I first saw a Spectrum sometime in mid-1983. My pal’s dad had bought one and he invited us over to have a look. I was already hooked on arcade games by that point and one of my other friends had an Atari 2600 but this was something else! Compared to the Atari the Speccy was a revolution – graphics which looked like an arcade game (if you squinted), games on tape that you could (ahem) share with your friends, a proper(!) keyboard and programming language so that you could write your own stuff! We played Chequered Flag and Gulpman and I knew right at that moment that I HAD to have one!

Christmas took a long time to arrive that year, I can tell you. When it did, it brought with it a 16k rubber-keyed beastie for me and my brother to share. That wasn’t ideal, because at the time the 16k was already on its way out (curse that guy in Currys who spun my parents that ’16k is enough’ line). Luckily Sinclair’s quality control still wasn’t up to much at that point and it quickly burned itself out before the new year. The shop was out of 16k machines by that point so we replaced it with a smashing 48k monster and never looked back! Those first few days over Christmas were pure magic, though – the relatives had provided us with classics like Hungry Horace, Slippery Sid, 3D Painter and Gobble A Ghost (yes, really!), plus Ultimate big-hitters Jetpac and Cookie. Basically we were never off it, there’s no wonder it melted.

I can’t even begin to count how much time I must’ve spent with the Spectrum. It single-handedly kick-started my love affair with all things computing, which in turn lead to my route through academia and my eventual career. It provided hours of rainy (and sunny) day entertainment for me and my friends, and continues to do so to this very day (there were over 200 games released for the Spectrum in the last three years, according to World of Spectrum’s database, many of which are extraordinarily good – I’ll do some recommendations one day).

So hats off to Sir Clive and his little rubber beastie (steady). Happy birthday, Speccy – here’s to the next 28!

I’ve not posted videos before but I just can’t resist this one – it’s absolutely fantastic! Watch in awe as a bunch of pixellated heroes of yesteryear trash the world.

Like classic Japanese role-playing games but just don’t have the time to actually play them these days? Synopsis Quest could be right up your alley. 25 micro-quests of lovingly recreated 8-bit glory await you, each lasting little more than a few seconds. Watch out, though – all those RPG clichés and conventions you thought you knew and understood? They won’t help you here.

Last weekend I have mostly been playing…. online. It was a free ‘Gold’ weekend for Silvers (although you would never have known if you didn’t know about it already – no advertising of the fact whatsoever as far as I can tell) so I thought I’d break with tradition and actually try some stuff out. Yes, believe it or not I’ve somehow managed to avoid ever playing a game online until now. And bearing in mind that I was a complete online n00b, I wasn’t expecting much of either myself or the experience in general. What I found was… curious.

First impressions were much as I expected. My current game of the moment was Red Faction: Guerilla so it made sense to start there. The ‘quick game’ options  did as promised and quickly propelled me into a multiplayer “anarchy” match where the aim was to kill everyone who wasn’t you. This would’ve worked out fine were it not for the fact that everyone else seemed to be much better at it than I was, although I did prove quite adept at killing myself initially (sadly no points for that). Slowly getting the hang of it and trying some of the other modes, I was left half-intrigued and half disheartened – because the matchmaking process didn’t differentiate between player skill levels practically every match I entered had one or two players who were roughly 20 times better than everyone else and quickly mopped the floor with us. This sort of left no room to actually learn the game properly, which was a bit of a shame.

Borderlands was next, a game which I really enjoyed playing through single-player recently (much to my surprise, I might add). Rather than pile in with the ‘big boys’ I decided to start a second run from the beginning with a level 1 character and quickly got into a four-player co-op session (steady!) with a bunch of people who didn’t have headsets. Rather surprisingly, this worked pretty well – it was clear what was going on, everyone nicely shared the pick-ups, ran to the rescue when required, and co-operated well in taking down the bads (although I did get left behind a couple of times while rifling through cupboards and such, my fault for not paying attention). Furthermore, I actually did pretty well and felt useful to the team rather than a feeling like a spare-part spanner like I did when playing the team-based Red Faction games. Surprised again by Borderlands, that’s twice now.

Burnout Paradise was one time when I really ought to have read the manual. Getting online seemed simple enough, but I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I tried to start a ‘race’ several times but just ended up in bog-standard Freeburn mode every time, so in the end I stuck with that and just leathered it around the city trying to take out the other players. Seeing as they appeared to be doing the exact same thing to me this seemed like a fair thing to do. And it was fun, for a while, although I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing 95% of the online bits and pieces. Which, checking the FAQ today, I was. I’m left wondering if anyone actually plays any of those modes any more or whether I was just unlucky (or doing it wrong).

Crackdown was one that I was super-keen to try, but alas… nobody would accept my play request, despite me trying loads of times. Eventually the parallels with my teenage dating attempts grew too strong and I gave up and tried mastur… something else.

Last up was the demo of Left 4 Dead 2. Like Borderlands, this actually seemed to work quite well once I actually managed to make it into a game (I’m guessing the demo’s sort of on borrowed time given that the full game’s been out for ages). Teaming up with three other randoms we roamed about shooting the zombies and helping each other out and it was kind of okay. Unfortunately nobody else seemed to want to go anywhere, just hang around the central area where the ammo was and shoot shit as it arrived. As such, I didn’t feel like I got a true feel for the game, but having joined the match in the middle it didn’t seem proper to start complaining that they weren’t playing it right.

I guess playing with randoms has its disadvantages then (my friends list were all either offline or playing games that I don’t have), but considering everything that I’d heard about Live the guys (and girls) that I played with were all very well behaved, despite mostly being American. Although one guy did start singing at one point. I even dug the headset out, although I didn’t actually pluck up the courage to talk to anybody.

All in all, then… an interesting experiment. I didn’t expect to come back to it, but I dabbled pretty much all weekend and would’ve been back on it again last night if they hadn’t turned it off by then. I’m almost tempted to stump up for a year of Gold just to see if I actually use it enough to justify the cost. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to use some of those 48-hour codes I’ve been accumulating and try to organise some proper games with people that I actually know. And then…. we’ll see.

Yes, I’m still here. Yes, I’m still alive. Yes, I am sorry to the (literally) half dozen people who read my dribblings for not writing anything for ages. I’m going to try and get this back on track. Yes I am. Soon. Ish. Gah!

While it’s all still fresh in my head, I’ve done a super-quick round-up of everything I paid even slight attention to. Have fun!

Alien Breed Evolution (360)

Played this co-op with Lutz and it seemed decent enough. Kind of reminded me of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance but with a sci-fi slant. Environments seemed a bit samey even on the short play we had, though – I wonder how long the novelty would last, especially out of co-op.

AvP (PS3)

Didn’t get a go on this but it looked mental, especially playing as the alien which was blisteringly fast. Average survival time for the players appeared to be about 30 seconds. No single-player on show, sadly.

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3)

Took me forever to even get onto this, looks like it’ll be a huge hit. And… it’s pretty much the same as the last one, at first glance. I don’t like the new HUD which is a bit intrusive, but it seems a bit sharper and even easier on the eye than it was before. And… it’s Assassin’s Creed. Which I really liked. The demo was dreadfully chuggy in places though, I hope they get that sorted out before release.

Avatar (PS3)

Looked gorgeous, but…. I couldn’t even muster the enthusiasm to have a go. Demo pods were empty by 6pm.

Bayonetta (360)

Super smooth, quite attractive to look at. And the game is too. Seems like a cross between Devil May Cry and God of War, falling more on the DMC side of things but slightly easier to play. Some mental combos and near-nakedness. Should do well, I think.

Dante’s Inferno (PS3)

It’s God of War. Really. It is. If you liked God of War, you’ll like this. Played really nicely, looks good, feels satisfying. Pulled some heads off, impaled a big blind guy on a spiky wheel, chopped up some babies. They were evil babies, obviously. Will buy.

Dark Void (360)

On-foot bits play a bit like a cross between Gears of War and Uncharted and were reasonable. Jetpack bits were horrific, really nasty to control and almost impossible to actually hit anything. Not good.

Dragon Age Origins (360)

I was concerned about the console port but it seems fine (aside from the one pod that was playing in standard def, which looked like arse). Comedy blood spatters were funny, playing as a dog was funnier, eyebrow-raising dialogue at times had me and Lutzie laughing our arses off. And then we got told off for filming it. Playing as a mage combat seemed a bit stilted, recharge times on my attacks seemed over-long. Will probably give this a go as something other than a mage.

Eufloria (PC)

The game formerly known as Dyson, which you already know that I love. But Lutzie really liked it and Rudolf was super nice so I’m going to mention it again.

Forza Motorsport 3 (360)

I thought I’d be shit at this, but in actual fact… I was. Shit at it. Yes.

Joe Danger (PC)

Like Trials HD crossed with Excitebike, with super-cartoony graphics and a lot of personality. The kids will bloody love this.

God of War III (PS3)

Dante’s was good, but this was better. Sharper, smoother, crisper, gorier. Awesome to look at, horrifically brutal even by GoW standards. Smash hit, no doubt at all. Photographer took about a zillion pictures of Lutzie playing it, so watch out for him in next month’s FHM. Or something.

Gravity Crash (PS3)

Weirdly, they only turned this on later after pretty much everyone had gone, but I was pleased to get a go on it. It looks like Thrust and Geometry Wars had a baby, but it actually plays more like ST-classic ‘Oids’. Thrust around, shoot things with the right-stick, land and save the little guys. Not as fast-paced as I feared it would be and really pleasant to play – thumbs up!

Heavy Rain (PS3)

A weird one to describe. I played a couple of the scenarios and it’s very slow paced and the movement controls are completely bizarre and more than a little unwieldy. That said, it’s not the QTE-fest that I thought it would be after Fahrenheit – options are presented as sort of a floating ‘thought cloud’ and you push a single-word button to drive the story in the direction you want it to go in. Watched several other playthroughs with very different outcomes. Not as pretty as some people would have you believe though – it is really attractive in places, but other places have an almost ‘cell-shaded’ look to them, like everyone has a big black outline. Needed lots of work too, crashed like a bugger.

Left 4 Dead 2 (360)

Watched Lutzie and DDevil play this for a good while. It’s Left 4 Dead. And is still mental.

MAG (PS3)

Snore.

Mass Effect 2 (360)

Was ‘out of order’ for the first chunk of the day, but I did get a whirl on it about 7:30pm. Unfortunately it was in the middle of a game right in the middle of some combat and I couldn’t remember how anything worked. Engine seems much better this time around, very smooth and fluid, and the combat seems more like a proper third-person shooter than it was before. Looking forward to getting a better go on my own time, without an EA enforcer sitting over my shoulder.

New Super Mario Brothers Wii (Wii)

The Nintendo rep practically forced me and Lutz to play this at gunpoint. It’s… Super Mario Bros. On Wii. With four players. Game played with a remote turned sideways like a NES pad and was pretty much classic Super Mario. Got quite confusing with four people on-screen, though – I ended up watching what other people were doing and then finding that I couldn’t see my own character and oh dear I’m dead. If you like Mario, you’ll probably like it. I didn’t much care for it, tbh. But you knew that, right?

Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time (PS3)

Super-smooth, nice controls, great graphics, but…. kind of soul-less. Can’t really explain it, but while there was nothing really wrong with it as such I couldn’t really muster any enthusiasm for it either, possibly because I’ve not played any of the other games and have no attachment to the characters. Fans will probably love it.

Saw (PS3)

Didn’t play, but looks pretty crap. Silent Hill environments with silly gore.

Saboteur (PS3)

My biggest regret of the show was that I forgot to go back and have a go on this later on when it wasn’t busy. Everyone who was playing earlier was treating it like a vanilla third-person shooter and ignoring the stealthy stuff. As a 3ps it looked fairly standard, but I was hoping to get a look at the open-world stuff and the climbing and that. But forgot. What a clot.

Split/Second (360)

Very amusing to play, alth0ugh the demo was exceptionally rough in places – I got stuck on scenery twice and had to restart, and the frame rate was ‘not so good’ during some of the bigger set pieces. Sort of like a track-based Burnout with evil tricks and pyrotechnics. Could well turn out rather nice, this.

Star Trek Online (PC)

Slow paced and very ‘clicky’, but Lutz was killing Birds of Prey in a matter of minutes. Quite pretty too, but made me wish for a proper space-combat sim rather than an MMO.

Uncharted 2 (PS3)

Had my first go at Uncharted ever – yay! Gorgeous to look at, nice controls, easy to get into. Could quite happily have played for much longer. If I ever get a PS3, this is on the shopping list.

Wheelspin (Wii)

Didn’t play this, but worth a mention for being the worst-looking game at the show. Horrible graphics, horrible physics, horrible…. everything! Really, really dismal. And then this morning I discovered it’s Archer MacLean’s new project! Oh man!

Well, it’s been a while, I admit! But I have been sort of busy. Sort of. I’ll be at the EG Expo on Tuesday so hopefully I’ll have some interesting stuff to post after that. Until then, busy yourself with this wonderful little Flash game.

Small Worlds is an entry in the Casual Gameplay Design Competition and is very simple in concept but quite tricky to describe. Guide your platform-hopping pixel man through an expanding world and try to find the exit to the next one. I won’t try to explain it any more, just give it a whirl – it’s quite unique and totally relaxing to play.

Thinking about it, I should have mentioned Dyson on here already. I have no idea why I haven’t – it’s by far my favourite ‘indie’ PC game of the last… forever. Originally developed for TIGSource‘s procedurally generated games competition by Rudolf Kremers and Alex May, it’s an utterly gorgeous ambient space-based RTS (sort of) where you ‘grow’ your biological armies from ‘space trees’ and take over the galaxy. Beautiful to look at, graceful in motion and with a superb soundtrack it’s consumed many an hour of me and my son’s time over the last year or so.

And now… now they’ve gone the whole hog and it’s to become a commercial product, vastly expanded upon compared to its original freebie format. Given that I feel I already owe them my money just for the original version, I probably also owe them a bit of a plug… so here it is!

The game’s out next month, as you can see from their latest blog post and they’re also hosting a competition to give it a new name before release. Possibly to avoid the wrath of irate vacuum cleaner salesmen. Get over there and try the free version if you haven’t already – I (almost) guarantee that you’ll love it.

Super Metroid was, so they tell me, a classic. I say “so they tell me” because I have a shocking admission to make – I’ve never actually played it for more than about ten minutes. Before you kick me out of the gaming club, I was very much a ‘computer’ kind of guy during the 16-bit era so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. The fact that I now own a SNES and have somehow managed to avoid picking up a copy remains a mystery, however.

Regardless, I’m a fan of the “Metroidvania” style of game – the first Metroid Prime was excellent (aside from Meta Ridley, I still wake up screaming occasionally even now) and I’ve enjoyed various flavours of Castlevania over the years, so I was moderately interested in Shadow Complex when it was first announced at E3. However, the Splinter Cell styling didn’t really appeal and it didn’t look quite as Metroidy as some people said it was so I was a little dubious.

I was also a little wrong.

Shadow Complex is excellent, no two doubts about it. Basically Super Metroid brought bang up to date with a near-future military-based setting, the story’s based on the rabid scribblings of the politically-dubious Orson Scott Card – but don’t let that put you off, the story’s mostly cack and very much disposable. This game’s really about powering up a suit of robo armour as you explore a secret underground base, disposing of the various jack-booted goons as you go along.

Metroid staples are all present and correct – you start off very much underpowered and confined to a small area, but soon pick up a variety of weapons and gadgets to help you reach that little place that you couldn’t quite reach before. Before long you’re lobbing grenades, double-jumping and swimming underwater. Later on you’ll be destroying stuff with missiles and swinging from the ceiling via a hook-shot. It’s familiar, but it’s super-polished and oh so much fun.

Rooms provide a selection of challenges based on getting from A to B, and the small selection of bad guys and their pet robots can be taken out in a variety of comedy manners depending on your mood – a punch to the face here, a head-shot there, a grenade into a pile of exploding barrels for the weekend.

The ever-present Metroid-fuelled excitement of picking up a new gadget and immediately being able to think of half a dozen places where it could come in useful keeps you hooked until the final moments (11 and a half hours for me, ignore the internet complainers who just rushed through it as quickly as possible). Add to that a series of stand-alone challenges and a bunch of extra skill modes and you have an excellent value package at round about a tenner – I’ve had less play-time out of full-price disc-based releases.

Shadow Complex is that rare beast – it’s a retro-styled game which both feels modern and successfully manages to capture pretty much everything which made its inspiration a timeless classic. If you have access to the kit and haven’t already dabbled, you owe it to yourself to give it a whirl right now.

First day back from my combined holiday/illness-fest and this is just what I need to relax – Canabalt, an excellent one-button flash game. Your guy runs from left to right and you help him to avoid a number of environmental hazards/disasters with a single poke of the X or C key. Sounds simple, but it’s furiously addictive and very polished to boot. Thanks to Dan for pointing me at this one!