Official feedback for issue 86

[killermike]

Anyway, a really strong issue with features on Druid(a particular favourite with me as I owned it for my C64), the Changing Worlds feature by Killermike,

Thanks. I'll send the paypal money to the usual address.

[Rory Milne]

Just finished reading issue 86 last night and thought I'd better post some more than overdue feedback:

A moment with Tim Skelly - I love vector games so naturally I enjoyed this and if it's a pre cursor to a Rip-Off and / or Warrior making of then you'll have one very happy forum monkey on your hands!

Isometric Evolution - really interesting, loved the approach taken. I appreciated the time spent discussing the meaning of isometric. In general a lovely piece to look at, I felt the graphics were really allowed to speak for themselves.

Mapped - a very nice addition to the mag, beautiful to look at, liked the factoids stuffed into the legend at the foot of the page.

The Making of Zub - this was a great piece, it really got deep into the Pickfords development process during the 8-bit era which made for a fascinating read.

From the Archives, Mikro-Gen - a deeply satisfying archives this month, by that I mean everyone who you would have hoped to hear recollections from was right there in the article slotted in between meticulously researched company history and background information.

Retrorevivals - Bugaboo, the partial-map showed off the game nicely and the promise of a making off in the near future is exciting news! Jetpac, Deathchase and Stix, I'm a big fan of the blown up screen shots with the copy in the corner so for me these were good looking spreads with just the right amount of text to read while taking in the attractive visuals.

History of Streets of Rage - everything you could ask for, an in depth history of the much loved series with lots of interesting asides.

Coin-Op Capers, Turbo OutRun - another great coin-op caper, I've never played Turbo OutRun for some reason but I definitely will be after reading this, perhaps not the Mega Drive version though.

Obscura Machina, FM Towns Marty - I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is just such a great feature! The story of the Marty's failure made perfect sense but you can't help feeling that with better support and some method of upgrading the damn thing that it could have been a contender.

Making of Druid - a solid, focused effort which I really enjoyed. Also another example of timing being so important to a game's commercial fortunes.

Changing Worlds - due to personal tastes a feature on pre-polygon 3D was always going to be a winner for me so unsurprisingly this went down really well. An extra bonus was that a lot of the more recent titles featured (relatively speaking) were ones I hadn't heard of.

The Unconverted - like Obscura Machina this is a regular slot that just really works. It's just brilliantly simple and always delivers on it's promise. This month, Battletoads and NAM-1975 leapt effortlessly on to my 'Must play' list with Captain Commando and Karate Blazers not far behind.

Making of Starglider - very nicely written piece, a real insight into the creative process and the variety of ports on show and game related art really made it shine.

In short, another exceptional issue. At this rate Darran will need to make room on his award shelf for this year's GMA!

[ncf1]

Iain -- love your work, nice article
But you know, we didnt have one of those daisywheel printers, we had one of those thermal printer things -- has anyone else ever had one of THOSE? To acquire one roll of thermal paper alone was a true accomplishment at the time - one tiny, remote shop tucked away nicely in the central city, and charging prices that seemed so exorbirant as to sugest that the owner never thought he'd actually *sell* any of it so he simply just came up with a magical, random figure, hoping that some poor d*ckhead (like my dad) someday would go in and actually buy some of the stuff.

I remember once, my father printer out a huge banner with that printer using PrintShop, and the heat and smell which emanated from it.. well, all the doors and windows in the house had to be left open and indeed there were dead moths and flies to be found outside the front and back doors the day after. Not to mention the fact that it took up pretty much half the roll that he purchased, making it actually more costly than filling up the car with petrol that week, and probably half the groceries.

Well anyway thats my story with thermal printers anyway, i just reckon they pipped daisywheels at the post in the overall lack-of-user-friendliness stakes, it that sense anyway they were simply tremendous.

[yakmag]

Went out and bought another issue to replace the one the dog ate...

Really impressed, loads of 8-bit coverage which is always nice!

With regards the Changing Worlds feature, couldn't help but think that The Sentinel would be included? Or then again would it?

Speaking of that , has there been a making of for The Sentinel? I don't recall...

Anyho, cracking work chaps, can't wait for next month the article on SotB already wetting my appetite!!

[Duddyroar]

Speaking of that , has there been a making of for The Sentinel? I don't recall...

I'm working on it, but Geoff Crammond is a very busy man and can't give up any of his time at the moment. I know that sounds incredibly pompous, but when I interviewed him for the 'In the Chair' piece a few issues back, he really threw himself into it and gave me pages and pages of material to work with.

I guess he approaches these things in the same way he approaches his game design - all or nothing.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

Annoyingly I actually had a lot of good Crammon stuff on the Sentinel when I interviewed him in Gamestm. Annoyingly I lost it all in the move from Paragon to Imagine.

[yakmag]

Speaking of that , has there been a making of for The Sentinel? I don't recall...

I'm working on it, but Geoff Crammond is a very busy man and can't give up any of his time at the moment. I know that sounds incredibly pompous, but when I interviewed him for the 'In the Chair' piece a few issues back, he really threw himself into it and gave me pages and pages of material to work with.

I guess he approaches these things in the same way he approaches his game design - all or nothing.

Great!!!

Looking forward to that article!!!

[martin8777]

Was really pleased to see the piece on Civilisation II, one of my favourite games ever.

Was even more pleased to find a mint, boxed copy of it in a local charity shop for £2.90 today.

I've no idea how it'll run on my (fairly) modern laptop but at least I know I meet the recommended specs of a 486DX2/66.

Looking forward to losing a few hours on that again...

[Gordon Bennett]

A nice issue this time. Not everything was to my own personal taste, but there's nothing wrong with that. Variety, spice of life, that sort of thing.

What I did enjoy in particular was the piece on early 3D gaming. The Mercenary series and Cholo are among my all-time favourites, and it was gratifying to see them get a bit of attention.

One other minor point sticks in my mind, from the review of the new Back to the Future game. The point about the lack of timed sequences being a bad thing. Again, it's an issue of personal taste, but I couldn't disagree more. Timed sequences are one of the major bugbears of the adventure genre, along with pixel-hunting, slider puzzles and what is occasionally known as Sudden Sierra Death Syndrome.

Adventures are at their best without anything running against the clock. The great appeal of adventures is the ability to explore the game world at your leisure, playing as quickly or slowly as you wish. Timed sequences destroy that, they bring in a sense of panic that to me, utterly ruins the immersion in the game. Worse, if the timing isn't sufficiently generous it can be an instant game-killer.

[Sel Feena]

How are you planning to handle later games with the Mapped feature, or will the focus just be on smaller titles? It would be cool to see the various rooms of a Zelda dungeon put together, etc. Or maybe a gallery of screens for games like Bubble Bobble?

[c0nfu53d]

Nice to see a non Nintendo obsessed issue! Every recent issue either had a Nintendo cover or something related to nintendo on cover (Rare, Mana etc.) . I love Nintendo but it was beginning to get old! Love the Micro Gen article and am gonna look at the Streets of Rage coverage later.

[GigaPepsiMan]

Oh man college has made me fall really far behind I've only just started issue 84.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

How are you planning to handle later games with the Mapped feature, or will the focus just be on smaller titles? It would be cool to see the various rooms of a Zelda dungeon put together, etc. Or maybe a gallery of screens for games like Bubble Bobble?

Don't worry it's all in hand. Steve's just working on Exolon at the moment and the treatment he has given it looks superb. Think all Crash and Zzap maps.

[the_hawk]

I've only just finished reading this issue & I have to say it's one of the finest issues of the mag I've read. It's up there with the ones with the After Burner, Speedball & Donkey Kong covers as an absolute classic with every feature being of interest to me.

I'll not go through each & every article, but the stand out features for me personally were the Mikro-Gen feature & the new map thingie, which is awesome.

Well done chaps.