ
Ahh, I stand corrected, thank you. I never played it with anything else than joystick (and nowadays joypad). I can see that being rather infuriating at the time.
<pedant>Aren't they called Reincarnation Fish?</pedant>
Its even better than Amstrad version and is really worth playing.
These games require a EmuZWin emulator.
More about this and download link can be found on Arjun's home page:
http://www.yantragames.com/ZX256.html
http://zx-pk.ru/
Aye - I've been planning on putting this in the final documentary chapter for years, it's so impressive.
Even on the Amstrad there's a subtle improvement in the graphics from Knight Lore to Head Over Heels.
They're both done in the four-colour mode. Now on the Spectrum the sprites have two bits for every pixel - one for the mask, one for the sprite data. On the Amstrad the two bits give you four colours, but one of those will be black and another will be transparent, so all the sprites are drawn in just two colours and black.
In Knight Lore / Alien 8, look at how red and yellow are used. Then a third colour, white, is used for the scroll at the bottom.
In Head Over Heels, they've realised that the backdrop and floor aren't masked, so you'll see the third colour used to give more detail to the scenery, even though the sprites don't use any more colours.
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -
That.Is.Beautiful.
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -