Column, is a game that needs no introduction as everyone will have played
some variation of it however just for the one person who doesn't know

You guide a group of three randomly coloured blocks down the screen or
until they settle maybe on another block or set of blocks or on the screen bottom. if these blocks form a column or row with three or more blocks of
the same colour, they're removed from the play area and everything moves
down in the space where they were. The game gets faster each time blocks
it best you can get more points by building more blocks like four and five brick rows.

Again it's another simple idea, and the game just repeats until no screen
area is available to add more blocks

As the game loads you see the familiar Vic screen scroll down then back up
with the games menu, it's simple but slick, However due to the nature of
the format of the game and the VIC's resolution the gameplay is a thin
screen down the middle , if this format wasn't selected then you would have really fat bricks and the game would look squashed and rather odd, you get
used to the game format quickly.

In the game you can see what's coming next and your score, its simple but
as they say the simplicity makes the game stand out. It's quite old now
well relatively as it was coded in 2005 but does seem to be fresh and has
stood up to recent VIC releases

Sound wise the music track playing on the VIC is just unbelievable, if I
heard just the music and was told this was a Commodore SID tune then I
would be impressed, however because this is on the Vic then I am blown
away, you won't be humming it in the lift as its not that sort of tune but
you will be stunned that the VIC can achieve such sonics, given the right musician.

SCORES

Graphics: 8/10
bright and colourful
Gameplay: 8/10
frustratingly good
Sounds: 10/10
absolutely amazing sonics on the
VIC
Overall: 8/10

SUMMARY

You could say that Jason nailed the format on the unexpanded Vic, could anything be changed, Not relay!

Reviewer Nigel Parker
www.commodorefree.com



*************************************
REVIEW: ANDROID 2 [C16]
By Nigel Parker
*************************************

Title: Android 2
Language: English
Size: 64K
Machine: PAL & NTSC
Code Type: Machine code
Distribution: Freeware
Released by: Assassins (ASN)
Converted by: K., Róbert (KiCHY)

plus4world.powweb.com/software/Android_2

The group Assassins' have released Android 2 for the commodore plus4 /c16 programmed by KiCHY

Released originally by Ocean software under license from Vortex software,
the game was released for the Commodore 64 in 1984, it's not a game you
really think WOW; I must have another go, in fact; I had forgotten
completely about the Commodore 64 version until I started reviewing this,
and then started digging in my software archive, and wished I hadn't
bothered.

Your mission or the games aim is to destroy the five "MILLITOIDS", these
are large worm like creatures that roam around in a large walled maze, you
must destroy 5 MILLITOIDS in each of the 3 zones The maze is presented in a scrolling top-down view, using a pseudo 3D effect

Although the creatures are viewed from the side not top down!

The Zones are labelled

1. the maze of death
2. the paradox zone
3. The flatlands

You (Android 2) will be transported to each zone; where you need to kill
the "MILLITOIDS" before returning back to the transporter to travel to the
next Zone. You must work quickly because the transporter capsule will
leave after a short period of time (a timer is shown on the right of the screen). You (android 2) are equipped with a head mounted photon blaster
with unlimited power, (which is nice) Oh the MILLITOIDS need 2 shots in the head to kill them, others creatures need only one shot, but beware, some
are creatures are indestructible! (full instructions are in the game and
can be called on at the games start, to do this when prompted if you want instructions press Y bet you thought I was going to say something else
didn't you)

Oh yes make sure you beware of the landmines though, as they are mines on
land and walking on them will kill you! The game is over after either, you
are hit five times, or the timer runs out. The background music can be
turned on or off with F1 while F2 and F3 turn the music up or down.

The game is a partial flip screen affair with the time remaining, enemies
to find and control methods shown on screen as well as number of hits you
have sustained. The sound effects are good for the type of game, but the
play area is very small, the plus 4 version seem to have a faster version
of the music than the C64`s and to be honest it sounds the better for it,
on the C64 this game never set me alight with excitement, and although it
does seem better on the plus 4 it still didn't wow me, not 100% sure why
that is but the plus 4 version seems better than the c64 version, playing
them side by side the plus4 conversion feels slicker somehow, maybe it`s
just the music, to be honest looking at them side by side you would be hard pressed to see the difference, it's a really good conversion

Although the game conversion is good; the game itself wasn't much to write about, the screen was flickery on the c64 and seems the same on the plus 4 version, when you come down to it the game really isn't the most original
title in the world; and on the c64 when you finished the last level I think your score was shown with the logo, and then you were dumped back at the
start of level 1.

However on saying all that......

Before the game starts and your left pondering as to whether you should
press y to read the instructions or n just to play the game you can scroll
the play area around, you can view the maze of level 1 and get accustom to
it, and the location of trees but the enemies are not visible.

Apparently Spectrum owners found the 3d graphics to be an outstanding
feature and CRASH awarded the game 90% Comparing the game with 3D Ant
Attack Spectrum, I guess they must have been quite drunk during the review. Amstrad and Commodore 64 versions were released but of course no plus 4
version was ever made until now, maybe this should be converted to the VIC, Personally I don't like how the real-estate of the screen is take over by
the score, timer and remaining enemies to find, but as this is a
conversion, then you have to accept these things. Maybe if it was full
screen I would have complained that it wasn't 100% like the original,
having never played the spectrum or Amstrad versions I only have the c64 version to compare the game with!

SCORES

Difficult again because it's a conversing do you score the conversion,
original game or both! Here I plumped for scoring both

Graphics: 6/10
nice maze 3d effect but no
animations as such nice tiles
though
Sounds: 6/10
music sound better faster
Gameplay: 5/10
well its better than 4 out of 10
Overall: 6/10
it was never a good game to begin
with

SUMMARY

An excellent conversion, seemingly bettering the c64 efforts of the game,
and the faster music makes for a racier environment, however although the conversion is good, the game wasn't that much to begin with, however I
would like to see a VIC version appear. Maybe part 3 could come out, have
a smooth scrolling playfield, instead of flip screen and loose the right
hand real-estate to more play area, maybe more levels as well and a proper
top down view and maybe add some gameplay and .......

Review Nigel Parker
www.commodorefree.com



*************************************
REVIEW: DOUBLE OR NOTHING [C64 SEUCK]
By Nigel Parker
*************************************

Another game for the SEUCK 2014 game release

tnd64.unikat.sk/Seuck_Compo_2014.html

Direct download in various formats with instructions

tnd64.unikat.sk/seuck/SEUCKCompo2014/Double_or_Nothing.zip

Game design: Alf Yngve
Graphics: Alf Yngve
Music: Richard Bayliss
Mods (if any): Music on the fr

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