Soccer Pinball,  Wednesday, 28 November 2007 Soccer Pinball is, as you may have guessed, a football themed pinball game. Or at least partially.

The first table takes place on a table made to look like a football pitch. There's terminology from the beautiful game randomly written over the pitch and a couple of bumpers. At the top there are some pins which act as defenders the idea being to knock them down and then score a goal, two of which will allow you to proceed to the next table.

Unfortunately, it's very frustrating to play. The ball travels slowly around the screen resulting in it feeling sluggish to play. You'll spend most of the time in the bottom half of the table away from the goal and there isn't a lot to do here. When you finally make it to the top and hit a defender, nine out of ten times the ball will fall vertically downwards no matter what angle it was travelling at. As a result the middle defender often causes the ball to drop down through the gap between the flippers losing the player a ball and resetting all the defender pins. Once you finally do get onto the second table, the football theme is abandoned in favour of a poker themed table. Things don't get much better here, again there is little to do when you're away from the part of the screen where you can do the advancing activity. There are two more tables, but to be honest I'd already long got bored of playing the game.

The game's graphics are quite basic. Compared to the rich colourful tables seen on Pinball Dreams, the primarily two-tone screens combined with vast amounts of object-less space on Soccer Pinball look drab and boring.

Overall, the game is a disappointment and those looking for a fun pinball game should look elsewhere.

 One of my favourite Amiga puzzle games.,  Wednesday, 03 October 2007 One Step Beyond stars Colin Curly and his Quavers as he gets sucked in his computer while playing "Pushover" (another Amiga game by the same company). It's a puzzle game where you have to work out which order to jump around the platforms to get to to the exit. Different platforms cause different results, some will shut straight away, while others may take several jumps, or open others.

The graphics are very colourful and Colin Curly (the grey Quavers dog in the yellow suit) fits into the game well. The layout suits the style very well. The gameplay is OK provided you like puzzle games, and have the ability to work several moves ahead. The trouble is closing all platforms before exiting. Music is good while sound effects are average.

The graphics are colourful and easy to understand, but the sound effects can get annoying after a while.

As puzzle games go, it's okay but it will be frustrating and the some of the levels are a little repetitive. And by the time you've finished you'll have forgotten how to do the first level again!

 Touring Car Racer,  Thursday, 16 August 2007 At first, Touring Car Racer looks promising. It's based on one of the most exciting forms of motorsport around, with official cars of the time. The title screen is colourful and the car selection screen is well designed with detailed drawings of the various machines available. Sadly that's all the good things that can be said about TCR.

As soon as the race itself is started, the poor quality of the game engine becomes apparent. The graphical detail is lacking with solid colour skies, basic cars and no trackside furnishings. Some bushes and a grandstand in the distance are all the game has to offer. The scenery in each of the four tracks is near identical.

It's manual gearbox only, but once you've started the race and accelerated up to fifth gear, you won't need to change down for the rest of the race. There is an invisible wall either side of the track preventing you from leaving the road but driving into it I was still travelling at a speed of 176 (I assume kp/h). Turn the right way and you'll make most corners without lifting off the accelerator.

The sound in the game is atrocious. It initially sounded like some awful music but the tune was in sync with the speedometer meaning it was engine noise. Comparing it with the speed is the only way to know that, because it does not sound like any engine I've ever heard.

Touring Car Racer is a terrible game that attempts to disguise beneath pretty presentation. Avoid!

 Prawn Connery is James Pond...,  Wednesday, 18 July 2007 Yep, another cutesy platform game on the Amiga. This is Robocod, or to give it it's full name James Pond 2: Codename Robocod. The plot is that Dr. Maybe has taken control of a toy factory and plans to use it to take over the world by way of explosive penguin bombs (Penguin chocolate bars' sponsorship of the game might have had something to do with that). FI5H Agent James Pond (Robocod) is the only person that can diffuse the bombs and save us.

Those who have played the first game will notice quite a change in this sequel. Firstly the game takes place out of the water, and on dry land. Secondly Pond has gained a special skill, he is now able to extend his body upwards and can grab onto ledges that are directly above him, hence the name Robocod.

Among the enemies Robocod faces are playing-card birds, caterpillars, snakes, toy-trains and liquorice allsorts men. Robocod has no weapon so they can all be killed by jumping on top of them one or more times.

The game is big, there are over 50 levels, split into rooms contain several with a similar theme, and the majority of them are vast but unfortunately quite empty. Enemies are thinly spread out, meaning the levels are not as action filled as in other games. Each play through the game is different as there are many hidden exits leading to different levels and routes through each room. At the end of every two rooms there is a boss stage, usually a giant version of one of the previously encountered enemies. Having no passcode system is frustrating with the size, it requiring a significant amount of time to be dedicated in one sitting to be able to get through it all.

There levels are varied, from mainly linear left-to-right style to ones where you must use the stretch to reach platforms above, and with a few constant scrolling levels as well as an upside down level and one set on a bouncy surface there are some clever ideas in the game. Robocod can speed down slopes, showing off the games smooth scrolling, but there is usually something bad waiting for him to crash into.

There is little to fault in the graphics department. The AGA version may have had better backgrounds, but there wasn't much difference otherwise and Robocod gets the most out of the OCS chipset. Sound is also perfectly acceptable, the music is very good while the sound effects are average.

So in summary we have a good platform game, that'll take ages to see everything it has to offer but is let down a little by trying to be too big. Robocod is definitely worth a play, just watch you don't get hooked!

 Cool Spot,  Tuesday, 17 July 2007 Cool Spot is a platform game based on then 7Up mascot of the same name which was originally released on the Sega MegaDrive. The game features 11 levels, in each you must collect a certain number of spots which are liberally scattered around the level in order to be able to break the padlock on the cage at the end. Unusually, there are no end-of-level/world/game bosses.

The levels themselves cover a wide area, and on several of them you are going up and down as much as they go left and right. Cool Spot can run, jump, climb and bounce off bubbles to make his way around. He can fire bubbles to attack enemies and some enemies can fire projectiles back at him. Each of the enemies behaves in a different way from the hermit crabs that try to hide in their shell to the cheese-throwing mice.

Cool Spot himself is very well animated and looks great. When leaving him static he'll yawn, polish his shades and start playing with a yo-yo, and his movement is well drawn. However, the rest of the graphics, especially the backgrounds, leave a little to be desired when compared with the DOS and Sega versions. The screen can also feel a bit jerky when scrolling due to the fairly high speed which Spot moves at.

The music and sounds effects in the game are first class. Each level has an individual piece of music which are almost all suited to the level theme and there are many catchy tunes. The sound effects are equally good, such as the crab snapping at you on the first level and the 'Woah!' and 'Yeah!' Spot says in reaction to falling or completing the level.

There are a couple of problems. The game has three difficulty levels which mainly change the number of spots needed to be able to open the cage at the end. However on the easiest setting the cage is sometimes moved to an easier location. The problem is the arrows advising where to go still point to the original location meaning that on the difficulty setting where they are most likely to be needed, the arrows take you to the wrong place. Also the game lacks a save or password feature so Game Over means back to level 1.

Still, all things considered, Cool Spot is a very good platformer. It's a shame no AGA version was made to bring the graphics in line with the other platforms but the animation work on the main character and the variation in level design make for an enjoyable game.