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.

Wishbringer - Interactive Fiction Fun

This was one of the first typing games (interactive fiction) that I played on an old Toshiba laptop. In short the game was about a magic stone which allows you to make wishes. It was great at first, but I kept getting lost and struggled with the parser. I ended up typing swear words just to illicit something from the game, and in the end I gave up.

Still, the game included other unique and interesting things like a book, a map, a useless envelope addressed to the shop in the game and a replica of the magic stone. The latter seems to be broken as I'm still playing gameboys.

It did get me interested in the genre and I especially liked the later games which included pictures or graphics and sometimes they included sound effects.

Space invaders - Not SVGA, not VGA, not even EGA. But classic CGA.

I really didn't want to include space invaders on here. Mainly because everybody knows about it and there are so many versions of this classic game. However, this was one of the benchmark games to run on a really old laptop.

This space invader game was the CGA version. It's not the best, but on old LCD laptops, this was just about playable, especially with the ghosting problem. To exit you just quit, no menus or anything.

Keyboard control was not match for a joystick or joypad but then, there is something about hitting the space bar to shoot that I just can't quite put my finger on.

Arcade purity to the core. Good for good few minutes. Just what I need.

Sopwith - Awesome pink fighter plane.

This was a great game back then. There was no plot and the objective was simple, take off, shoot enemies.

There was that brrrrrr sound for sound effects and the graphics were a pure mixture of pink, cyan and white. There was a nice radar map beneath to show the enemies.

You could even play against the computer controlled airplane, but it was too challenging and was over too quickly. In single player mode, there was only one level and the difficulty was just right for quick pure arcade fun.

There is an updated version and a remake, but the original is still the best.

Toshiba T1000SE - Awesome clamshell and great keyboard.

This was great laptop. It was one of the first laptop I had ever used. It had a 4.77/9.4mhz processor and a glorious blue backlit CGA screen.

The CGA screen was really not suitable for games, but it didn't stop my brother from installing a few. In those days, you had to worry about ghosting. Some games would be unplayable because the LCD couldn't refresh quick enough and that would lead to a lot of smearing.

I remembered installing things on it's ram disk and being blown away by the speed. That was until I realized that the data would be completely gone once the battery ran out.

Still, it was great for those typing adventure games.

Dragon Spirit - Blue dragon shoot em up with seriously good music.

The game is awful. The pacing is too slow. It feels like going through menus on an office suite, but with music.


Yet, I am compelled to play it because I seriously love the music. I only persevered to see what the music was like on the higher levels and they didn't disappoint.

Things to ponder.

• I like the blue dragon and it also has some animation, albeit limited.
• The first level boss was surprisingly menacing.
• The music makes me want to play a rhythm game.
• I feel like I want to buy the soundtrack.