The Joy of Sticks Relaunch!

Please redirect your links and feed readers over here: http://thejoyofsticks.co.uk. It’s not just a move, it’s a relaunch, a revamp, a revitalisation! Hop over there and let me know what you think.

Unidentified Flying Objects Spotted Over Mt. Fuji

All you crazed, gun-toting xenophobes out there rejoice, for there is a brand new opportunity to vapourize E.T. and his glowing-fingered buddies from the comfort of your ST.

Paradize have released a Missile Command/Galaxian inspired shooter called Attack Wave. Coded by SimonSunnyBoy, and featuring music and graphic contributions from Marcer and Malodix respectively, it looks like a classic score attack game in the vain of the arcade games of old. Watch this space for the imminent review! It is available now on the Paradize homepage. Go there, be happy!

Super Sprint review

You can trace Super Sprint’s ancestry right back to the dawn of arcades with arguably the first ever sports simulator: Gran-Trak

Low Res Web Magazine Released: Go There, Be Happy!

ThorN, ChrisTOS and SimonSunnyboy, geniuses behind STOT (ST Offline Tournament) have released an online magazine dedicated to retro computing, with a decidedly Atari ST slant to this first issue. It’s a great read covering topics such as new releases, old magazine articles, upcoming events, and interviews.

My highlights were a fascinating insight into the Jaguar scene and its bizarre politics, an interview with TomChi about r0x, and the features on STOT. There is also a great Switchblade review which also looks at the 8-bit versions.

So, stop reading this and go there, be happy!

Starball review

Dave oldcorn’s PD pinball game Starball, heavily influenced by Devil Crash/Devil’s Crush/Dragon’s Fury (depending on where you live and what system you own) skill-shot its way onto the Atari ST in 1994 courtesy of Volume 11. I came across it on an ST Format cover disk, and was very surprised at the quality of a game given away as a freebie.

r0x review

When news of this game first broke, I took one look at the screenshots over at RGCD and thought to myself: ‘Wow! A new shoot ’em up for the ST!’ as this is the first action game released for the ST for some time, and I was very excited. However, SimonSunnyBoy pointed out to me that r0x was not a shooter, but in fact an avoid-em-up, and a closer look at said screenshots and their lack of bullets (or any kind of projectyle) confirmed this. I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.

With r0x nominated for season 2, round 21 of STOT (ST Off-line Tournament), I put my disappointment behind me and set about trying to get a high score and, boy! How miss-placed was my disappointment?

Heavy Stylus and TomChi is teh r0xx0rzzz!!!!!!!!

A new game! And it isn’t a puzzle game! And it looks bloody gorgeous!

image taken from pouet.net

r0x, a brand spanking new avoid ’em up is brought to you by TomChi (No Extra) and Heavy Stylus (RGCD). The current version is 0.98 and has been two years in the making. The eventful stop-start development cycle as well as details of the game can be found on Heavy Stylus’ RGCD website. Looking forward to getting my stick around this one! Review to follow…

CodeJunkie starts weekly review column

CodeJunkie, coder of OutCaST (the excellent ST emulator for the GP2X), has started a new feature over at his blog.  Entitled ‘Game of the Week,’ CodeJunkie intends to eschew the obvious (Lemmings, Civilization, Dungeon Master), and instead highlight those ‘lesser known’ titles that people new to the platform might miss. First up he delves into SWIV.

It’s great to get CodeJunkie’s view of these games; due to his experience of programming an Atari ST emulator, he has intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Atari ST, and can provide commentary on how they utilize the CPU and any unusual programming tricks they employ.

Go there, be happy!

First Impressions #3: Civilization intro

As per a request by Alignn over on my YouTube channel, I have added the intro to Sid Meier’s Civilization. Not as cinematic as Another World or Epic by any stretch, and not particularly technically difficult to produce either. Well realised, with atmospheric music, it certainly sets the scene for your future of empire building.

Well, there you go. Awful scrolling, well composed but poorly executed music, no attempt at animation. Yet somehow it just works.

Read my Civilization review here.

Sideways – prototype

Jamie Woodhouse (author of the rather spiffing ST game Nitro and Amiga’s Qwak) has made available his playable prototype of Sideways, a sidescrolling (figures) shoot ’em up that features more than the odd nod towards classic shooters Uridium, Goldrunner and Xenon.