C64 – Page 2 – Games & Tech with the Sarkologist

Publisher: Elite Systems

Designer: Neil A Bate, Chris Harvey (Graphics)

Type: Arcade-Adventure

Platform: C64

Rating:

Difficulty: Impossible

In a way nothing has changed over the years, though I have to admit that I haven’t really been immersed in the world of video games of late, so my expertise (for want of a better word) really only extends to the 90s and beyond. Then again, for most of my life I have really only been interested in a limited number of games, and I have to admit that this game really wasn’t one of them.

Back in the 80s there was a movie, and a subsequent television series, about a high end military helicopter, and the team that would fly it. The name of the helicopter was Airwolf. One could probably describe it as a more science fiction version of the Apache Gunship, though I believe that the thing that set this helicopter apart from its contemporaries was stealth capabilities (and I’m not all that sure if you can really suppress the noise that those rotors happen to make). Apparently it could also fly much, much faster than your typical helicopter, though of course the wikipedia article will give you the full details.

However, what I am writing about here is the Commodore 64 game that was released on the tail of success of the series, and I have to admit that it is really, really bad. The reason I say this is because of its playability. A good game is a game that is challenging, not impossible. This game is impossible, though I suspect that if you implemented the cheat codes then you could actually get further than I did, but that sort of defeats the purpose in a way. Yeah, I would end up being killed within 15 seconds, and honestly, that would have been an incredible waste of money. I’m not entirely sure what the computer magazines thought of this game back in the day, but now, I would simply call it terrible, and would recommend not wasting your time with it (even if it is only 15 seconds, namely because that is 15 seconds you will not be getting back).

Boulderdash

Publisher: First Star Software

Designer: Peter Liepa

Type: Puzzle

Platform: C64

Release: 1984

Rating:

I remember that this was a favourite game of my family back in the days, and honestly, it certainly has a unique quality about it. I would basically describe it as a puzzle game, namely because you are given a level and your job is to collect the correct number of diamonds (or more) without getting killed. Getting killed comes about through a number of ways, the major one being a boulder falling on top of you. However, you also have butterflies (which explode into diamonds when killed) or fireflies (which just explode), and while they initially seem to be something to avoid, it becomes pretty obvious, pretty quickly, that you need to use these things to complete the level.

Yeah, this game turned out to be pretty challenging, and of course the levels get progressively harder as you move through them. Not only that but you also have a time limit, which means you simply can’t really dawdle through these levels. Oh, and I should also mention that it can be pretty easy to ‘snooker’ yourself in this game, and one minor mistake can result in you not being able to complete the game.

Initially there were two games released, but then I remember another version appearing that was basically 16 games, which meant hundred of levels that would no doubt keep the most avid fan occupied for years. Of course, I’m not really one of those ‘most avid fans’ but in my mind the game is still pretty fun. Oh, I probably should also mention that this game was ripe for a construction set, which means that I shouldn’t have be all that surprised that so see so many levels appear afterwards in a collection that was no doubt put together by some keen programmer.

Oh, and I probably should also mention that it seems as if this game hasn’t died out over the years either, if the Wikipedia page, or the official website, is anything to go by. Then again, nothing beats the simplicity of the original. Oh, and if you are interested, there is a lot more information about the game on the C64-Wiki page as well.