Brattacus

[Mangar]

Please someone tell me this is fake. It claims to be a psygnosis game.. It has a title screen and all but if it is someone at psygnosis should have had the crap kicked out him for releasing such a pile of excrement..

Better yet.. should it be included in the database?

[Khephren]

If we kicked the shit out of all programmers who released crap software, intensive care units around the world would have queues out in the streets.

I struggle to remember a GOOD psygnosis game.

When that bloody owl logo came up, there was always a deep regret at having wasted 2 minutes in XCopy.

[Mangar]

hehe.. however, this is even WORSE than all the psygnosis games.. this reminds me of something from the commodore 64.. it doesnt have psygnosis' trademark flashy graphics..

[Twistin'Ghost]

The problem here is the same problem that plagued too many early Amiga games - the Atari ST conversion wields its ugly bird head again.

The game was the first title from Psygnosis (released here in the US by Mindscape). It was also the second game ever released on the Amiga (trivia fans!), although it's widely reported as being the first (that honor goes to "Defender of the Crown").

The game was written on and debuted for the Atari 520ST. If I remember correctly, the joystick controls for the Amiga have vanished in the translation - even though the identical joystick controllers exist on both machines. Somebody had to go out of their way to map the controls to the keyboard for the Amiga! As you might expect, the rest of the game follows the same sort of guidelines, making no use whatsoever of any of the Amiga's custom chips to increase the game's performance!

At least that's the way I made my notes the last time I attempted to stomach this abominable tripe.

[Mangar]

Nice bit of trivia.. Luckily we had defenders of the crown to show off cuz it would have been a horrible start for the amiga with this waste of binary digits. Bttr's rating of 20% is too kind.

[Twistin'Ghost]

You're right...20% is ridiculously generous!

As for the trivia, it's only a matter of time before someone replies that CBM's "Mind Walker" was the first Amiga game...

[Khephren]

Oh I remember them really having a go at this game in ST/Amiga Doormat now. Jeez it's all coming back to me.

[Akira]

Oi Mangar, what's wrong with reminding of something from the Commodore 64? :)

[Mangar]

Heh.. there's nothing wrong if a game looks like its on a c64 IF its on the commodore 64.. For a psygnosis game to look like that is an embarassment for them..

[Karl Stodulski]

Guess I'll get it in the neck but...

<gulp>

I used to LIKE that game!

I was young at the time and it was one of the first Amiga games I ever played (the first was Tiger Shark to see how it compared to the C64 version).

I never used to know what I was doing, but liked to try and 'chat', reading the hard to read text. It was like being in another world...

[Khephren]

I think I was lucky. I wasn't much of a game player, more interested in programming and graphics. For me it was the Juggler demo and the specs of the Amiga that made me buy one.

If I saw this pile of a bilge of a game without knowing any different, I certainly would not have gone near it.

Absolutely diabolical game.

[MethodGit]

Originally posted by Khephren
If we kicked the shit out of all programmers who released crap software, intensive care units around the world would have queues out in the streets.

I struggle to remember a GOOD psygnosis game.

When that bloody owl logo came up, there was always a deep regret at having wasted 2 minutes in XCopy.

Should I remind you of the one thing that pretty much made Psygnosis a household name in the early '90s: the Lemmings series? (I prefer Lemmings 2 more than the first one, though, and I haven't played the third game (yet).)

Brataccas: Remember though that this was Psygnosis' first ever Amiga game in their career (it was released in 1987) and that obviously their graphic skills improved throughout the years. I think the graphics make it look more like a high-res Amstrad game (it has the familiar-looking red, white and green colours). It might also look like a Spectrum game, except I don't know if the Spectrum is capable of colours like that. It is funny though, to play this Amiga game but have that constant feeling that you're really playing a Spectrum/Amstrad/early-4-colour-C64-thing (if such a thing exists) game through a special emulator hidden inside an MFM disk format, making it inaccessible for personal use.

[Akira]

I kind of liked Walker, but there were not many cool Psygnosis games. The ones by Travellers Tales were good (Leander, Puggsy... Why do these guys don't code 2D games anymore? they were GOOD! here's hoping for some Travellers Tales GBA projects), and I liked Wiz n Liz, however most games were technically impressive but, gameplay wise, appaling.

[Tim Janssen]

I really like the games Psygnosis have produced on Amiga. Blood Money, Menace, Bob's Bad Day, Ork, Beast III and Hired Guns are among my favourite games.

For me, they went to the wrong direction when they decided in 1993 to produce film tie-ins of Cliffhanger, Dracula, and Last Action Hero. When they also were bought out by Sony in 1994 it was the end of the Psygnosis I always liked.

[Mangar]

I liked Lemmings, Blood Money, Leander, Obitus and the first Shadow of the Beast. Classic games in my mind. Some of the other stuff was bowls of monkey shite. The gameplay was terrible. To progress in a lot of their games you need a trainer. Agony and Killing game show werent too bad either..

[CodyJarrett]

Let's not forget that Psygnosis were just the publisher of these great games. The real talent behind games like Blood Money, Menace, Hired Guns, Lemmings and Walker were the great DMA Design!

[Tim Janssen]

Does anyone remember other ancient Psygnosis titles? I remember Ballistix, Captain Fizz, Anarchy and a few others. It is nice to know how their games were in the heyday of the Amiga.

Cody,
There were great teams Psygnosis hired for their games. I think DMA Design and Reflections were the best. I also like Traveler's Tales (Leander) and WJS Design ((Anarchy, Ork). I also appreciate the guys who did Pyrotechnica and Ecstatica on PC.

[MethodGit]

Just thought I'd add that Traveller's Tales also did Puggsy in 1993/94.

[Akira]

I said that already, ;P


... The ones by Travellers Tales were good (Leander, Puggsy... Why do these guys don't code 2D games anymore? they were GOOD! ...

It seems those games were the first one produced by them. And they kept churning quality titles from then on, like Mickey Mania.

[Tim Janssen]

Yesterday I read some ancient previews of Amiga games at Def Guide to Zzap! (http://www.zzap64.co.uk/).
In one the magazines (I cannot remember which issue) there was a preview of an ancient Psygnosis game. I think it was called Chariots of Rome or something in a similar vein. It is a game based on the famous Roman horse-race scene in the movie Ben-Hur. Does this game ring a bell?

[CodyJarrett]

It could be Psygnosis' Carthage, an action strategy game with some chariots in it...


Removed screenshot, it will be in the AGD

[Tim Janssen]

Cody, once again you have provided the right picture for the game I am after. :)
I really thought it was a race game or something like that. I have heard about Carthage but never played it. Is it any good?

[CodyJarrett]

Well, according to Amiga Power:

Excellent graphics and some nifty arcade sequences, but underneath it's a distinctly average strategy game. Despite appearances, not one for the joystick junkies out there.
3 / 5*

[Tim Janssen]

Hi Cody,

Sorry for my late reply.
I just found a review of Carthage in gamesmagazine Zzap! Issue 70, Februari 1991. The review features no decent screenshots which may be the main reason I did not recognise the game.
Its combination of arcadegame and strategical reminds me of another Psygnosis title: Obitus -Another title I have never played.

Despite getting a low mark, I will try to run Carthage for its nostalgia value. It seems that the older software gets, even crap titles turn out to be good.