Chuckie Egg - Best Game Ever

Instant playability. Great jumping compared to other platform games. No stiffy jobs or micro second timing required.

Addictive game play that makes you want to play again and again. Good for 30 seconds and realistically playable for hours.

Simple objective, collect all the eggs and avoid the birds. No bothersome cut scenes or mandatory craptacular puzzles to solve.

Great graphics in terms of simplicity and layout so you know what to do without thinking. Great sound, so basic and simple that it fits the game perfectly.

8 Bit Wars - Spectrum vs Amstrad vs Commodore.

The 8 Bit-era was just simply the best time for home computing. No virus, no booting and no online updates. It was also the era where you knew that if you have the skills you could program a game in the comfort of your bedroom. Nowadays, you have to spend so much money on a computer and the cost of development is absolutely astronomical!

The computers back then were the Spectrum, Amstrad and the Commodore 64. The Spectrum had the cheapest games and were the most playable since the graphics couldn't compete with the other two.

The Amstrad had better graphics than the Spectrum and the sound capabilities could not compete with the Commodore 64. However, when it came to the graphics it had a better palette than the Commodore and most of the software were available on a disk.

The Commodore 64 trounced the other two when it came to sound capabilities and the games had very smooth scrolling which both the Spectrum and the Amstrad seemed to struggle with.

What was interesting about the the three computers was the fact they each had very unique set of buyers. The Spectrum for the those on a budget, the Amstrad for those who needed business applications and the Commodore for those who could afford one.

Hulk - Spectrum Version

This was awesome when I first saw it. From the box to the inlets. A marvel character interactive fiction game. This was a great experience and a chance to play the hulk.

The atmosphere and the story seemed just right. But then things don't seem to go very well. Yet again, I struggled with the parser and the puzzles often don't seem logical. As much as I wanted to see the different graphics, it was often too frustrating.

Unfortunately, my experience with the parser prevented me from playing other great titles from the same software publisher. Such titles such as 'The Human Torch and The Thing' and 'Spiderman'.

Hobbit - Spectrum Version

This was one of the first games I saw someone play. I must admit, the times I did have a go I was struggling with the parser and always ended up inputing swear words just to see what inventive things it would come out with.

Still, this was a great interactive fiction games because it had graphics to go along with the text. Unfortunately, although it's retro feel does create a great atmosphere, my concentration level was in tuned with today's games and I didn't have enough patience to delve further into this game.

The idea of inputting commands was great at first but when things don't seem to improve or go anywhere, it started to get frustrating to the point that I needed a FAQ. But then with these games, once you see the FAQ, you see the whole game and then there wouldn't be any point in typing out all the instruction. Unless, you were keen to see the rather dated yet charming graphics.

Solar Jetman

This game was on the NES. This game is an updated version of Jetpac mentioned previously. Only this time you get to control a ship and you roam around a large scrolling area.

At first I thought this was a great idea. Same addictive principle of collecting the different parts of the ship and collecting the fuels and then blasting off to another zone/world. However, it's not as pick up and play as the original. In fact if your not a patient person who likes to control your thrusters using short bursts, then this can be a slow game and the controls can sometimes fustrate you.

What's novel about the game is that should your ship get destroyed, you are can still fly back to your main ship using your jetpac and recharge/repair. This is great as otherwise it would be a fustrating and difficult game.

All in all, I do like this game, just because I loved the original theme of picking up parts to blast off. What I don't really like is the difficulty and the off pace control of the ship.

Jetpac - Space Fuel Addiction

This is just an excellent game. No music to mention of and that's the beauty of it. It's just pure sound effects. Admittedly the lazer sound effects sound like someone squashed a whoopee cushion, but when your ready to lift off, the clicky-clicky sound is just great.

The graphics are also great too. Just the basics and simplicity makes it just clean and uncluttered.
The thing with the graphics is the fact that if you updated it with thousands of colors, or if you updated it with a 3d version it would lose all of it's charm.

The difficulty level is just right, getting progressively harder, but even if you have to start the game over, just collecting the fuel and missing parts to the ship in order to lift off is just addictive.
If only there was a version on my cellphone.

Absolute gem of a game.

ZX Spectrum - Classic

This was a great machine. The old version was still the best. I had only the newer version which I didn't seem to like. Look how tiny this computer is.

You can create games on it just by typing them from magazines. You can run commerical games and demos from tapes. Those must have been incredible days. The anticipation of something exciting and great.

Now, it's a quick download here and there, install huge files on hardisks etc etc etc. The gaming experiencing is far move absorbing today, but it doesn't have that anticipating excitement of old.

I simply love those 8 bit graphics. I guess it allows me to use a lot of my imagination. It's like reading a book vs graphical novel. The latter has great graphical content but sometimes doesn't have the same impact as a good wriiten book.