though i disliked Underwurlde because i found it too hard to play i still thought it a high quality game it was simply just the fact i had no patience.(stupid bubbles)
Ha ha yeah that brought back some memories, you would get pretty high up in the game and think youre doing well, a second later you get knocked off your bubble and fall about 20 levels to your death ! Very frustrating game
I remember when I got Underwurlde. It was a friday at school when a mate lend me a copy of this game. I spent the whole weekend playing Underwurlde, it was amazing!
I understand what you mean but maybe Elite is not a good example as it actually plays just as well today as it always did in my opinion but that might be because there has never been more than a few titles that even resemble Elite,sure back in the day you might of had Captain Blood and Codename Matt,etc which were flying,spacey ,shooty adventure types but after that i do not recall any other game even coming close to Elite even on other machines.
I'd think the thing with Elite is that it's selling an illusion. The game universe isn't really that big and everywhere looks the same; only the names change, and even they're algorithmically generated. You can compare this to games like Tau Ceti and Mercenary that offered similar styles of gameplay, but had considerably more variety and better design to the worlds they were set in.
If you're specifically looking for space going epics, there are also Dark Star, Starion, Starfox and Starglider II. They've all got the same basic problem as Elite though; the game universe is too big for the variety that it offers.
It seems as though I am in the minority here, but perhaps one or two others have a similar sort of view to me regarding Ultimate.
Another thing that bugged me about Knight Lore and Alien 8 was the 'slowdown' on some of the busier screens - it really narked me! Maybe I was too picky considering the amazing isometric engine they had created!
Great to hear everyone's viewpoints on the company.
It seems as though I am in the minority here, but perhaps one or two others have a similar sort of view to me regarding Ultimate.
Another thing that bugged me about Knight Lore and Alien 8 was the 'slowdown' on some of the busier screens - it really narked me! Maybe I was too picky considering the amazing isometric engine they had created!
Great to hear everyone's viewpoints on the company.
Yep i remember those very well, didnt really annoy me back then, i was still in awe of the graphics. Funny a year or so later the market was plagued with cheap isometric games, eg Cylu/Chimera and then of course the 'heavyweights' such as Bobby Bearing, Spindizzy, Fairlight etc.
I loved those years of the Speccy, actually enjoyed a year or so later when there were tons of coin-op conversions (when done right). But to be fair the golden years were up till about 1982-1984 when there seemed to be so many original ideas.
the slowdowns are a quite common problem in this kind of games.
Yep, although to Ultimate's credit, Nightshade and Gunfright don't suffer from it nearly so much. Neither do Martianoids and Bubbler, come to think of it, although they've both got other issues with the gameplay.
My affair with Ultimate started with a bang.. Jetpac - still my all time favourite game - then went up, up, down, down... crash!
Part of the 'ultimate thing' was, unlike today, you only really got to see how the game 'played' after you had bought it. No internet, no youtube, no demos, just an advert and a review. The only time I have had any similar kind of feeling was waiting for a new DOC demo on the Amiga slightly later.
You knew it would be good, different, ahead of the pack.. but by how much...
They really proved what could be done on the Speccy and raised the bar for everyone else to follow. Even if you don't like their games, their influence on the game industry is huge. If you wanted to sell a game it had to be as good as an Ultimate game; no BASIC, no juddering graphics, no BEEP BEEP sounds, a loading screen (remember when games didn't have them!), a story, music...
Yep they certainly gave the industry a kick up the expansion port..
Not getting a Speccy until quite late in it's life, I did sometimes wonder what all the fuss was about Ultimate myself.....
In hindsight, I realise that if I had a Speccy when the games were released the would have been much more impressive! But yeah, for me, having missed the magic, they are mostly just some decent games...
And Rare are quite a name themselves i have often associated with quality with a few titles ahead of their time,just visited their website and confirmed their Ultimate history http://www.rare.co.uk/company
DK Couintry,Perfect Dark,Golden Eye stand out (well at least the originals do-PD Zero on 360 was pants) lol
Comments
Ha ha yeah that brought back some memories, you would get pretty high up in the game and think youre doing well, a second later you get knocked off your bubble and fall about 20 levels to your death ! Very frustrating game
Good point. They, like none other, used the instructions to create a special atmosphere...
I'd think the thing with Elite is that it's selling an illusion. The game universe isn't really that big and everywhere looks the same; only the names change, and even they're algorithmically generated. You can compare this to games like Tau Ceti and Mercenary that offered similar styles of gameplay, but had considerably more variety and better design to the worlds they were set in.
If you're specifically looking for space going epics, there are also Dark Star, Starion, Starfox and Starglider II. They've all got the same basic problem as Elite though; the game universe is too big for the variety that it offers.
Another thing that bugged me about Knight Lore and Alien 8 was the 'slowdown' on some of the busier screens - it really narked me! Maybe I was too picky considering the amazing isometric engine they had created!
Great to hear everyone's viewpoints on the company.
Yep i remember those very well, didnt really annoy me back then, i was still in awe of the graphics. Funny a year or so later the market was plagued with cheap isometric games, eg Cylu/Chimera and then of course the 'heavyweights' such as Bobby Bearing, Spindizzy, Fairlight etc.
I loved those years of the Speccy, actually enjoyed a year or so later when there were tons of coin-op conversions (when done right). But to be fair the golden years were up till about 1982-1984 when there seemed to be so many original ideas.
Yep, although to Ultimate's credit, Nightshade and Gunfright don't suffer from it nearly so much. Neither do Martianoids and Bubbler, come to think of it, although they've both got other issues with the gameplay.
Yes, it is really apparent with Alien 8 - I think they pushed it too much on too many screens and it does detract from the game
It doesnt really affect knight lore IMO they got the balance of emptiness/busyness about right.
Part of the 'ultimate thing' was, unlike today, you only really got to see how the game 'played' after you had bought it. No internet, no youtube, no demos, just an advert and a review. The only time I have had any similar kind of feeling was waiting for a new DOC demo on the Amiga slightly later.
You knew it would be good, different, ahead of the pack.. but by how much...
They really proved what could be done on the Speccy and raised the bar for everyone else to follow. Even if you don't like their games, their influence on the game industry is huge. If you wanted to sell a game it had to be as good as an Ultimate game; no BASIC, no juddering graphics, no BEEP BEEP sounds, a loading screen (remember when games didn't have them!), a story, music...
Yep they certainly gave the industry a kick up the expansion port..
In hindsight, I realise that if I had a Speccy when the games were released the would have been much more impressive! But yeah, for me, having missed the magic, they are mostly just some decent games...
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Then Nintendo bought half the company
And then made squillons of dollars and bought ultimate back off US Gold (or whoever had it...)
Then Microsoft bought them off Nintendo
Then Chris and Tim fell out with Microsoft and left. (anybody know where they are now?)
DK Couintry,Perfect Dark,Golden Eye stand out (well at least the originals do-PD Zero on 360 was pants) lol
Why did the fall out with Microsoft? Did they refuse to bend over for Uncle Bill?:smile:
Did they? I thought they just sold their shares and retired??
Yes and MP's leave to spend time with there wives.
Do you really think The Stampers would leave RARE (all of them ) suddenly after building it into one of the best software houses.
I may be wrong. I may be right :razz: