Zzap Rrap
Zzap Discussions
over-rated or under-rated games
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Zzap Rrap
Zzap Discussions
over-rated or under-rated games
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| Author | Topic: over-rated or under-rated games |
| BIGGEST JIM |
posted 23-04-2001 12:32 PM GMT  
Hi there Zzap-people, there's not much life on this message-board, is it? Well, I don't wanna be over-enthusiastic, but what about a little discussion around over-rated or under-rated games ( to our humble opinions) in comparison to what the Zzap-reviewers made of it?? For starters, I luuuuurved (and still do..)"Labyrinth" by lucasarts, but in issue 23 it only got a 50% mark! WOT unfair! I could make quite a list of all those "unfair" ratings, is there anyone out there who'd like to share there opinions about this?? Was your favourite game shoved under the carpet? Or did you buy that "sizzler", only to find out that it was a load of cr*p?!? It would be nice to hear some stories! What about (for example) Hawkeye? Slamball, Matchday II, Spindizzy, Spy vs Spy III to name a few... BIGGEST JIM ( or Rob to you) |
| Andy1 |
posted 23-04-2001 03:47 PM GMT
Well, Spindizzy is the game of gods and fully deserving of its high mark, tricky but fantastic (in my humble opinion). Krakout was criminally under-rated (just 55%) and deserved a Sizzler at the very least. The C64 conversion of Arkanoid was pretty nifty too but still didn't score very highly. Gauntlet should have been marked lower due to the numerous bugs. |
| Mayhem |
posted 24-04-2001 11:09 AM GMT
No, the mark for Krakout was right, personally I think it's a pretty poor game, certainly in comparison to the conversion of Arkanoid. Spindizzy is class also. Guess you just have different tastes in games... |
| Matt |
posted 24-04-2001 02:34 PM GMT
As far as Krakout concerns, you're right, 55% is way underrated. But still, it's hard to discuss about taste, right? At that time, Krakout was released the time when Arkanoid smashed the market. I suppose the Zzap crew felt in love with the game and they might have thought Krakout was nothing but a lame rip-off, who knows? Ofcourse there's plenty of underrated games, but there's maybe even more overrated games. Still don't understand why Dizzy became so popular, I hated that egg his guts... see what I'm talking about, hard to discuss about taste, aight? Cheers, |
| BIGGEST JIM |
posted 24-04-2001 04:02 PM GMT
Yes! Yipieee! DISCUSSION!! DISCUSSION!! Right, hi folks, here's Rob de V., |
| Mayhem |
posted 24-04-2001 04:25 PM GMT
On Hawkeye... I've spoken to Gordon Houghton, he admits that it should have only got as much as a Sizzler, yes they did over-rate that looking back at it. I liked Sanxion, but didn't like Delta as much (except the music). Too much reliance on remembering patterns and where things would turn up. Got a bit boring for me. Even though I did slog and complete the bugger a long time ago... As for Bobby Bearing... well as Zzap! found out, the disc version had the music and the tape version didn't when it was originally released. However, the version of the game on the tape release of the compilation "All Stars" by The Edge has the music back in place! Curious... |
| Matt |
posted 24-04-2001 10:28 PM GMT
Well Rob, couldn't agree more on that... Concerning Hawkeye, graphically it didn't stun, right? It's just one of those million platformers, but I think you're right. The fact Thalamus developped the game might have deflected zzaps final judgement. Alhoewel, de muziek was verre van slecht, he? But for me, and that's purely personal, two games are at the top of the mountain, and remain unbeaten: Myth and Ghouls 'n Ghosts. Overrated? I'll tell you what's overrated: Crap like the Sentinel, Monty on the Run, and definitely ALL (like mentioned before) Dizzy games. (don't really wanna offend anybody with those statements, so chill out please... :) ) Have a nice day, |
| Bazza |
posted 25-04-2001 12:59 AM GMT
Sentinel, overrated? Well, maybe on the C64, but on the Amiga it was fantastic and extremely atmospheric. I play the remake for the PC (Sentry) and grabbed the old amiga music (David Whittaker special mod) converted it to a wav file and have it running in the remake. Great atmosphere in that game. It is fantastic and was one of the major reasons I got into Amiga emulation in 1995 or so (Before it became so damned popular... you know the days when people said it was impossible. In fact I kept badgering Bernd with bug reports related to Sentinel. The day UAE (I ran the linux version in those days) ran Sentinel I was over the moon. Mind you, I still had an Amiga sitting in the cupboard, but could never be bothered getting it out. I loved Sanxion and got a CD with Prokofievs Romeo and Juliet just to illustrate how much I loved the intro music. 3 of us would get together and play the thing for hours. That reminds me, we used to always have olympic championships (Summer) with Summer games I and II. Loved the animation in SGII. At one such event during which 4 of us were competing in ALL events (Yepp, even equestrian), towards the end in a cklose battle, one guy just missed out on a medal, he rolled backwards in horror, still grasping the joystick, ripping the C64 from its power supply and .... well we just about killed him! I loved the C64 version of pacman too. I think Uridium was overrated. I found it very frustrating. Leaderboard was absolutely brilliant when that came out. I couldn't belive my eyes when I first saw it. Mini-putt is a fantastic mini golf game and brilliant fun for the boys... BTW, if your embarrased about being 29, I'm kicking yerr butt. I'm 36! But then, you need to be a tad older to remember the very early micro war days :) |
| Mayhem |
posted 25-04-2001 09:56 AM GMT
Sentinel, overrated? Nah. It's my #2 all time C64 game, after Dropzone. Though I will admit it is probably the closest game to Marmite now... you either love it or hate it :) |
| Matt |
posted 25-04-2001 02:13 PM GMT
Okay, stating Sentinel is crap, is, I know, exaggerated. But like you guys mentioned before; you either love or hate the game, right? In my case, I still don't see the point why it's rated so high, but then again, like said before... It's hard to discuss about taste, right? Although I love this discussion going on! Later on, |
| Mayhem |
posted 25-04-2001 02:23 PM GMT
I think part of the difference here is that the few people I have spoken to who have not really liked the game, have still appreciated its originality, concept and execution as a "gaming experience". It's not as if they've hated the game completely and think it's one of the worst things to be ever released on the C64. The game is just not for them. Like how text adventures were not for everyone either. I was never a fan, didn't really like them, but I knew the efforts of Infocom, Level 9 and Magnetic Scrolls were good games regardless of the fact I didn't particular like them. |
| BIGGEST JIM |
posted 25-04-2001 07:17 PM GMT
Hey Matt, cool! so you're Belgian! It looks like we got a cool international team up here, Australia, Belgium, Holland, England.... Hey Iain, you have some dutch connections too, what are they??? I remember me that you were talking about staying in Holland, about a year ago? Back to the subject: |
| Bazza |
posted 25-04-2001 10:38 PM GMT
BIGGEST JIM, your description of decathlon and Pitstop II are exactly the same as our events. We had a joystick that was a tad loose, but had a heavy 'stick'. One guy used to just hold it upside down and waggle the base so the stick would move side to side (As you know, every event was just a variation on waggle the joystick as fast as you can). Anyway, he concentrated so hard on waggling that upside down joystick that he didn't even watch the screen. Needless to say we'd be calling out that he was just behind, despite being miles in front hehehe. And Pitstop II, I'd forgotten about those cramps. Thats amazing. Just after you finish the event you'd roll off your chair in agony. Hilarious! Pushing people in the pits, and I thought only our mob was devious enough to do that :) BMX Simulator was an old favorite also. There was even a Super Sprint rip-off with extremely dodgy graphics called Grand Prix Simulator that we played for hours. Actually, I seem to remember playing Accolade Grand Prix or something like that, for quite some time also. I played Revs...a lot. It was damned hard at first, but after quite some practice, it became really good. A friend and I took the day off to go and buy Revs and play it. Funny how I can remember that day as if it were yesterday. Its funny how it probably had a frame rate of about 8-10fps, whereas nowadays I find anything less than 30fps annoying :) Infact, even the Amiga's F1GP was only about 8-10fps (Thats why I played the PC version to death instead). |
| Mayhem |
posted 25-04-2001 11:24 PM GMT
Big Jim... hardly exotic where I live now, England :) As for RPGs, it was actually Zelda 3 on the SNES that got me into playing them more. From there, I got all the SSI AD&D stuff for the C64, along with Dragon Wars, the Bard's Tale series, Elvira etc. I didn't actually get a disc drive until 1991, which was a little harsh on trying to get some games back then. Been spending the last 10 years trying to catch up :) |
| Matt |
posted 26-04-2001 01:08 AM GMT
Speaking of RPG's, anybody ever tried the ever brilliant 'DarkSeed' on the Amiga? And hey Mayhem, as for Dropzone, I think I really have gotta try the game out some day, maybe I'm missing one hell of a classic here, am I? Cheers lads, |
| Mayhem |
posted 26-04-2001 09:39 AM GMT
If you like shoot 'em ups, and are a fan of Defender, then you are missing one hell of a blast. Kept me occupied for ages and still worthy of a blast nowadays. Though this is more likely for me to be on the Gameboy, that conversion was superb, and a little easier to play as the smart bomb and cloak buttons are right by your fingers (as opposed to being on the keyboard). |
| iain |
posted 26-04-2001 02:17 PM GMT
Dropzone is a really great game, I only played it for the first time about a year ago, but I knew about it from the Zzap days with them always raving on about it. I also have the Gameboy version which is a great conversation but a good bit easier. The author of the game actually contacted me a while ago, he's working on a GBA version of it and a 3-d update I think.. |
| BIGGEST JIM |
posted 27-04-2001 04:08 PM GMT
Hey, Bazza, isn't it hilarious, all those glory-days memories?? I was telling my wife about our "c64 adventures ( on this messageboard & in the past) and I couldn't stop laughing, it's just great! When you told us about this guy waggling his joystick upsidedown not even looking at the screen, I can image every bit of it, and I just have to laugh and feel GOOD! Wasn't it great? Oh man, DECATHLON, it gos us all nearly killed! Cheers! Rob de V. |
| John Holmes the 2nd |
posted 03-05-2001 04:04 PM GMT
Another aussie here..... I have to put my 2 cents in. Last Ninja for its complete originality at a time when original games were few and far between. Sort of like an olden day Quake, if you will. I also loved Skate or Die, going up and down that damn half-pipe, spinning your joystick like your life depended on it. Amiga - Stunt Car Racer and GP2 - superb, why hasn't someone bought out Stunt Car Racer on the PC?. I'm also a Pitstop 2 man, my cousin and I had many an afternoon after school in 1985 and 1986 playing that and Way of the Exploding Fist. Everyone - SPEEDBALL - need I say more?. I seem to remember it only got a Sizzler?. Is that right?. Defender of The Crown - I have a crude four colour version I play on my PC, but it loses playability once you learn the order you have to conquer the counties and thus win the game every time. You never have to save the damsel in distress or go raiding if you don't want to. Bad games - my memory doesn't serve me well enough to remember them - i only have good games these days - but no C64 - hence being here! Pete |
| Bazza |
posted 05-05-2001 10:55 AM GMT
Skate or Die was one of the best games ever produced for the 64 as far as I'm concerned. Bloody hard at first, but after practice, it was like poetry in motion [at least for me :) ] |
| BIGGEST JIM |
posted 05-05-2001 12:26 PM GMT
Wow, yeah! Skate or Die! Just think about the music!!?? How did Rob Hubbard cram in those cool sampled guitars & drums? Ammmmmmmazing! I loved all the different challenges, especially the one in which you could kick each other off the board or push your victim through fences, yuk! Skate or die ruled, the graphics and music were OUTSTANDING! Rob |
| Matt |
posted 06-05-2001 11:18 PM GMT
Okay, Rob Hubbard might have been a great composer. Okay, he even might have been a fantastic musician, but Jeroen Tel and JCH/Vibrants remain unbeaten! (all set 'n done for yet another discussion?) /Matt |
| Morpheus |
posted 11-05-2001 02:38 PM GMT
I used to help run a computer club, and various people would turn up to our school on Tuesday nights. Several friends who weren't big into computers would occasionally attend as well, and my friend and I have fond memories of one of our classmates abilities on Summer Games. You see, she'd always do really well with one of my joysticks on the high jump. She'd get this look of rapt concentration on her face and lightly grasp the stick, with her thumb pressing the top fire button quicke and quicker, before pulling... pulling... pulling... back at the last minute to the right level and then pressing the button... one... last... time... Blimey. I've gone red now. Imagine the effect it had on her classmates, who were majority 14 year old boys. ;) |
| BIGGEST JIM |
posted 11-05-2001 10:28 PM GMT
How naughty!! Well, I am very pleased to say that this topic is clearly the most popular subject to all of you happy-zappers! I don't know if anyone's still want to add something (please feel free..) but otherwise I would like to challenge another fellow zapperoni to make up a even more popular topic! What you'd say?!? So COME ON LAZY DIMWITS! DO SOMETHING! Or I just have to make up another astonishing topic myself (again!) and I tell you that: I ALREADY HAVE SOME COOL IDEAS! But I'll wait a couple of days for all you other geniuses out there to think about something! SEE YA! (and "cheers' and all that....) Rob (the flying dutchman, haw-haw) |
| fabbo |
posted 04-06-2001 05:48 PM GMT
In my opinion, Golden Axe was the most over-rated game. Only one enemy at a time, repetitive gameplay, yellowish sprites... Undeserved Gold Medal |
| 1054462 |
posted 13-06-2001 11:29 AM GMT
Golden Axe was definately over rated. Loved playing it in the arcade but didn't really enjoy it on the 64. Anyone here ever play Virgins strangeloop. Man that game is one of my all time favourites. Bought it in 1987 and played it for years, never able to finish it. first game I was really addicted to. What was the end of game screen like...help...arrrgggh |
| nemesite |
posted 14-06-2001 04:39 PM GMT
Uridium - i thought it was a horrible game. Can someone please explain what the fuss was with it? As for Hawkeye, I don't know why everyone picks on that game so. I thought it rocked myself. |
| iain |
posted 15-06-2001 03:11 AM GMT
Strangeloop was certainly a pretty strange game! I played it a good bit as a kid (it was on a hits pack I had) but I could never really figure out what you were meant to do, so I just wandered around the spaceship looking at the nice graphics and shotting stuff! |
| CeeJee |
posted 17-06-2001 08:19 PM GMT
I remember an very interesting game set in a complex a bit like the movie "The Cube", a 6X6X6 cube. With some kind of transporter you could switch your position 90 degrees so a wall would become the floor. Horrible sound and graphics but an extremely interesting way of creating a lot of room in a small enviroment. Anyone know the name ? Also Laser Squad was was sensational, and is still being copied to this day, like the horrible Squad Leader game. |
| Mayhem |
posted 17-06-2001 09:32 PM GMT
Ah, another fan of Laser Squad! It's in my top 10 C64 games. Great solo and 2 player action, and founding game for the excellant X-Com series on the PC... |
| Mort |
posted 18-06-2001 01:48 PM GMT
Ceejee, I think the game you are thinking of is deactivators by ariolasoft. Good puzzle game :-) |
| kev |
posted 18-06-2001 03:56 PM GMT
Just thought i'd stick my oar in, Laser squad was brilliant, as was an infuriating but addictive game, ZOIDS! |
| Brand_ed |
posted 19-06-2001 08:11 AM GMT
always thought that underwurlde was a classic. never finished the damned thing but thought it was great non the less. |
| waza |
posted 20-06-2001 11:29 AM GMT
well, lots of games mentioned... so a few less high profile ones I loved... Killed until Dead - have the rom for emulation but buggered if I can get it to work... Kickstart II - Still enjoy playing it now... Wizball - Classic, the guys got the rating right on this one! Little Computer People - now I just ran this on an emulator the other day, and frankly, even then I think I'd only be entertained for 5 mins. I'm not comparing it to today "sims" cause I haven't played that either... Maybe I didn't give it enough time.... IK+ - Still has held its play value well Westbank and Kane... Still have an odd charm and appeal for me... Music picks, Thing on a Spring, Rambo, Robocop.... There yas go, some other thoughs that hopefully sparked some other good memories. I'm from New Zealand and 29 so you're in good company BG! |
| lee |
posted 20-06-2001 11:20 PM GMT
I see no mention of Paradroid...I love this game (and I still wheel out the emulator from time to time to play it) but I did think successive ones were overrated. I mean, it was the same game in different colours, dammit! Alter Ego?? That was OK for about 2 goes, then you'd answered everything and survived the risks. I borrowed it and was so glad I saved my money! I see some of you didn't like Uridium - I spent hours on that game. I remember being impressed at how fast it was. I remember my friend harping on ad nauseum about the bas-relief graphics (he was, and still is, very shallow!!). I did finally get some success after many hours and two joysticks, then my 64 died :( I think all games were pretty much overrated after about '87, when the games ended up with that style-over-content thing which just killed it for me. Odd games (Wizball) snuck in but they were too few and far between. And all those film tie-ins... YUCK!!!! I didn't think Flash Gordon was up to much, but I used to load it just to listen to the rather excellent tune. Yes, very sad! |
| kev |
posted 21-06-2001 02:49 PM GMT
Still can't get enough of Matchday II, surprisingly enough.....Paradroid was awesome and addictive....Liked Uridium but found the baddy patterns a bit frustrating, Delta was also similar |
| BIGGEST JIM |
posted 12-08-2001 10:58 PM GMT
This one should continue! It's the record-breaking "subject" so far. Or is it a dead subject? Anyway, in issue 12 (page 89-zzap-back) I came across something quite shocking! It seemed that ex-editor Chris Anderson was abusing his authority to make certain games 'sizzle' , even bending comentaries from Penn & Rignall!! (in this case;on court tennis, a really saaad excuse for a tennis-game, which got a sizzler rating...wot!?) That was something new to me? Any other unfair behaviour in the zzap-historty? Rob |
| Andy1 |
posted 13-08-2001 01:23 AM GMT
Dunno, but it's been several months since I last visited this board (PC probs) and it's nice to see Jimbo and the regulars still here. Just goes to show how great Zzap was that it still has this effect on people. Can't think of a single magazine around today that people will still care about in 15 years' time. |
| BIGGEST JIM |
posted 18-08-2001 12:37 PM GMT
Hey, wot! It takes some time to "download" this topic, hmm? Or is it too much work to scroll all the way down!? :>) Anyway, did you read the last message I wrote about Chris Anderson abusing his authority to award sizzlers? What do you guys think about it? And Gordon, if you're reading this, (I know, I know, you don't have time, no time at all, you gotta write....but,can you resist this?) have you ever manouevred (gee, difficult word!no dictionary around, sorry)other reviewers in such a position? Did you come across some same sort of situation? CONFESSIONS, WE WANT CONFESSIONS! Well.. Rob says HI! |
| Mimir |
posted 13-09-2001 11:51 AM GMT
My goodness... Amazing what you'll come across when randomly wandering through the web, isn't it? God, this place has really taken me back to the good, old days of C64 gaming when you could have a computer for years without it being outdated and unable to run new releases without bloody expensive upgrades. <grumble> Favourites: Wizball - Sheer genius. Loved everything about it. The Last Ninja - When I first saw it I couldn't believe those beautiful graphics were from a C64, and even the gameplay is classic. The Way of the Exploding Fist - My first brush with the beat 'em up genre of games. Sure, IK and IK+ eventually arrived as better games, but this one goes on my top list for teaching a young lad the sheer joy of kicking the crap out of computerized opponents. Sentimental reasons, dontchaknow. :) Ace of Aces - Okay, it's showing its age (but then what do you expect? It's ancient in computer gaming terms), but at the time it was wonderful fun... and those graphics, man! Whooo! You could change viewpoint and actually _see_ the wings and engines of the plane! And it wasn't as bloody difficult as some of the other flight sims (like Strike Harrier... I think that was its name.) Barbarian - C'mon... Tell me you didn't have fun chopping off heads. Admit it! It was a laugh and a half! And even more fun when you got a bunch of mates together for an all-night bloodfest of headchopping, corpses and feeling like an invincible, joystick-wielding Conan. :) Marble Madness - Pure, bloody-minded, sheer, frustrating brilliance on tape! Gah! Archon - Wonderful game. Okay, graphics were nothing to write home about, but still a wonderful game.
Bangkok Knights - Sure, it had huge sprites. Sure, it looked slick in the screenshots, but somehow it never really grabbed me. The Great Escape - I know a lot of people liked this one, and it looked real interesting, but at the time I found it frustrating and slow. I'm guessing as a young teenager I had less patience than nowadays, and the memories of that teenager may be coloring my perception. -Mimir |
| farhan |
posted 13-09-2001 02:48 PM GMT
A few that come to mind are: Over-rated: under-rated: I think for the most part, ZZAP gave generous ratings to games...but Katakis (93%) deserved a Gold medal. |
| PaulEMoz |
posted 13-09-2001 03:39 PM GMT
For the most part, ZZAP! gave generous ratings? Nooooo!! They were the only mag that dared not to give 8 out of 10 (or equivalent) to average games. ZZAP! told it as it was, with just a very few exceptions where they got it wrong. Any other disagreements were just down to personal taste. |
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