Worst Amiga games that look great, Best Amiga games that look terrible

[cloverskull]

This is inspired by a Reddit thread I was reading earlier today. I'd love to know what games look awful but have amazing gameplay, and vice versa. If you can link to a video of the game that would be great!

[Predseda]

I am not sure if the correct word it "terrible", maybe just simple, but this party game is super fun:

Achtung! Die Kurve

[Aardvark]

Super Bob Dylan plays quite well
[ Show youtube player ]

[copse]

Rick Dangerous for some is a canonical example of worst game that looks great. You basically die and have to memorise avoiding dying, and repeat.
[ Show youtube player ]

[Bren McGuire]

Amiga game that looks quite awful but plays superbly:
Super Street Fighter 2 - The New Challengers

Amiga game that looks amazing but is awful (oof there are a lot in this category but):
Elfmania

[sittingduck]

Lionheart. Aaaaaaand we're off...!

[Megalomaniac]

Things like Civilization and Championship Manager (any version in any era, not just the Amiga ones) obviously look pretty functional but are great fun to play. I know you don't expect strategy games to look great, but there are others that do.

Anything that's a close port or copy of a pre-Amiga game will usually look well below Amiga standards, but usually has gameplay that can still compete - things like Head Over Heels, IK+, the PD Asteroids and Defender.

Beautiful games that play terribly are a bit subjective, but Elfmania is a good shout, Rise of the Robots is a bit too obvious,.

Psygnosis seemed to have inverse synergy going on - their prettiest games like Brian the Lion and (some will argue, but) Shadow of the Beast playing terribly, their most functional looking games like X-It and Lemmings (looks pretty functional too but loses nothing in gameplay or character as a result) among their best.

[lionagony]

Originally Posted by Megalomaniac

Psygnosis seemed to have inverse synergy going on - their prettiest games like Brian the Lion and (some will argue, but) Shadow of the Beast playing terribly

What didn't you like about the playability of Brian the Lion, I think it's an underrated game, still can't believe there isn't a full longplay of it on Youtube.

[sokolovic]

Originally Posted by lionagony

What didn't you like about the playability of Brian the Lion, I think it's an underrated game, still can't believe there isn't a full longplay of it on Youtube.

I also quite like Brian the Lion. Especially the CD32 version. The game is much better with a CD32 pas, so thanks to whdload, even the floppies version are better now.
The definitive version would be the CD32 one with the Paula music of the floppy one to be played on an A1200.
Just one (big) problem, is the fact that you can't see we're you're jumping at in some parts of the game, like when you have to cross a river jumping on planks and crocodiles

Shadow of the Beast 2 for me is one of the finest Amiga game in its art direction (gfx and music) but a game that is even hard to finish with Infinite energy have a serious problem of gameplay calibration.

Civilization is a good example of a relatively ugly game, especially on A500 that doesn't at all prevent him for being one of the greatest game ever made. That's probably the only game alongside Colonization that I play every years since its release. And I will probably play it until m'y death (which is kinda depressing ).

Elfmania isn't as bad as Rise of the Robots. The gameplay isn't that desastrous, just a bit strange if you were expecting a SF2 clone (the jump mechanics and the coin retrieval make it almost a different kind of game).

[CCCP alert]

Shadow of the Beast being selected just points to people who are crap at actual arcade quality games.

If that is your criteria then Ghosts n Goblins, another very difficult arcade game, got a carbon copy port including rock hard difficulty too. I don't agree though in either case.

Can't think of any game that has a great coder and artist but is a b0rked design and actually plays badly, can't think of a game with a terrible coder and artist that is great to play either though. You could argue the 10fps action scenes in Rocket Ranger and It Came from the Desert need to be played on an Amiga 4000/040 or something to make the action games have decent non laggy controls, other than that I can't really think of anything to be honest.

[saimon69]

Rotox did promise special Effects and ultra fast action but did not deliver in both for me
[ Show youtube player ]

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by CCCP alert

Shadow of the Beast being selected just points to people who are crap at actual arcade quality games.

You keep repeating this argument, but it's a classic case of false equivalency and the only thing it points to is that you don't understand what makes good game design.

Yes, Ghost'n Goblins (or Contra et al) is a very hard game, but it's also designed to be fair and exciting. In contrast, in SotB I never feel truly in control and it seems full of cheap kill-you gimmicks. Plus, its run-right-and-punch-things gameplay style is really dull.

Even the game's designer admits as much:

"Edmondson states that "It was definitely a case of being in the right place at the right time. Apart from how many colours and layers of parallax and monsters we could squeeze on screen, no thought went into it whatsoever", and furthermore calls Shadow of the Beast a "graphics showcase"

That said I don't "blame" them for this. It was a small team which wanted to concentrate on stellar gfx/fx - focused game and they sure have achieved this goal, making an Amiga gaming milestone (even if the actual gaming in it sucks).

**************************

Other "worst" games :
Sword Of Sodan - not only the gameplay is abysmal but the art direction is ugly too. They deserve credit for the engine itself but that;s about it.

Agony - the gameplay isn't exactly terrible but it is just way too easy. After you got some power ups there are sections where you don't even have to move, just hold the fire button. Way too boring before any real challenge kicks in.

Project X - opposite of Agony: way too hard, even the SE

Defender Of The Crown - well, it's still my top 10 Amiga game, but you have to admit the arcade mini games are just silly. I still like to play the strategy layer (also simplified vs other versions) but never do any raiding, rescuing or jousting.

"Best" would be definitely Mechforce - an extremely in-depth and replayable mech strategy game, but all you get to see is a basic hexagonal field displayed in shaky interlace.

Superfrog: not exactly "worst" gfx, but fairly dull - but the game itself plays very well, there's lot to do and see

[d4rk3lf]

Originally Posted by Bren McGuire

Amiga game that looks quite awful but plays superbly:
Super Street Fighter 2 - The New Challengers

On the other hand:
Super Street Fighter II Turbo, looks very nice, but gameplay is awful.

[Paul_s]

Beautiful but awkward gameplay: Dragon's Lair series

[TCD]

Rock Star Ate My Hamster looks not great, but is a lot of fun to play.

[sokolovic]

Originally Posted by TCD

Rock Star Ate My Hamster looks not great, but is a lot of fun to play.

Yes it looks great !

[TCD]

Originally Posted by sokolovic

Yes it looks great !

Let's say the art style is an acquired taste

[alkis21]

Originally Posted by copse

Rick Dangerous for some is a canonical example of worst game that looks great. You basically die and have to memorise avoiding dying, and repeat.
[ Show youtube player ]

Seriously?? There are dozens of games that look better than Rick Dangerous, and hundreds of games that play worse.

The Space Ace and Dragon's Lair games seems like obvious answers, they were jaw dropping gorgeous at the time but could barely be classified as games.

[StevenJGore]

Worst Amiga game that looks great: Microcosm.

The pinnacle of what a commercial game achieved graphically on the Amiga, in terms of the whole slick presentation and not just the in-game part, but the gameplay was severely lacking.

I remember beating the final boss and my jaw being on the floor.

[Predseda]

Rise of the Robots is obvious candidate.