This thread is about Spectrum games, check the title of it, as is the forum. Doesnt matter if he worked on the Amiga version, its not relevant to this thread.
that would be remiss to not include his other work , that'd be like re-writing history ;) .. and everyone remembers the well known uridium c64 music.. play it to 200 early 64 owners and I bet easily half would know what game it's from... that says a lot alone.
that would be remiss to not include his other work , that'd be like re-writing history ;) .. and everyone remembers the well known uridium c64 music.. play it to 200 early 64 owners and I bet easily half would know what game it's from... that says a lot alone.
This thread is titled "What's your favourite Steve Turner Spectrum game?"
Is it that difficult? Its about S-P-E-C-T-R-U-M games.There's no rewriting of history going on. Its a machine specific thread! :-\
I heartily agree with Mark R. Jones that yes, this is definitely the Spectrum section of the WoS-Forums but at the same time I have absolutely nothing against discussing other games Steve Turner worked on on other platforms.
Let's not forget though that this particular poll is Spectrum-specific, at least in regards to where it is placed on the forum, even though I see the poll description does not include the word "SPECTRUM" :-P (Now fixed)
And, please, let's be civil (I'm aiming these words at every WoSser). I, for one, would absolutely NOT want to see Mr. Turner, S. leave so quickly. He's hardly put a dent in the WoS Settee!
I've voted for Astro Clone even if I never have been able to complete that game, and despite the horrible space fighting sessions or the tortuous adventure sessions. But then I was a kid back then.
I've also played a lot of Ironman and Magnetron, thought those were very well-made games.
Out of this list I guess Intensity is the game that should be an unappreciated classic, even if I still don't get the gameplay after all these years. I'd really wonder what would happen if this one get one little change in its control method. I might actually want to make a tribute out of this idea.
Mine has to be Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off Road
It was as close to the arcade as could be on the spectrum and I still play it to this very day.
Great game
Yeah, it controls VERY well. The first version I played was the DOS version - and a lot of that in multiplayer, and the Spectrum version controls pretty much identical to that.
I really do need to seriously try Rana Rama though. I played it back then and never knew what I was supposed to be doing. It looks very impressive though and I am sure there is a good game there if I would just read the instructions.
I voted for Quazatron. Man that game hooked me in. First heard about it in the playground, where one of the cool kids who I looked up to was singing its praises. I never saw the original review, but did see some tips for the game in an issue of Sinclair User that was being passed round the classroom during a rainy breaktime. Robots and weapons, eh? Looks cool!
It sort of stuck in my hindbrain until the day that Your Sinclair included the game as a covermount. I got proper into it. I had copious notes amounting to a modern-era strategy guide. I even wrote and drew myself a comic based on the game (which featured a rebellion by the Menial and Utility droids, gave Klepto a robot cat sidekick, and stole a number of situations from Crash's Jetman cartoon).
No I do not still have this comic, and even if I had, no I would not upload it to the archive ;)
I've only played Intensity for any length of time so can't vote fairly in this poll until I've tried the others. Did try Avalon/Dragontorc once but didn't get very far. I'll give Quazatron a go. I liked Intensity though!
Did they use the same advertisement art for Magentron? :p
Lol. Love the implication. :D
But..
Different publishers and art :P. Quazatron was published by Hewson. Magnetron was (iirc) the first Graftgold game published by Firebird (aka Telecomsoft) after switching publishers. There was a bit of a legal kerfuffle at the time between Hewson and Telecomsoft, a brief summary of which can be found on wikipedia.
It's not that Magnetron was that bad a game. It's not particularly good, but certainly not the worst. The big disappointment was that all the fans of Quazatron were looking forward to it that eagerly, and ended up with something that was far worse than the original. Tbh if we'd been give a few new maps, weapons and bits of kit to strap to your machine then the majority of us would have been more than happy.
What we ended up with were enemy robots than ran around on weird 'legs', single screens instead of scrolling landscapes (which I reckon was done so it could run on the C64), and conversion mini-games that weren't nearly as much fun as the original - no more cannibalising and creating your own custom bot.
Like I said it's not a particularly bad game, and for some the flip-screen rather than jerky (albeit tolerbale) scrolling of Quazatron may have been a good thing. But sequels are meant to be improvements on the original, and Magnetron failed in delivering that.
Comments
The first full price game I ever bought was the Avalon/Dragontorc box-set.
that would be remiss to not include his other work , that'd be like re-writing history ;) .. and everyone remembers the well known uridium c64 music.. play it to 200 early 64 owners and I bet easily half would know what game it's from... that says a lot alone.
Also: Didn't know the c64 version had music?! I know the Speccy tune tho. Doo dooo, do de dooooo. Nice.
flippin' amiga owners ;) . But Steve did a fair bit on c64 also.. so be gone ye 64-deniers ;)
This thread is titled "What's your favourite Steve Turner Spectrum game?"
Is it that difficult? Its about S-P-E-C-T-R-U-M games.There's no rewriting of history going on. Its a machine specific thread! :-\
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Ranarama is another great game, very original. I was amazed first time I played it.
Let's not forget though that this particular poll is Spectrum-specific, at least in regards to where it is placed on the forum, even though I see the poll description does not include the word "SPECTRUM" :-P (Now fixed)
And, please, let's be civil (I'm aiming these words at every WoSser). I, for one, would absolutely NOT want to see Mr. Turner, S. leave so quickly. He's hardly put a dent in the WoS Settee!
E.g. Ranarama
Most speccy games suffer from being overly complex or simple
Can I not just be GreenCard? It'll get confusing otherwise...
*gets coat*
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You blinked. It's 17 now!
I'm surprised. Looks like I'm going to have to give this game a proper go.
More votes for Maroc's adventures, please! :D
I've also played a lot of Ironman and Magnetron, thought those were very well-made games.
Out of this list I guess Intensity is the game that should be an unappreciated classic, even if I still don't get the gameplay after all these years. I'd really wonder what would happen if this one get one little change in its control method. I might actually want to make a tribute out of this idea.
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It was as close to the arcade as could be on the spectrum and I still play it to this very day.
Great game
Yeah, it controls VERY well. The first version I played was the DOS version - and a lot of that in multiplayer, and the Spectrum version controls pretty much identical to that.
My games for the Spectrum: Dingo, The Speccies, The Speccies 2, Vallation, SQIJ.
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Ex-Ocean Software graphic artist -
Download my FREE PDF 'LOAD DIJ DIJ' (180,000+ words): https://ko-fi.com/i/IG2G3BEJZP
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It sort of stuck in my hindbrain until the day that Your Sinclair included the game as a covermount. I got proper into it. I had copious notes amounting to a modern-era strategy guide. I even wrote and drew myself a comic based on the game (which featured a rebellion by the Menial and Utility droids, gave Klepto a robot cat sidekick, and stole a number of situations from Crash's Jetman cartoon).
No I do not still have this comic, and even if I had, no I would not upload it to the archive ;)
So *you* are that one vote for Magnetron! :D
Never played Rana Rama so that looks like one to try!
Jon.
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
Did they use the same advertisement art for Magentron? :p
... I think I must play Quazatron more often!
Lol. Love the implication. :D
But..
Different publishers and art :P. Quazatron was published by Hewson. Magnetron was (iirc) the first Graftgold game published by Firebird (aka Telecomsoft) after switching publishers. There was a bit of a legal kerfuffle at the time between Hewson and Telecomsoft, a brief summary of which can be found on wikipedia.
Adverts:
Quazatron
Magnetron - Hewson's pre-release advert
Magnetron - Firebird's release advert
Personally I thought Magnetron was good.. just not quite as good as Quazatron. If you've never played Magnetron, it's well worth a look.
What we ended up with were enemy robots than ran around on weird 'legs', single screens instead of scrolling landscapes (which I reckon was done so it could run on the C64), and conversion mini-games that weren't nearly as much fun as the original - no more cannibalising and creating your own custom bot.
Like I said it's not a particularly bad game, and for some the flip-screen rather than jerky (albeit tolerbale) scrolling of Quazatron may have been a good thing. But sequels are meant to be improvements on the original, and Magnetron failed in delivering that.
Dragontorc is bigger and there's more going on but somehow I just prefer Avalon.
Didn't see that one coming! :D