The Emperor's New Games
Are there any Spectrum games where you just don't get what the fuss is about? I mean games that are almost universally praised, but which strike you personally as - well - a bit crap.
For me, Chaos is one example. It's hailed as a classic. It really should be the sort of thing I like. (I loved pen-and-paper RPGs back in the day and even tried to make a card-based game of duelling wizards.). But for the life of me I can't see what all the fuss is about. I disliked it back in the day and I still can't get into it now.
Does anyone else have games like this?
(And what am I missing with Chaos?)
For me, Chaos is one example. It's hailed as a classic. It really should be the sort of thing I like. (I loved pen-and-paper RPGs back in the day and even tried to make a card-based game of duelling wizards.). But for the life of me I can't see what all the fuss is about. I disliked it back in the day and I still can't get into it now.
Does anyone else have games like this?
(And what am I missing with Chaos?)
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I love playing Rebelstar (Firebird version), Lords of Chaos (prefer the Amiga version though) and Laser Squad (Spectrum and Amiga) - now and back in the day when they were released, but like you, I just can't get into a good game of Chaos. Ain't life strange....
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I wouldn't call Chaos crap, even though I can't see any attraction to it (or any strategy game ever), to me, Chaos is like football, heavy metal, opera, ballet, etc, in that I don't like it but can see the skill involved. The same with most of the Spectrum games I list above (and I don't totally dislike Alien 8,. for some reason, even though it's almost a reskinned Knightlore, I think Alien 8 is much more fun, though still not a very good game).
And not on the Spectrum, but Minecraft. People get obsessed with it, yet to me there's no game in there at all. Mind you, it's like the third biggest selling game ever, so either millions of people are wrong or I am. Fifty/fifty!
I'd have to agree with ewgf that a lot of the Ultimate stuff like Knightlore and Sabre Wulf tend to spring to mind. Not about Dizzy though, they were always great. :-P
I hate confusingly 'deep' games and tend to prefer to be playing with competence as soon as the game loads...not scratching my head.
Then again ... if anyone else says something bad about chaos they are getting my smelly 80s puppet monkey (which I am sure still has remnants of 1980's spaghetti shapes encrusted somewhere in his balding fur)... rolling about in their clean washing basket.
It has more than 'jump and fire' but it's the easiest 'involved' game to pick up the rules of that I've ever played... and bothered with ... cause it's awesome.
Yes, at least when I have revisited it recently. I can't really remember whether I played against the computer or friends back in the day.
Perhaps that's it.
I knew I'd regret starting this thread! :)
I liked it's sequel as well, but once again probably close to 25 years since I've played it, and probably not going to ever again...
Have fond memories of both games though, and that I think is how I'd like to keep it really (Plus I don't have a friend who'd be willing to play either with me these days, and that really was half the fun).
However TNN and DD was just more time spent watching a large sprite walk on screen. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Just wandering around for the sake of it was very unrewarding. The puzzles make no sense to me even with the solution. And Cuchulain, whilst well animated, isn't any better than Wally Week.
I think it's just as good as a single player game. The main things I like about Chaos are (a) spells are randomised so you never get the same game twice, (b) the game has a nice balance which allows you to turn what looks like a certain loss into a victory (subversion, turmoil, justice) and (c) there's a nice blend of a small amount of luck and tactics
So many heretics in one place... :P
"Halt for the Yeoman!" "Thievery is costly!" :P
Elite
that stupid walking egg
Football Manager
Quazatron
Anyway, Chaos rocks. You can give the wizards amusing names and everything :)>-
Even playing it by itself is OK.
I never got into dizzy or elite, or any soccer game ,didn't like real life soccer either.
(Probably cos I wasn't very good and people get annoyed at you when you suck)
The great escape is a weird one, a+ programming but not as fun as I would have liked.
They all looked really good, but to me the gameplay was just dull.
:)
Whoah! Now that really is heresy. Fetch the pitch forks!
Alien highway seemed a bit boring.
I liked tau ceti (academy2) bitd but now don't like it, it seems too difficult.
Mercenary was impressive but just not fun.
Atic atac and jetpac seemed a bit empty (opposite problem to lom)
I really tried to get into movie but could never work out what to say to the characters.
When I tried to go back to Movie I realised I'd forgotten about how slow it is. And what a crazy control system it has...
Agreed about the Lightforce ship! Ugly design, always seemed a real unforced error as it compromised the rest of the game's look. And so the overall experience, as it was obviously onscreen all the time.
This. Looked nice, played dull.
Also this. Chase HQ is dull. I had some fun with the initial demo but beyond that it didn't do much for me.
Lightforce is entirely one note. Throw a few power-ups in and it might get better but as it stands it's far too boring.
Chaos is fab. It's a strategy game with the absolute minimum of fuss. I didn't much care for Lords of Chaos but the original is so refined and easy to get into. The only downside is usually the endgame. Underpowered wizards running away from blobs and fire until it becomes a stalemate.
But when it works well, the game is fab, simple fun for when you want a strategy game without all the faff! I never used to read the wargames sections of the Speccy mags but this, Rebelstar 1&2 and Samurai were all decent.
I don't dislike JSW, but I don't see why it's preferred by most people to Technician Ted. Maybe it's because I played Ted first, but I like it better. For me the room layouts are just as quirky and inventive and it feels a bit more polished.
Nervously reaches for coat...
Because it's bloody hard!
Yes, I know JSW is also bloody hard, but half the fun was exploring all the rooms, even if you couldn't collect everything.
TT on the other hand - I really wanted to like it, but I couldn't ever get anywhere. I think I might've completed a task once.
With JSW you can have a decent crack at collecting all the objects on a screen and with a few exceptions (<cough - banyan tree - cough>) most screens seem perfectly do-able. Every screen on TT seems to require at least one pixel-perfect precise jump.
It is far too difficult but I still like it. I've probably seen most of the screens but, in terms of completing tasks, I've never really made any proper progress. Maybe one day (can we have that in writing? - Ed).
At least the Megamix version had numbered tasks to give you some sort of chance, even if the time limits were a bit (a lot!) harsh.
Not sure how good my memory is as I haven't played it for a while, but I seem to recall with TT that a lot of the nasties moved much quicker than you. In JSW you could generally traverse a screen only having to jump over something once. In TT after jumping over it once it would reach the end of its movement range and come back for you before you could get out of the screen. So you'd end up having to jump over it about 3 times.