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Game of the Month: Qbic - Ronald Pieket Weeserik O-Bic - Ronald Pieket Weeserik - Image from Lemon Amiga website |
April 2012 Public Domain Game Reviews
Reviews by Christian Clarke
Quick Money
Before starting the reviews for April I would just like to apologise for the delay in making them available to you. Unfortunately this month I experienced continued difficulties with my internet provider which meant I have not been able to access the internet for over a week. Anyway, on with the reviews.
I think this game only works with a traditional Amiga 500 set up. It might be possible to play this on a amiga 1200 using some of the downgrade options which are available and if you have an Amiga 1200 you will be knowledgeable of these. Another alternative is to play it on Winuae and set up the emulator to an Amiga 500. The basic story to the game is that it is the future and the latest sport is droid on droid combat. Thus begins a two player droid combat game. There is no one player option and therefore this game will only be of interest if you have a willing foe to do combat against. The game is professionally put together. The scrolling is very smooth, there is parrell scrolling of the background and the control of the main ship is tight and responsive. As well as having your opponent to fight against there are are enemy droids which patrol the level map. They follow set routes so are not too difficult to avoid. There are better two player combat games available on the amiga public domain scene with Gravity Force and Rocketz both springing to mind. If you fancy a change from those two games this game will provide a suitable diversion for a few minutes but it is unlikely to hold you long term attention. The game can be downloaded from the link below. *** Review by Christian Clarke 
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Quackers
This game is frustrating as it could have been a top quality platform game but in its current release state it leaves the player wishing that the programmer had spent a few extra days improving the little niggles which prevent it from being a classic.
The game is best described as a poor man's Qwak. For those of you who have not played Qwak, basically this game involves you moving a duck character (similar to Qwak) around a single screen platform (still like Quak) to collect a key which opens the door to the next level (yes - exactly like Qwak). What prevents this game from being as good as Qwak is that it lacks charm which is partly due to the lack of animation of the central sprite which is limited to two sprite images, one for left and one for right. It is a shame that there is no animation for the main character as it makes it difficult to have any emotional connection to the character which you normally experience with a cutesy platformer. This limited animation also unfortunately extends to the enemy sprites which patrol the different platforms and makes the game look very much like a work in progress to check that the enemy paths are working correctly. A few extra days spent on the animation of the game sprites would have add significant polish to the game. The level designs are considerably easier than Qwak with only a few enemies patrolling platforms rather than having items falling across the screen. There is also no two player game option. Overall this is a good work in progress game and it is a shame that more time wasn't spent on adding some finishing touches to improve the quality. The game can be downloaded from the link below. ** Review by Christian Clarke
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QBIC - GAME OF THE MONTH
This game is a Qbert clone written by Ronald Pieket Weeserik who was responsible for making some of my favourite commerical amiga games including SWIV and Rodland. It therefore comes as no surprise to find that this game oozes class. It is perfect in every element, from the graphics, player control, music and level layout and could have easily been published as a budget title at the beginning of the Amiga's life.
For those of you who have never played Qbert, it a single screen platform game where you move your character across the boxes. Each time you land on the box the top changes colour. As soon as you have changed the colour of all the boxes on the screen, the level is completed and you move onto the next. There are of course annoying enemies patroling the level to make your task more difficult. To help you there are some floating discs which you can jump onto to temporarily escape the badies.
I really cannot recommend this game highly enough. It is everything Public Domain should be. It is easy to pick up and play and has that simple but addictive game play that will make you load it up again and again.
If you are interested in reading more about the games created by Ronald then click here to read a fantastic interview by Codetapper.
The game can be downloaded from our download from the link below. The disk image is of an Assasin Game Disk and you need to select F3 to play Qbic.
For those of you who have never played Qbert, it a single screen platform game where you move your character across the boxes. Each time you land on the box the top changes colour. As soon as you have changed the colour of all the boxes on the screen, the level is completed and you move onto the next. There are of course annoying enemies patroling the level to make your task more difficult. To help you there are some floating discs which you can jump onto to temporarily escape the badies.
I really cannot recommend this game highly enough. It is everything Public Domain should be. It is easy to pick up and play and has that simple but addictive game play that will make you load it up again and again.
If you are interested in reading more about the games created by Ronald then click here to read a fantastic interview by Codetapper.
The game can be downloaded from our download from the link below. The disk image is of an Assasin Game Disk and you need to select F3 to play Qbic.
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