http://d-bug.mooo.com/automenus.php?s=18&e=18

Buggy Boy by Elite, Crack by LSD

Eco by Denton Designs, Crack by LSD

Wizball by Ocean, Crack by LSD

Phantasm by Exocet, Crack by LSD

Floyd the Droid by Analog, Crack by LSD

Dragon Lord by ?, Crack by Disaster Zone

Dragon Lord


Now, this is a game where the term "compiled STOS crap" really hits the mark.

Where do I even begin? Variable frame rate depending on whether there's too much action on-sceen or a sample is played? Totally unreliable collision detection where doing the same moves will yield in a different result? End-of-game-boss-fight where you have absolutely no idea what to do? (hit the boss before the music ends and it's game over, hit him after the music ends and it's again game over. How to detect the exact moment to strike? Not a friggin' clue, even if the boss starts flashing at the end of the music!). Not to mention that you can finish all the levels using mostly a single move (SPOILER ALERT!!! Simply keep fire pressed and down-right. Amazing, huh? No rock, throwing star, spear, enemy can withstand this awesome move! No matter if what is attacking you is 40 pixels lower than the hit point of that punch, it'll still die! Well, you have to jump a few times by moving the joystick up/right and then immediately moving it down-right again! Amazing gameplay, right?)

I understand there was a lot of work that went into making this game, making all those frames of animation and backgrounds etc. But the result is really sub-par, it either needed recoding in some more efficient language or scrapping altogether. And of course the gameplay needed a massive tuning up. What can I say, I simply think it should never have been released at this state...

(Bonus trivia: the sample that's played when you die? Enter the dragon with Bruce lee, the moment that he hits that bearded guy in the nuts? "Arrrrgh-gh-gh-ghhh-ghhhhhh" :))

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Erm, Can we just move my old review of ECO here?

Eco is a strange little thing, doesn't take long to work out how to play and doesn't seem that hard. But the sheer depth of ways you can rip yourself off in this game is great. It's a life/evolution sim by Ocean/Denton Designs and the aim of the game is to survive and evolve hopefully to human level, (But some of us haven't managed that IRL yet. :P) You do this by eating then mating all while avoiding anything that wants to eat you. This allows you to unlock a line of your genetic code allowing you to change slightly (This is the way you can rip yourself off easily, Ever turned yourself into a tree?) Eventually if you unlock all your code. You can become human. I liked this back then because it can be easily controlled with either keyboard, mouse or joystick and none of them took anything away from the game. In all if you haven't played this check it out, It falls under GG's "what the fuck is this?" catagory. :) 

http://d-bug.mooo.com/dbug/patches/2009/eco.tos

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After seeing this, A friend of mine said you can finish this pretty easily, The trick is never to walk backwards or stop dead. I tried this trick and it doesn't work at all. So there you have it, Don't believe everything the people say. :)

Mitch, done (as you see!)

Thank you, Saves me a little time later. Will be back with new reviews soon-ish. :)