Slaygon

Name:Slaygon
Number:119
Year:1988
Publisher:MicroDeal
Developer:John Conley & James Oxley
Genre:FPS/Adventure
Difficulty:2/5
Time:1 hour 20 minutes

From the team that would bring you Day of the Viper and the publisher of Fright Night comes another weird early FPS title. This one has a very legitimate claim to the adventure label, unlike Delta Man. So much so that if this weren't connected to Day of the Viper I probably wouldn't play it. I would be willing to bet that neither TAG nor Renga in Blue will be covering this one ever.

The way outside

The player is the operator of the super robot Slaygon, an invulnerable robot. The mission? To stop the evil corporation Cybordynamics from unleashing a virus to destroy the human race. Cybordynamics is a controversial business that replaces humans with robots and other automations. To do this one has to overload their reactor in their automated lab. I wonder if this is satire, because this feels like it could be intended to be satire. It sounds like it could go either way. British games so far have a noticeable tendency to be satirical.

A door, what does it contain? Something good, hopefully

Starting it up and we're in a lobby. Not sure why since this is supposed to be automated, but I suppose this doesn't really need logic in it. The game is entirely controlled through the mouse, including movement, which is annoying and slow. We've got six functions down below, two of which are for combat; Scanner reveals a set area around you; Plotter maps as you go along, plus it shows your location; Sensors show what state the enemy is in, and I didn't really use the cloak function. Though the game tells me it makes Slaygon invisible to all enemies except the base commander, but uses a ton of energy.
Rounding out the interface, we have 8 boxes for items, the buttons above the plotter button control inventory, with the question marks telling you what an item in front of you is. Above the save/load buttons we have an energy bar, which drains on the use of all functions and acts as health. In combat, it drains considerably more if you don't have shields up. Arrows move, and basically everything else is self-explanatory. It works, I don't have any complaints about that, but its slow and feels awkward to use.

Combat, these things only show up if you open the door, you can tell if one's inside by the color of the square above the arrow button

Combat is a boring affair. There are doors in this game, and some contain these Cylon-looking fellows. As soon as you see one turn on your shield and then start firing your laser. There are seemingly no tactics, just exchange fire with the enemy until someone is dead. How much the enemy will take before it dies varies, but you can tell based on what they look like, and you can't just ignore the harder ones since they may have a valuable item behind them. Given the manual's hyping of the robot's abilities, I'm quite disappointed in how weak the player really is.

Some static object one has to use an item on to advance

The adventure aspect is very simple. Scan an item before taking it to discover what it does, and then the item will usually be used as you walk along. There are upgrades to the weapon and the shields, but you just use these, you don't need them in your inventory. Keys and various trap nullification items work automatically, while things like interfacing objects and health (energy in this game) items require use. The problem is that by the end of the game you're juggling quite a lot of items, and you can't really afford to drop most of them. The keys can be dropped after you've unlocked all the doors they correspond to though.

Only five more numbers to go!

Its not explicitly told to you (unless you look at the part of the manual they tell you contains spoilers), but the objective of the game is to find 5 numbers for a code to blow up the reactor. To figure this out you need one device that gets the numbers from one type of machine, and another device that allows you to type in the code into the reactor. The thing is, while I got 4 out of the 5 numbers needed, I was still missing one by the time I got to the reactor. I had to find two more key cards before I could get out, and I had already got around the map. So basically, in the last stages it turns into more of a maze game than anything else. And once that's done its a fairly easy trip back outside.

The end

I should note I played on the easier skill setting. The manual says that the harder one randomizes the location of some key items, but I suspect it increases the map size too. I barely had any map on my screen when I finished, seems like there was room for a lot more. Which I have to say would work quite poorly in this game's favor, because already by the time I finished it I was finding the whole experience boring.

Weapons:
I feel like just exchanging fire like a generic strategy game is one of the saddest combats I've ever seen. 0/10

Enemies:
Its kind of cool slowly figuring out the graphical differences between stronger enemies and weaker ones. 1/10

Non-Enemies:
None.

Levels:
It was shocking to discover that the game isn't randomized entirely, and that the level is pre-set to some extent. 0/10

Player Agency:
It works, but so much feels awkward and slow. 2/10

Interactivity:
I can't really think of what else to describe this game as besides an adventure game, but the amount of interaction you get here is pathetic. 1/10

Atmosphere:
None.

Graphics:
Very simple stuff. Everything looks as it should but nothing is terribly impressive. 1/10

Story:
The manual's story doesn't really have much effect on the gameplay, and doesn't entirely fit with what happens in-gameplay. 0/10

Sound/Music:
Really basic sound effects, which was quite annoying to see in an Amiga game. 1/10

That's 6.

Feels like a harsher statement against the game than it should be. Its not as horrible as that implies, it just doesn't feel like anything more than a demo. The sort of thing that shouldn't have escaped into the wild. Which is a funny thing to say about a game that was published and presumably put on store shelves, but I remain hopeful for Day of the Viper.

Fright Night

"Welcome to Fright Night", says a surprisingly clear voice

Name:Fright Night
Number:88
Year:1988
Publisher:Microdeal
Developer:Microdeal
Genre:Side-scrolling Action Game
Difficulty:5/5
Time:1 hour

Fright Night is an interesting beast. Its the sort of bad game that could only come out on the Amiga. Adapted from a movie, but it looks amazing, it sounds amazing. You play it and its like...WHAT? Even as a cashgrab this seems...awful.

Jerry, fresh-faced and ready for the night

You play as the head vampire from the film, Jerry. I haven't seen it, and it doesn't seem like that's going to have much concern here. Jerry needs to kill all the people in his house before nightfall and then return to his coffin. The first night this is simple enough. Enemies throw things at you, they hurt, but you can walk past them. The real concern is figuring out the game at this point. You have a constant timelimit, nightfall, and a short timelimit, your rapidly diminishing health. Neither of these are much of a threat at this point.

Jerry walks up some stairs

Then you reach the second night, and the game becomes hard. Hands are coming out of the ground, and ghosts are floating around. Its at this point it becomes clear Jerry is weak for a vampire. In addition to needing about a half dozen victims just to make it through the night, if these hands or ghosts touch him, he has about three seconds before he dies. At full health. Further, Jerry is slow, and can't dodge for anything. He's effectively defenseless.

The only time most will see this screen

Which brings up the controls, they're not good. Jerry moves slowly, which isn't bad of itself, except that means EVERYONE gets a free hit against him. Sometimes there are stairs, which Jerry needs to go up and down, which require precision. While getting attacked by things that have a good shot of finishing you off for good. Jerry can jump straight up or crouch by pressing the joystick button and then up or down. There is a delay. It seems there is the option to jump forward, but it didn't work while I was playing. This is the only real method you have of avoiding attacks. Jerry himself automatically attacks humans whenever he moves in close enough. There is only one life.

Jerry, dead again

The game just continues on like this until you win or become bored. Outside of the way the game looks its extremely boring to play. You're not really doing much, beyond dodging ghosts and grabbing people. Most of the effort, it seems, was put towards making the game look good and sound good. Its really impressive in that. Sound changes when you change rooms, cleverly reused graphics, but for a game where a scary vampire bounces around like comedy show? Its just a whole lot of nothing. Its not even the first game to use this formula, Dracula on the Intellivision has the same formula, but Intellivision games have excuses for playing like crap, they're on really old systems. And even then the Intellivision was capable of more, as was this. So were the people who worked on this. Except, it turns out, the programmer, a noted advocate of the Atari ST. Well, that answers some questions.

Jerry, after a meal, note the hand coming out of the ground

Weapons:
None.

Enemies:
There are ghosts, hands that come out of the ground, and a selection of human enemies. Mostly, they're all just sort of there. 1/10

Non-Enemies:
There aren't any.

Levels:
The house gradually grows larger over the course of each night. Its simple, and in a better game it would have been effective. 1/10

Player Agency:
It works, but that's about it. Doing anything that isn't going left or right requires a bit of precision. Precision you don't get. There are also minor issues playing this with keyboard controls, unintentional ones, given that joysticks were more common back then and I'm using my keypad as an imitation. 1/10

One of the many ghosts that wander the house, perhaps his victims

Interactivity:
There isn't any.

Atmosphere:
Starts off nice, even mildly spooky, rather than the usual cheap haunted house stuff. Once enemies start showing up, that kind of loses its charm. Hard to enjoy it when you're desperately trying not to die. 4/10

Graphics:
Every background in this is a joy to behold, real skill went into this. There's some reuse, but everything looks great. The character sprites look good too, they're well-animated...mostly. 8/10

Story:
You're a vampire, kill some people in your house. 0/10

Sound/Music:
Generic Amiga sounds, but a primo soundtrack from legendary musician David Whittaker. If you can track it down, I suggest giving the soundtrack a listen, it is the best element of the game. A real treat to hear. 9/10

The skull indicates Jerry's health, he's not about to have an easy time here

That's 24, but since the game just wasn't fun, I'm going to remove 2 points. Giving a final score of 22. This is not a fun game by any means, but it does have high marks. If you're interested in old game music, or seeing examples of old pixel art, this game is top notch in that regard. For everyone else, stay away.

Briefly checking old reviews, and it seems like this opinion hit the head right on the money. One reviewer even mentions getting stuck on the same place I did. A curious thing.

According to Mobygames an adventure game was advertised, but never released. My personal Bias aside, that would have been a much better use of everyone's time and money. An adventure game where you play the villain? At the very least a modest curiosity.