Gripe: Console war arguments

Xbox360 vs PS3, Gamecube vs PS2 vs Xbox vs Dreamcast, N64 vs Playstation vs Saturn, Super Nintendo vs Megadrive/Genesis-megacd-32x (actually just a big mess by sega), Nes vs Master System, Gameboy vs Gamegear, iPhone vs Blackberry, shit vs sugar, and the even more ludicrous XboxOne vs PS4 which at the time of writing this are both unreleased and there is only stats, schematics and plans that have changed on BOTH sides.

Now to try to throw my hat into the ring on this one and rather than take an on the fence approach, a middle of the road view, shit or get off the pot view, I’m just going to blow the whole thing apart and say one thing: It’s all bullshit.

Before the internet gave every man, woman, child, berk, idiot and asshole a voice and the supposed sense of self-entitlement to use that voice, most arguments over which console is better was done on school playgrounds. Invariably between those that owned one console, and those that owned another. Few usually could afford to have both so the arguments were based on the simple premise of “This is what I play, it must be good, so therefore I am right” and both sides using that argument with no progression made by either side. The very few kids that had both, tended to stay out and realise they didn’t quite fit into those cliques.

The further back you go, the older the machines being paired up were. However, thanks to the wonderful invention of the internet, coupled with the invention of emails (yes pre-dating it strictly speaking if we’re talking BBS and such but let’s not lose focus of the point), the world wide web because a hotbed of porn, paedophiles chasing kids, police pretending to be kids and people around the world bitching at each other for having a different opinion and HOW DARE THEY before overreacting like ignorant little savages.

I’ll attack the internet’s growth of trolls another day.

Consoles wars have never really progressed from the simple bouts of “Mine is better than yours” until some people with some actual brains started to relive the playground days, online. That was a mistake for a start, they were in the playground days, LEAVE THEM THERE. You go back to a playground nowadays and you’ll be carted off to Mr Big’s personal cell before you can say “Sorry I really was just visiting, I’m not a paedo”, seriously, leave the kids alone now. Digression and tortured metaphor aside, people started to argue on the internet about the old days of consoles and talk turned to playground fights which then spilled into real fights about the old consoles and the new consoles.

And it all got retarded, FAST.

Whether it’s because people couldn’t believe that the arguments and fights they thought they’d won back when they were kids were flaring up again; that people had the sheer audacity to disagree with them when thanks to age they really should know better by now; because of the supposed anonymity the internet provides us with custom names, gamer tags, handles and pseudonyms; people got aggressive and stupid and sadly, in many an argument, downright nasty.

The companies never helped with that back in the 8bit and 16bit eras. Often the marketing slogans of the time would exacerbate the situation with such slogans “Sega does what Nintedon’t” and “With only 6 reasons for something Super and 100 reasons for something Mega, you know what choice to make” the majority being Sega lashing out at Nintendo with rarities like “Not On Sega” being thrown back. Companies going so far as to make up lies on things like “Blast Processing” and of course, kids lapping it up like greedy, mewling babes suckling at the teat of false information, desperate for ammunition in their pointless arguments.

The lack of information being available save for in magazines and adverts that usually were skewed in favour of one product or another was difficult for most people to sift through and find the truly non biased information and just raw facts. Even then, with specifications finally being released and people able to moan and argue that this statistic was higher on this machine than another, few knew what it actually meant and even less understood whether it was worth actually bragging about.

“Blast Processing” anyone?

Roll forwards a while and you’ve gotten the internet as well as more modern consoles kicking around, the large battle by the companies between where the lines blur as to which consoles are actively partaking in battles between popularity contests and hardware matchups. Namely the big companies Sega (before the drop out from home consoles but not software and games), Nintendo (which can always ride the hand-held market and its biggest cash cow, Pokemon), Sony (always a popular choice and seemingly set to take the mature market share) and Microsoft (carrying a lame leg as it’s Microsoft, leaves me wondering if they’d started an offshoot company and called it something like Dennis, would it have fared better...) were shooting it out with N64/Gamecube, PSX/PS2, Xbox, Saturn/Dreamcast. The battleground shifted so much and so often that I do recall one edition of a magazine labelling their paid-for console as being “not the fastest, or most powerful or the only online console, but the best value for money machine on the market”... Once again The best value for money machine on the market, which basically meant: It’s on the way out and cheap as sin but that’s because nobody wants it. Phrased in a way that never appeal to a younger gaming audience.

“Hey, my console is the best value for money” Has NEVER won a single argument in a playground.

These days, it’s mainly the Xbox 360 and PS3 at the time of writing with a healthy, half laughing, but half respectable nod, to the Wii and WiiU. Handhelds are competing now with Smart Phones and tablets as technology blurs the lines further between the definitions. But we still have the same old bullshit on a much more accessible scale. Forums, Social Media, Chat sites are still rife with the same topics, the same fanboy-ism that there always has been.

Oh and saying “I’m not a fanboy” at the start of argument, will excuse nothing at all in the paper thin attempt to mask the underlying bias.

Some people have 2-3 of the main consoles and can claim that they know better because they have them all, it’s still just an opinion and like any opinion, can be slighted, slanted, biased or ill-informed. More importantly, it can be ignored too. The level of anger and abuse stirred up from such arguments is horrifying in several ways. The nature and just the sheer thought that someone can summon up these suggestions, does not make for a good outlook on society. (Though maybe these people SHOULD remain indoors). The abusive, hateful, misogynistic, racist kind of comments that just disgust your core on so many levels that deserve no place in this day and age, being thrown around in discussion (I use the word lightly there, saying “this is shit” is not really a discussion, it’s a statement of a lack of vocabulary and an urgent need of a dictionary and thesaurus)

It often begs the question, why do some people get so angry about such things? Because they’re loyal to the product? Hardly. The companies involved aren’t going to give a damn unless their bottom dollar is going to be affected severely. Until then, customers will be gobbling down that thick turd sandwich. Because they bought an item and aren’t satisfied with their purchase? More likely. That wonderful adage “The grass is always greener...” probably rings more true with people having only the capacity of one console rather than several. Though this is more the sorrow of the Opportunity Cost being emotional rather than monetary.

Perhaps it’s the insecurity of people that are offended by the nature of these arguments because the console they have isn’t the one they wanted, or they aren’t happy with the purchase because all their friends bought something else and now they’re playing alone, that they get so angry about the comments attacking “their” console not because they like the console, but because it reminds them of what they DON’T have. Reminds them of the mistake they supposedly made perhaps?

Which brings me to the current arguments and future arguments... Such wonderful arguments of “XboxOne is shit” or “PS4 is bollocks”, these are the most shameful. Whether it’s a one line argument or in some, ridiculously trumped up cases, actually bringing in statistical information related to the specifications of 2 unreleased machines, or going on the companies histories as their basis of the argument. Let’s see an example “Xbox4 is shit because microsony released a console some years back that didn’t quite do as well as I wanted it to and didn’t play the games I wanted to but all my mates bought it and I did too because I’m too much of a sheep to go against the flow and my parents never loved me enough wah wah wahh...” Sound too damn familiar? I know it is.

None of it matters. Not a single thing.

I could try and put it in some context for people. There are children dying on streets in foreign countries, living homeless in every country including yours dear Reader. In particular, 3.1million children died of starvation and malnutrition across the planet in 2011, this works out to be just over 8493 children per day, which is over 353 an hour, which breaks down to around 6 children per minute.  People starving across the planet, not just in 3^rd world countries and the most annoying, anger-inducing thing is that someone bad talked an inanimate object?

Before anyone tries, I’m not suggesting that playing the wrong console kills kids.

There’s no point arguing over which console is better; it’s just the trumped up hurt egos of idiots attempting to assert their mistakes over others for a greater attempt at accepting their own short comings. Pick a console, or consoles, play the games you want to play and remember it’s a product from an entertainment industry. If you’re not entertained, take it back and get another one.

And for those arguing on hypothetical products that are either not released or just in the paperwork. Get a life and discuss something meaningful in video gaming, like how big Lara Crofts next bra size might be, it’s just as worthwhile a conversation.

Future attacks coming soon on Backwards Compatibility whiners and letting kids play underage games.

Megadrive/Genesis: Gunstar Heroes

Treasure has had an odd history over the years; it’s created some incredible games and some real stinkers. This is one of the former and one of their first ever games, many touted it at the time as a game too ambitious for that generation of console but that never stopped them making one of the best run and gun games I’ve seen for a long time.

I still hate Curry and Rice though.

The premise is simple enough, colour-coordinated characters battle an evil empire that has found some gems and using them to bring back a super powered robot monster with another colour based name. Your playable characters, Red and Blue, will fight Black, Pinky, Orange and Green (several times, several several times in Green’s case) in a series of levels to then fight Golden Shower (Sorry, Golden Silver). I’m really not selling this am I.

I don’t think there is any real way I can describe this game without just saying how mind-blowing it is to witness what is done here. Let’s try again.

Your player character, using 8 directional shooting and running, utilising a combo system of 4 possible guns where picking up 2 items will combine the output of the firepower from a high power machine gun, to homing weapons, massive flame throwers, laser beams and multiple combinations of the 4 (i.e. homing machineguns, beam swords, explosive shots and remote control flamethrowers to name but a few) will run, jump, climb, cling, flip, punch, kick, slide, throw, drive, anti-grav, spaceship, dice roll and view-screen their way through a plethora of levels and many MANY over the top bosses and enemies (all of which pretty much explode, excessively).

From the Bravoo man made of blocks, to giant plants, robot crabs, a creature made of curry in a non-firepower room (hate... hate you...) to farting military commanders, airships, tiny soldiers, a jelly, time changing rockets... It’s one of the first boss rush games to exist and every fight is just stunning to watch and reveal. Particular focus and mention to the Green boss fight (first time round) where you travel along mine carts that look like knock-off fujikomas from that anime with cyborgs... I know, not being very descriptive here... Ghost in the Shell I think. Switching gravity to overcome lots of enemies and chasing a train (down a wall at times) until you fight a boss that is several bosses at once. Each boss phase made up of segments used in different ways to create very different bosses to an impressive and pulse-racing soundtrack.

Even now, I’m not getting close to describing this. Compared to what was around at the time, there was little that could hold a candle to Gunstar Heroes when it was released, even today there’s few games that could be as busy, action packed, and FAIR (bullet hell games... I’m watching you) where you could run your way through, or you could just melee and ninja your way through like a thing possessed. Standard enemies would keep appearing while you travelled the level until you reached a checkpoint battle or the boss. All bosses had a health value that waned as you (and maybe your partner) fought it until it ran out of health and blew up.

There is a lot of replay value in the game, for a start the first 4 levels can be taken in any order at all. The combination of guns alone can be worth of several runs through the game just to see them all let alone pick your preferred combo. Given there’s shot, flame, homing and laser and any combination of any 2 including the same twice, there’s plenty for all to enjoy. Later levels are linearly approached however but even after gunning your way through the game, you can still attempt to just melee attack your way through, in some places you MUST (curry and rice...). Black’s dice maze will take several replays to get every boss fought there in what is a boss rush section of a boss rush game. On top of this there’s the co-op way to play it with just as much action and multiple difficulty settings and changes in game play from run/gun, spaceship, mine carts, board game and an odd variation on where you’re watching yourself through a screen the bosses are watching.

This game turns you into Arnie. A 2D Arnie from his hay-day doing films like Commando, Raw Deal, Terminator 2, where he turns up with a huge amount of firepower and just lays waste to everything in short order. Standard grunts and enemies with no names drop like flies and die to the mildest touch while the tougher opponents take a bit of tactical dodging or exploiting of weakness before being rent asunder in a fiery blaze of glory and overkill.

The game is not perfect, far from it. In some places and cases, your choice of weapon and combination may be entirely ineffective against a boss and you’re left to slowly ping its health down in a slow pattern that will drive you mad long before you’re half way to killing it. In fact, dying and then hoping to get better weapons might be the more preferable alternative to a long drawn out fight.

In some cases the controls can be a little off when jumping from walls and hanging from ledges, not enough to be a problem but it can catch you off guard if you’re not expecting the result. Most awkward though is when you’re caught in a stream of attack that hits and hits and hits for consecutive damage and just slaughters you when other attacks knock you aside for just one mild hit. If it’s intentional then it’s quite the dick-move but if it’s a bug, it’s a rather detrimental one.

Aside from that, there’s really little else I can find fault within the game. A thoroughly enjoyable run and gun romp with such a varied source of bosses and enemies that will leave you wanting a few good runs through the game and trying out various combinations and possibilities.

It certainly won’t be my last Treasure review. 

PSX: Silent Hill

Killed your wife? Taking a drive down a long country out-back American road at night? Adopted someone a few years back? On the run with a father who won’t tell you why you’re running? Moved into an apartment stalked by a creepy kid? Come back from wars to a family with dubious history and a dead brother? Get yourself put in prison to avenge the death of your son?

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes” then you’re a prime candidate for my favourite holiday vacation spot. Silent Hill.

Yes I am unbalanced.  Yes I probably deserve to spend eternity there, yes I’ll enjoy it.

For every fan of Silent Hill, they will have their own favourite game, their one game they prefer over the others and likely will use it as beacon of might against the comments, praises and criticism of other games and their own. Using it to bat away reason and logic with the fan attitude of “it’s good so shut up you’re dumb” and we’re once again sat back in the playground fighting over which console will kick which other console’s ass, despite them being inanimate objects. But oh well.

Silent Hill, is my preferred game of the series. I’m already hearing some people saying “no... it’s (insert game here)” but then this is all about preference and while I do prefer this game I’m going to be fair to this game and harsh. However, given the number of times I’ve played it, the times I’ve seen each ending, the times I’ve looked in every nook and cranny, I could write a thesis on the plot of the game alone before I even touch upon the rest of the series.

Which is why this game is so good.

Silent Hill, follows a simple premise initially. You’re a father character, driving along the road at night in the outback of Someplace, USA, with your daughter asleep in the car. A cop over takes you while you’re driving along, a little while further you see the cop’s bike with no rider, then you see someone on the road and you crash your car avoiding them.  You awaken a short time later, step out of the car and see your kid running off through the fog and mist of the local town. Following her and shouting, she runs off and leads you down an alleyway, you start to see gurney’s, wheelchairs still spinning their wheels and then something attacks you, running back the route is blocked and you’re butchered by things with claws (and depending on your nationality, it may or may not have a head).

Waking up in a cafe with the cop that over took you earlier, you set out to be attacked by more monsters, find the series eponymous radio that shouts static whenever monsters are near (as if the grunting and footsteps didn’t give it away while signalling to monsters that walking food is near) and go looking for your daughter lost in the town.

Play it long enough and you’ll find a cult trying to bring about the birth of a God/Demon, references to various religious mythologies of angels and demons, a behind the scenes battle between a mother and daughter using otherworldly powers and trinkets, other inhabitants fighting the effects of the Silent Hill as it switches from various states of being from dark to light and back to normal, leaving the player to guess as to who is controlling what, why the town has separate states of being. Whose side is who really on and how best to for the main char to bumble their way through the game.  Eventually you can work out the metaphysical chess game going on between two of the main characters, the player character being a random (seemingly) element in all this for the moment.

You will be hand fed some snippets of the game through the scripted CGI scenes (admittedly from a time where CGI always looked better than the main game and people pondered “I wonder if games will look as good as these scenes”, incidentally, games look BETTER nowadays), you’ll find the underlying plot, vague references of why you should to co-ordinate (X, Y) and on the way hopefully grab the guns you need to blow away the baddies, solve the puzzles (and some are real mind benders) and save the day or condemn it. Yep, it’s multiple ending time and in this game, it depends all on what you actually do and with what. Finding an obscure item and using it on a boss will determine the + or – of either the good or bad ending, the finding of a character, saving them and solving THEIR mission will determine the overall good or bad ending.

Most people will get the bad ending on their first run through. I did, and that encouraged me into the next game to do better and see more.

What makes this game so enjoyable though, is not the acting of the characters, while are decidedly B-Movie in delivery but it does add to the atmosphere. It is not the awkward sidestep controls or the poor aiming (deliberate given that the main char is NOT an accurate sharpshooter, and most people in THIS kind of circumstance would be, admittedly, shit), it’s the overall atmosphere and discovery the player makes that is beyond the main character. Seeing and understanding are two different things, logically working out the tumblers behind the plot and rationalising it is a step beyond and the most rewarding for any player.

The game is not without faults however, while today’s games are above and beyond what Silent Hill can do graphically, it can be fired up a little with various emulators that boost the original graphics (and interestingly lets you seem them more clearly than the original game permitted), the layouts of various “dungeons” and “mazes” can be frustrating when you have to check EVERY door of a place, and every room to find the one item you might need to progress and you know that if you miss a door, you’re screwed and WILL have to go back. On top of that, failing to find the maps can be worthy of a restart, especially if you somehow miss the hospital map. Though town maps (the later and last area of the town especially) can be missed and yet you can still progress, barely. It does add a new sensation to actually be running blindly through a town with no clue where you’re headed.

Puzzles, like in a lot of games of this genre, can be frustrating when first encountered and though they’re not always use Item A on Thingy B to get Item C, some have cryptic clues with cryptic answers such as the silent piano puzzle with the clue about black and white birds, requiring a knowledge of birds and their predominant physical appearances (missing a chance to use the “common shag” and “great tit” while we’re at it). Solving the puzzles like this are highly rewarding but once it’s done, it’s over. Solving the puzzle of “get the 3 keys” is a fetch quest and no more a puzzle than finding jam, butter and bread and resulting in a sandwich. Tasty, but not rewarding, unless you’re hungry.

The game itself doesn’t go for the later editions use of jump scares (except that one with the cat... in the locker... in the dark world... have fun!) but uses audio and a distinct lack of what you can see to build suspense before delivery, usually hearing a monster LONG before you can see it and then the camera shifts slightly as it gets closer before gradually materialising out of the darkness/fog/snow/poor-render-distance and becoming the threat it always was to you. New fights and monsters are usually introduced with some very atmospheric ambient music akin to thrash music comprising of sound effects rather than actual instruments used in a conventional sense (see the track “die” for one of the more pulse inducing ones) though more sombre moments are brought with a slow accompaniment and actual instrumental scoring for the track “Not Tomorrow” used to bring a truly depressing moment into outright despair.

Admittedly, entering one large room that was difficult to see within, with a loud ambient music in the background, caused me to turn around and just go “nope”, forcing me to explore the map twice just in case I’d missed something before going back into that room to find there was NOTHING in there. No enemies, no monsters, no items. Just a room with a few set pieces of obstruction and another doorway leading out. I’d been played for an idiot and loved every second of it.

As I said though, it’s the subtle things that work best. Going into the hospital in the light version of the town, going to the lift and seeing the 3 buttons and checking each floor and the door leading out to find them all locked is nothing compared to getting back in and seeing a 4^th floor button somehow just “there”. No magic noise, no dinging in the background to signal to you “HEY WE DID SOMETHING!” it’s just there and looks like it always has been to the point that you wonder if you actually did miss seeing that there in the first place. THAT is the subtlety involved and once going to that 4^th floor and stepping out, realising you’re now outside the map, becomes a dreaded exploration before you realise you’re being drawn over into the dark version of the town and the fun is going to begin again.

In closing, I love this game as one of the few games that genuinely scared the shit out of me and left me thinking I was hearing voices in the darkness of my bedroom. I long for the days a game will do that again to me.

NES: Contra/Probotector

Jungle, Base, Waterfall, 2^nd Base, Frozen Wasteland, Industrial, Alien.

Some people may recognise this order of levels, they tend to be recognisable in most games where there’s a sequence of levels set in different planes and atmospheres. (Including a sewer level... everyone seems to have those). I can go one step further and list the following UUDDLRLR and most people will recognise this in various places. If I say to add 30 lives, then it’s almost obvious to those in the know that I’m talking about Contra/Probotector.

Some might ask why I say Probotector and that’s because the European versions of the games back in the day had robots instead of humans to avoid restrictive issues of “non violence to humans” so it’s a quick little work around and the evidence of which come back in later Contra games when the Probotector label was dropped after the planet and legal people had decided to grow a pair and stop pratting about.

It’s all very well to have a little background pointless history but on to reviewing this thing. It is without doubt one of the core and principle examples of a run and gun game done VERY well. Controls are simple, effective and critically, responsive. If at any time a player dies it is most likely through their own fault rather than coding and poor control implementation within game. Run left and right, shoot in 8 directions when jumping, 7 when standing (can’t shoot down, you just lay down and shoot lower), jump button, shoot button and that’s it. The game changes slightly on the 2^nd and 4^th levels where it takes the guise of a pseudo 3d game where the player shoots into the background similar to games like Cabal, Alligator Hunt, Blood Brothers and other such games of similar ilk.

The game has powerups in the forms of a barrier offering temporary damagelessness (yes I’m now making it a word) rather than killing everything on touch like an invincibility star in Mario games. Machinegun fire, flame thrower (avoid...) rapid shots (faster projectiles) Spread/Scatter gun and Lasers, it’s debatable as to which gun is better overall between the Spread and Laser, I find it all depends upon the circumstances.

Do you like regenerating health? Where you take some damage, hide behind a wall for a bit, then come out as fresh as a daisy? You don’t play this game. You like to find health packs around for replenishing your health when you get careless and take the occasional love-tap here and there? You don’t get to play this game. Do you however like to have one hit kills, have to avoid everything without fail since the lightest touch, the slightest collision between you and a projectile spells a big fat DEATH for your game. Then this is your game, you may appoint yourself one hard-ass token and wear it proudly.

Yep, no regens, no health packs, you got lives and that’s it. Given some of the boss attacks and some of the set ups within the game, you can find yourself happily losing lives and resorting to continues to progress until you learn the boss patterns to kill them or you have some outstanding reflexes to fall back upon. The game is unrelenting and fights can be difficult (though not as difficult as in the 2^nd game, which I may review later). However the game is rewarding for the effort put in (except when you get the barrier on stage 7 and can just RUN the first sub boss of level 8 and then you can stamp the phrase “cheap git” on your forehead.) and the levels can be beaten with a bit of due diligence and care. Oddly, playing through the earlier levels is not as much of a chore as it has been with other games as you’re playing to gain the more preferred weapons to keep them for the upcoming fights and make the bosses easier.

Even as I write this now, the game’s music is ringing in my ears (always liked the Base level music topped by an even more impressive boss music). Memorable even after so many years of playing, that revisiting this game, is like retuning to an old home you once left years ago and find that it’s still the same place you always knew and loved. 

You can always get another player to join in too if you want and have the pair of you go at the enemies together, “borrow” read: steal each others’ lives, fight over who gets the weapons and stop the other player from moving forwards just at the right time to let them drop to the bottomless pits. BUT, if you both get past the nagging little issues of lacking teamwork, you can enjoy a rather thrilling game and one of the best examples of co-operative play done right.

And with the cheat, that’s 120 lives each to just butcher your way through the game.

I’ll try to manage it in just one.

C64: Encounter

I look at Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, Serious Sam BFE and I think back. I look at Doom 3, Half Life 2 (and its MANY incarnations) and I think back. I look at Quake 3, Unreal Tournament and I think back. I look at Quake 1 and 2, Unreal, Chasm, Half Life, Sin, Outcast and I think back. I look at Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior, Blood, Tekwar, Exhumed and I think back. I look at Doom 1 and 2, Heretic, Strife, Hexen and I think back. I look at Rise Of The Triad, Wolfenstein 3D, Blake Stone and I think back to earlier days.

Encounter is another game from my youth, it is without a doubt the first ever FPS I have ever played and when I was at my youngest, a simple affair of a joystick controlling a rudimentary craft in an eternally looping plane of existence. Just myself, a selection of enemy space ships/saucers and infinite ammo that could bounce against the pillars dotting the landscape. It was simple, like a lot of the C64 arcade themed games, but it was quick and it was in first person.

This in itself was not unique in my library of games, there was after all driving games like Pole Position but then were where you had control of a car and observed from behind it, this had you in the seat of the vehicle and looking out into the world where it’s just you and your opponent. In essence a clone of BattleZone which pre-dates Encounter by 4 years or so.

It has your vehicle moving like a tank with a fixed forward-facing turret so there’s no side-stepping or strafing here. Forwards, backwards and turning are all you have while the saucers you’re up against seem to have mastered the ability to go anywhere they want in any direction and always seem to be aiming right at you. But with the large obelisks around the landscape, you can hide from the large gunfire aimed your way.

Each level has you pitted against a random number of opponents with various saucers having different behaviours and more “encountered” in later levels with further abilities, such as 3way fire, self-destruction waves, rapid-fire, constant moving and shooting or the rather ominous homing missile. Much like the original BattleZone game, your opponent could be a large cyan missile that homes in towards you while a noise in the background gets steadily louder and higher in pitch as it approaches. To stand a chance you’ll have to run backwards while shooting at it and hope not to slam to a stop at an obelisk and then get blasted by the missile before you can shoot it. These can lead to some rather intense moments if the missile is skipping back and forth while steadily getting closer all while you’re back-footing it and hoping to not hit an obstructions.

While the landscape does loop forever your HUD shows a radar and the enemies location relative to you, kill enough for the enemies in the area and the fun really begins when a portal opens up acting as a gateway chance (not guaranteed) to get to the next level. Once inside you warp forwards, steering around various orbs to hopefully make it to the end where you can exit into the new level, a different colour scheme of the last one but with different saucer types. This warp zone is as intense, if not more, than the missiles.

The pace and action of the game is fluid, having changed wireframe graphics of BattleZone for sprites/flatcolours but the game performs well and only really slows down when one of the saucers self-destructs and floods the arena with shots in every direction and even then, it’s very minor. Given the scope and ambitions of the game, it’s clear this was coded with speed in mind and it retains just how fast the game can be (with a hidden method for finding a REALLY fast warp zone that I’ve yet to beat) and then play it on expert mode where it’s really quick.

But as with all games based around the arcade ethos, it gets repetitive. However it does have enough variety in the chase and hunt for the saucers and mix this up with the occasional missile attack, you’ll find yourself making quicker progress through the levels. Oh and as with a lot of C64 arcade style games, it repeats the cycles of colour schemes after 9 levels or so.

My few gripes with this game are that if you fail to make a warp journey, you repeat the WHOLE last level, including a new wave of enemies. So killing 14 or so saucers and missiles, only to slam into a deadly entity while in the warp, will have you killing another 14 or so saucers AGAIN. While being killed by a saucer shooting you or hit by a missile, will only have you lose a life and fight that enemy round again. Early levels are fairly dull with simple move then shoot saucers and it’s not until level 3 that the more interesting saucers appear with triple shot and self-destruction.

It’s quick, simple, and given the age could surprise you as to what you can get out of something that old if made well enough. Not unlike your mother at the weekend which I won’t defend at all, however I will defend Encounter to say that it’s a fast ride that given a good day, can be more exciting than a lot of the bullshit games out today. No plot, no cut scenes, no loss of control while something is shown. Just you, your enemy and a joystick.

Now I’m off to try and double warp again, I’ll likely fail but wow that’s fast.