Lemmings,  Friday, 02 November 2007 Lemmings. One of the best puzzle games ever! If there is such a thing as a "classic game" this is one of them, a 5 star!

The game is a 2d platform type, with some good graphics and sound. The Lemmings are small green and blue creatures (+/- 8 pixels on screen) that only have one thing in mind: "walk forward". It is up to you to order them to do other things so that you can complete each level. The objective is basically simple: make the lemmings go from one start portal to an end portal.

As soon as they leave the start portal they start walking towards the right side of your screen, and they will do this until they reach a cliff (they fall and die) or encounter a wall/obstacle, where they will turn around and go back in the opposite direction. They can also walk up a hill if it isn't too steep (+/- 45º).

The end portal is usually not easy to access. There are usually many hills, walls, or cliffs in the way, so you have to help them pass these obstacles. You can order them to "build stairways"; "climb walls"; dig holes and simply order one of them to stop and act as a wall (blocker) to the other lemmings (useful to stop them all falling from a cliff).

But you only have a limited number of orders, so you cannot just order them all to dig or climb, as you only have a certain number of them. Keep in mind that if you dig a hole with one lemming, other lemmings may pass through the hole; If you order one lemming to build a stairway, the others will use that stairway to go up.

The number of lemmings is not fixed, it varies from one level to another, so it might be only 2 lemmings or it can be 100... and 100 could be complicated to manage... If you have those 100 on-screen it can make it hard to order just one only, so you may want to isolate some lemmings from the main group so that you can easily order them to do something.

If you like puzzle games, this is a perfect one.

 Panza Kick Boxing - the best fighting game ever?,  Wednesday, 03 October 2007 Probably the best fighting game for Amiga.

The game is like the name says, about kick boxing. Fights are between 2 opponents, you and a friend, or you against the computer.

The game view is "side view" as the camera is filming from one side of the ring. Players can go left or right, but the camera doesn't move.

The players energy is represented by four spot lights at the top of the screen. You start with them all lit, and during the fight they will start to go out one by one. The player who ends with no light looses.

The combat system is very complex. You use the joystick and can configure it from 55 possible movements. It could take same time doing this, but is very useful to fight the top opponents.

Many of the moves are quite similar, but:- some movements will make different damage in the other player- some movements will be faster to execute- some movements will reach a bigger distance.

The action is not fast or slow, it simulates very well a real fight speed. It gives you a little time to adjust defence and attack movements.

The game's graphics and animation movements are very good, but the sound could be better.If you like combat games, in my opinion this is the best combat game ever, on any platform.

 Virus,  Thursday, 20 September 2007 Ever played Lander ?

Put Lander in a 3d world, give it fire power, introduce enemy spacecraft, a 3d landscape, and certain atmosphere, and you could have something like Virus. But virus is unique...

Like lander, the control of your spacecraft is made by a propulsion engine on the bottom side of your ship. Something like a helicopter, with the propulsion not on top, but on the bottom. If you take the nose down it will move forward, but going up at the same time. It could take some minutes till you get familiar with the controls.

The objective of the game is to shoot down enemy ships who are trying to kill you and infect your world with a deadly virus.

Virus is a great classic. It is amazing how such a simple game can be so good. It is an old game, but you should try it. Written by David Braben... remember Elite?

 Murder,  Tuesday, 18 September 2007 Murder is a puzzle game above all. You are a detective and you have to solve a crime scene.

The game takes place in small houses or big mansions. In each level a certain crime has occurred, so you have to talk to people, remove finger prints, to compare with others, and find the crime weapon.
There are many levels and you can sometimes take one minute to solve a crime or you can spend more then an hour to solve other crimes.

If houses are small with few characters inside, it's easy to talk to everyone and find all objects you need. You will be able to connect all data and find out what happened easily. But if the level contains a big mansion, with lots of characters, you will take lots of time talking to everyone and inspecting the house, and it will be quite difficult to re-create the crime scene.

I remember how I used to enjoy playing it, but there were lots of Amiga fans that didn't like it. The Gameplay is not bad, but the graphics and sound, special the sound, is poor.

You can try this game, but only if you like puzzles and you have some time to spend with it.

 Carrier Command,  Tuesday, 18 September 2007 Carrier Command is a brilliant game, it's a mix between Simulation and Strategy game, and takes place in a future time, where Air craft carriers are super advanced.

The world you play has 64 islands and the objective is to take control of them and destroy the Enemy carrier command. The player conquers islands one by one, but the enemy will also capture islands, so you have to plan very well which islands you should conquer first and which ones to defend or attack.

The game is 3D (vector) and does not have any kind of texture mapping, but uses shading techniques. The game has a very acceptable speed/frame rate even on the A500.

You can control all things from a first person shooter view. The game play is quite good, but you will need some time to get used to it.

The player can take control of:

- Carrier Command
- Carrier command laser weapon
- Carrier command Missiles
- Carrier command countermeasures
- spacecraft
- Amphibious vehicles

If you like simulation and strategy, you should play this one. I spent hours and hours with this great game.