880 Gamer - Nov 2013

>>Start 880
We are back! Welcome to the second issue of the now completely
random month Amiga gaming magazine! I was blown away by the interest from
everyone, and while I was expecting only a handful of people to actually visit
880's site to download a copy, currently the page has had over 1000 hits! That
alone was a good enough reason to start burning the midnight oil and get
started on issue 2!

If you did not read issue one then you better go do so right now, but to recap
for those to lazy to do so 880 Gamer is a new gaming magazine dedicated to all
things Amiga gaming, with other interesting stuff thrown in for good measure.
The name 880 comes from the humble Amiga discs which were able to fit a
massive 880k of data on them. That's it! Lesson over!

So what's in issue 2? Any Amiga fan will tell you Amiga fighting games were not
always the machines strongest genre, but Shadow Fighter made a lot of
promises to right a lot of wrongs made in the past and so it graces this issues
front cover. Does the Amiga finally have an arcade quality fighter? Also we have
two top down racers going head to head in a drag race to the podium in a
special double review. Overdrive and Turbo Trax look so
similar you could be forgiven for thinking one was a
sequel or even made by the same group, so we will put
them both through their paces to see who will be the
champion.

Again Bleeding eyes is back to suck your eyeballs from

their sockets and leave your ears wringing from the
phat bass, and we throw a little controversy into it all
with some games that I will refuse to review
(for now...). All that and more!

Editing like a boss...

Mark Stanner

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 880 Gamer - Nov 2013

880 Contents
Page 6

NEWS
Page 7

COVER DISC
Page 8

GAME ON
Page 26

BLEEDING EYES
Page 31

CHEAT
Page 32

TALK BACK
Page 33

NEXT ISSUE
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880 Gamer - Oct 2013

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 880 Gamer - Nov 2013

880 News
All the news as it happens....

This issues news is a little political and not so much Amiga related, but if the Amiga still had
a presence in today's mass market it definitely would have had an impact on. Here in Australia we
have always been a little backwards in adopting new technologies and always a step behind the
rest of the world, especially when it comes to Internet connection. That was until the elected
government in power took the courage and decided to replace this countries entire aging copper
telco wiring with a complete fibre to the home allowing high speed Internet for every individual, no
matter where they lived or what class they were. After all, these days the three essential utilities
you have connected at any house is now gas/electricity, water and Internet.
It was wonderful for a change to see a government make a commitment to spending more up front
to do it right first time and not do some kind of half baked interim fix and then spend more later
getting it right. Unfortunately this will no longer be. Why? Because we live in a democratic country
where governments and policies change, and where the opposition will oppose everything even
when what they oppose is a good thing. So with the change of governments comes the change of
broadband roll out policy and now we will receive a scaled back version where they will combine
the old dated copper and fibre. Its like having two cities connected by an old 1960's bus and one
government committed to having a high speed rail link connecting the two, but then the new
government only builds the train line half way to save a few dollars and makes you get onto that
old out dated slow bus the rest of the way.
It starts to make you wonder. Is
democracy always a good thing? It makes
you wonder if sometimes this can lead to
a reduced rate of advancement not only in
countries, but also in technology in
companies. Which brings me back to the
Amiga. When Amiga started up there was
a core single team all working towards the
same goal and they made this amazing
machine. Later in the Commodore years
this team was now part of the larger
collective with more than one
development team, and like here in
Australia we had two options on the table
for the new graphical chips for future generation machines (A1200/A4000). One was a safer option
and more cost effective at the time while the other was an out there more radical design from the
original team with an added cost, and like what has happened here the cheaper traditional road
was taken giving us AGA which while was nice, was a little underwhelming when compared to PC's
of the time.
So it makes you wonder if Commodore had carried on with the same single party development it
started off with which gave us the amazing original machines, would they still be a force today in
modern computing? Apple seem to be doing just fine under the late Steve's regime. Unfortunately
we will never know and unfortunately governments never seem to learn the lessons of the past so
now all I have to look forward to is maybe getting an upgrade to the speed I should already be
getting on my plan while the rest of the world continues to speed away from us again. At least
Amiga floppy discs are only 880k so I should be able to still download them.

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880 Gamer - Now 2013

880 Cover Disc

Are you feeling lucky punk? Are you?

Just the single game this issue, but what

a game it is! The Amiga's fighting past is a
somewhat mixed affair with a lot of games
making big promises but failing to deliver on
speed or looks! Shadow fighter promised it
would right all of these wrongs! So does Team
Naps live up to their promise? Fire it up and
decided for yourself if it is all huff and puff, or
the real deal.

Play as either Josie and the Pussy

cats reject 'Manx', or Street Fighters
Dhalsim's distant Amiga cousin
'Yarando' as you soak up all of that
smooth parallax background
scrolling in Pakistan. Pushing in any
direction while holding fire will
perform a multitude of attacks, and
try for some special moves with a
quarter circle flick of the controller
and punch. Any seasoned fighter
should feel at home instantly with
the controls.
NOTE: Those crazy guys at Team NAPS got mixed up in all of the excitement and
occidentally labelled another magazine in the demo instead of 880 Gamer. Jokers!

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880 Gamer - Oct 2013

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880 Gamer - Nov 2013

Game On!
Your one stop shop for game reviews

Its game review time, so lets get gaming! But first, a few house rules on how
we review games here at 880:

• Games are played in emulation and not on real Amiga's. This is to judge a
game on its own merits and not the limitations of long load times, never
ending disk swaps (I'm looking at you fighting games!) and for all those whiz
bang 3D games that were just never going to run even on the most powerful
machines (COUGH!... Alien Breed 3D 2 COUGH!)
• The release date will be taken into consideration when reviewing since
games advanced in leaps and bounds both graphically and sonically year on
year, but if we think it looks crap we are still going to say it!
• If there are multiple versions available (eg. A500 / A1200) then each will be
compared based on the single review and differences in scores awarded
based on each version.
• All games are played on an evil kitten fuelled PC responsible for the death of
the Amiga, although we lessen the evil by using penguin friendly Ubuntu with
FS-UAE.
• And what about fabulous prizes I hear you ask? How about...

If a game is amazing and is into the 90% plus

range, it is awarded the 880 solid gold floppy disc...
well actually we are a bit cheap around here so its
just gold spray painted plastic, but you get the
idea!

Not all games make the gold class, so we melted

down your mums silverware and created the 880
solid silver disc! If a game gets between the
80%-90% range, its still a fine game worthy of
praise and that's when this award is handed out.

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 880 Gamer - Nov 2013

Game On!
Your one stop shop for game reviews

PAGE 12 – M.I.A. Where are these games?

There are certain games that you will not find reviewed
in 880 Gamer, and some big titles too! So why no love?
We make feeble excuses right here!

PAGE 13 – Shadow Fighter

Played the demo, now read the review! Team NAPS
pulls out all the punches in this hard hitting Amiga
exclusive fighter that aims to prove all the non
believers wrong... the Amiga can do a decent fighter!

PAGE 17 – Overdrive VS Turbo Trax

VS Separated at birth? Blatant copyright trolling? There is

no denying that these two games have more than a
passing similarity! So its time to put them both to the
test and settle the score of who is king of the race
track! Who will take pole position?

PAGE 22 – Typhoon Thompson

Its a little like that movie Water World, but with better
acting and a decent storyline all about a bunch of fish
that steal a baby. Can we save the sea child? Can we
ever forgive that movie?

PAGE 23 - Treasure Trap

We try to make our fortunes as we dive into the depths
of the great ocean in search of riches and fortunes
beyond our wildest dreams, all from the comfort of our
living room!

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880 Gamer - Nov 2013

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 880 Gamer - Nov 2013

M.I.A. Where are they?

There are some games you will never find here.. why?

I really love all Amiga games and it is very rare that there is a game that I do not enjoy in some
way or form, but there are a few games that you will not see reviewed here which many of you may
expect to see since they are such large titles. So why no love?

SWOS
Sensible World Of Soccer is held high as a shining example of great playability and
even today it is still widely played and even re-released on modern consoles. It made Sensible software a
household name within the Amiga community and is cherished by many fans. But I am not a soccer
nutter. I played soccer when I was young along with basketball, but I am far from professional and to
truly get the most out of this game your really need to be a big soccer fan to appreciate all of the finer
details, and that is why I will not review this game as I could never do it justice... that and because my
house would be set alight and burnt to the ground by millions of rampaging SWOS fans if I did!

Turrican series
This is a big one! This acclaimed series has so many fans
not only of its game-play but also its music tracks when
ever I look around on the Internet. It has always scored
highly in reviews and spoken highly of by all that have played
it. I have tried and tried again, but I never got hooked like
everyone else and so for now I will not contemplate writing a
review until I finally give the series another good go and discover
that magic everyone speaks of.

Outrun / Street Fighter 2

Because both of these games are such classics that were ruined so badly on the
Amiga, I will not waste my time playing them again just for the sake of reviewing. These were two great
games that should not be tarnished by sloppy conversions, so do yourself a favour and seek out either
the originals or one of the many better conversions, but please do not ever ask me to ever review them
here at 880 Gamer.

Civilisation
I loved Sid Meier's Railway Tycoon, it is one of my favourite games with many fond
memories playing it. So it would stand to reason that I should also love one of his most successful and
acclaimed games Civilisation as well? Again that magic that hooks everyone else just seems to not catch
me or my imagination and I find myself struggling to get into this game. I will admit sometimes I can be a
little shallow and pretty graphics will always catch my interest first so perhaps some day I will try again
with the AGA version, but until that time I will not impose my shallow first impressions on what many
hold up as an all time classic and a masterpiece.

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880 Gamer - Shadow Fighter - Nov 2013

SHADOW FIGHTER
Lets all admit here and now that fighting
games have not always been the Amigas strongest
genre. There are some real fighting classics on the
Amiga which are great in their own 'Amiga' way, but it
is very rare for any of them to capture that magic of
the true arcade fighter. Enter Shadow Fighter which
wants to challenge this and push the humble Amiga to
its limits to bring us an original and truly arcade style
fighter. So does it succeed?

Starting the game you are presented with a rather

moody and dark introduction which sets up the darker
style of the game nicely giving way to the start screen
with the standard single or two player games, and a
rather neat little practice mode which has you fighting
a puppet character who looks like he is made from
pillows but has a lot of sneaky things hiding inside
from a big circular saw blade to deadly bombs. Its a
little silly but fun and a good practice. You can select
the length of each round, blood on or off (I have it on
of course!) and difficulty. The difficulty level selected
not only increases the challenge and number of fights
to complete the game in single player mode, but also
with each level of difficulty increase it unlocks more
playable characters so if you want to be able to play all
of the characters you need to play on the hardest
level. You will also need to play on medium or hard to
actually fight against the Shadow Fighter himself and
complete the game.

Playing as single player launches like most fighting

games with the 16 fighters up for selection across
different locations from the spinning globe below.
Because this is an Amiga game there is a little loading
when using the original disk version but this is made
more interesting by having the fighters stats
appearing on screen under their image with a nice
spinning VS animation, and level music also pops in
while loading. This makes it a lot more bearable than a
straight loading screen and even swapping between
discs (4 of them) is kept to a minimum. The game was
designed with Amiga in mind and this shows by
minimising disk swaps and loading times where ever
possible. Of course with WHDLoad.... its a lot more
fun!

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 880 Gamer - Shadow Fighter - Nov 2013

With the Amiga a lot of the time you are limited to a single action
button which is used for all moves and this game is no exception so
if this puts you off you might want to steer clear, but if you are
willing to give it a go you will find Shadow Fighter does a really good
job of these limited controls. Pushing in all directions pulls of a very
wide range of moves from uppercuts to leg sweeps, but as with any
truly great fighter the real fun is in the special moves and each
character actually has quite a good selection of specials. This makes
fighting varied and interesting, with no single winning move or easy
way to fight through, and what works well on one opponent might
not be as effective on the next so its a good idea to try and learn
each characters unique moves. One of my personal favourite
characters is Lee Chen who is quick and can pull out some sweet
numchuck moves! Speaking of characters, while some bear some
resemblance to other fighting game characters they are all unique
and quite varied in sizes and abilities giving the game a nice original
feel and not some clone attempt. Fights are challenging, fun and
can be quite fast with nice first hit and other combo scores adding
to the excitement when you get things right. Does it play as well as
other arcade fighters out there like Street Fighter? Well not quite,
but its an extremely good effort with the limitations of the Amiga
hardware and stands tall on its own two feet.

Again graphically team Naps have tried to squeeze everything out

of the Amiga and I have to say they were extremely Ambitious!
There are so many layers of background scrolling both vertically and
horizontally, with 3D effects used on the surface you fight on and
any number of animations also happening in the background from
crowds cheering to trains whizzing past. It is very impressive to see
and all of this happens in silky smooth 50hz even on an A500! There
are some 13 or so locations you fight your way through around the
world from subway stations to wide open mountain ranges and each
has its own theme and differing effects used making them all varied
and interesting. The fighters themselves are really well animated
using many frames of animation while also a good decent size with
some of the larger characters taking up a good portion of the
screen. All of these effects and many frames of animation do have a
trade off and that is the number of colours used for the fighters and
backgrounds which has to be quite low. There is a lot of trickery
going on and some amazing use of the copper to make it look like
there are actually hundreds of colours used even on the A500, but
this can still leave fighters feeling a little flat while some
backgrounds can have areas of dullness contrasted by bright
colourful rainbow effects. There is nothing wrong with this and it
adds to its unique style and look which overall is great, but it can
leave some locations feeling a little bare or flat. The AGA version
(A1200 / CD32) fixes some of these issues with greater use of
colours and is great to see the developer put in the extra effort for
these versions by adding more detail and not just re-colourising
some stuff and is defiantly the pick of the versions, but you are still
in for a treat even on the humble A500.

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880 Gamer - Shadow Fighter - Nov 2013

There is a lot here to please your

ears as well with lots of music
that constantly plays throughout
the game with some nice tunes
for each location that suit their
environments from up beat
techno tunes to mellow flute
music, and there is virtually never
a moment when there is not
some music or sounds flowing
from your speakers keeping the
excitement going. In the options
screen you can select between
music or background SFX which is
neat as this will give you ambient
sounds from the level you are
playing and can make a nice break
from the music if you are getting
tired of it. Fighting sound fx are
always present with either
setting and while they are good I
would have to say they are a little
bit of a let down. You can hear
they had little memory for them
and so each fighters vocabulary is
a limited, but they still squeezed
in some good speech effects and
some nice accompanying special
move sounds. Plus with all of the
music blaring away this is not
really a big issue and overall the
quality is very good.

With very good fighting

mechanics, great visual effects
and pleasing sonics, Shadow
Fighter comes highly
recommended to any arcade
fighter fan. Even with today's
Shadow Fighter (OCS) Shadow Fighter (AGA)
A500 - 1995 A1200 AGA - 1995
modern fighters there is still a lot
of fun to be had here and its style GRAPHICS 85% GRAPHICS 89%
is refreshingly original while also
challenging. SOUND 80% SOUND 80%
GAMEPLAY 95% GAMEPLAY 95%
Even with slightly flat visuals With even more eye candy,
*Note – I was unable to play a CD32 Version
this is all about playability, the AGA version has all the
so no score given here. Expect the same and there is a lot of fun and same great playability with
graphically as the A1200 version, but with challenge to be had here! more shine and polish!
some CD backing music tracks which should
be a nice addition.
SCORE 90% SCORE 93%
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880 Gamer - Overdrive / Turbo Trax - Nov 2013

Perhaps it was a bet down the pub who could make

the best top down racer with the same ideas, or even some
early day Chinese style computer hacking to find out what
the competitor was making... maybe just simply ripping off
some good ideas. Either way there is no getting around the
plain and simple fact that at first glance Turbo Trax and
Overdrive are so similar you would be forgiven for thinking
one was a sequel to the other. Of course, there was some
time between the two games so it is safe to say that the later
of the two Games Turbo Trax drew some inspiration from its
older sibling, but the big question is did they manage to
improve upon the formula used in Overdrive? Lets race on to
find out... O.D. vs T.T.!

Turbo Trax gets off to a clean start! That red car is me.... last.... again

Race One - Graphics

So how similar are they you ask? Well for both games you will
be racing through settings in the Snow, across dusty sand
tracks, through muddy roads, around city tracks and finally
on high speed racing circuits. Racing on these tracks you will
also have a selection of vehicles from buggies and pick ups,
to sports cars and formula racing cars, although game play
wise this differs a little but more on that later. Even the
menu screen has your options appear in the bottom right
corner in a similar fashion. The similarities are quite amazing!
O.D. has a more arcade look using some brighter colours in
its settings while T.T. has a more serious look with duller
colours but giving more detail. Here T.T. definitely looks
better in my opinion with tracks looking less sparse and
simple than O.D. is. Both games have pick-ups littered over
the tracks and T.T. again tries to out do O.D. with some
animated coins and turbo pads, although there is a lot of
grey used and so these start to look a bit dull where O.D. has
brightly coloured yellow coins and other pick ups which make
it feel more arcade style which again I do like.
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 880 Gamer - Overdrive / Turbo Trax - Nov 2013

Its the same, but different.... So what about those amazing gleaming machines of
And here for your viewing pleasure, each of the five speed? Well in T.T. it seems they completely forgot the
same (but for copyright reasons, a little different!) polish and the cars seem dull and flat in colours, while
racing locations. Left are those in Turbo Trax, and on O.D. definitely have much more gleam to them. Given
the right is Over drive. the style of both games they are both well suited with
SNOW! Overdrives snow does look cleaner! their environments, but I cant help but feel T.T. cars
seem less exciting than those in O.D. Probably one of the
most notable things is T.T. uses the full screen overlaying
information over the on screen action, where O.D. uses a
more old school method of a blacked out area at the
base displaying all the details along with a bonus map
which is nice but a bit useless as its hard to watch and
race at the same time. Because of this O.D. feels a little
dated in its approach although it does make it a lot
easier to glance at vital information. Between races T.T.
SAND! - Looks sunny out in Turbo Trax... has some nice images when upgrading your car and
current scores while O.D. has some very flat uninspired
end of race score screens, while teasing some loading
screens that the actual game does not quite match
letting you down when you start the race. Most
importantly though, I am happy to say both have silky
smooth 50fps scrolling which is the most important
thing with the speeds these games get up to.
And the winner of Race one is? Turbo Trax! The use of
full screen, higher detail and some nice animated
MUD! - To much red food colouring in Turbo Trax! pick-ups make the game feel more polished and slick,
although there is no denying I also really like the arcade
style used in Overdrive and if the tracks had more detail
with full screen then this may have been a different
podium position!

Race Two - Sound

Both games open with very pleasant music tracks
accompanying their menu screens setting the mood
nicely for both, but O.D. definitely out does T.T. in the
CIRCUIT! - Feel the need for speed, and sand traps! music department between races as it also has music
during race selections, loading screens, end of race score
and even a little tune when you loose a credit. T.T. is a
good lap behind its rival here! As you play O.D. you will
also notice the beats keep playing in the background as
you race around with your engine revving and some
great arcade style speech as you run over the turbo pads
or spin out on the oil. Its all very arcade style and
exciting to listen to. When you play T.T. the first thing
you will notice is there is some pleasant music playing
STREET! - Remember kids, keep it off the roads! but soon you start wondering where is your engine
sound... or any sounds!? This leaves you feeling a little
disappointed if you have already played O.D., but a quick
option change will have your sound FX blaring which I
feel is better although not as exciting, but having
dedicated SFX only allows T.T. to offer a more in-depth
experience with not only your cars engine blaring away,
but other cars around you can also be heard which
actually fade away as they move further from you.
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880 Gamer - Overdrive / Turbo Trax - Nov 2013
In fact it is possible to tell when a rival is closing in on you as you
hear his engine in the distance before you can even see him
which is a really nice touch, and speaking of engines each type of
car sounds different in T.T. where O.D. all seem to sound the
same. Some neat speech effects finish off T.T. as the man in your
machine screams them out to you in a very excited manner!
So with engine screaming at red-line, overall Overdrive wins this
Race. If it was to be judged solely on the in game SFX then Turbo
Trax would have scored a second win, but with Overdrives use of
music through out every screen you progress through between
races and having that great pumping tunes as you race around to
the sound of you motor, it all makes for a more exciting package
Turbo Trax – Upgrade your pocket rocket!
that avoids moments of complete silence while boosting the fun
factor to ten!

Race Three - Game-play

This is where the two games begin to part ways with T.T. a little
more traditional while O.D. tries to mix things up a little. Lets
look at both games individually.
OVERDRIVE
Overdrive mixes things up between races by letting you choose
which race you want to enter which varies in vehicles, tracks
and opponents with a set entrance fee and difficulty level.
T.T. - Sand... it gets in everywhere! While this makes it a little more interesting to actually see your
opponents faces before each race and makes it more
interactive, it can be a little odd as it mixes different cars with
different tracks so it is possible to end up racing formula cars
on ice tracks or buggies on a racing circuit. Disappointingly it
doesn't seem to matter which type of car you are racing or
what surface you are on as they all tend to feel very much the
same, but what it lacks in variety in this way it makes up in pure
speed!
This game is fast, and it takes a little while to get used to the
high speed at first although thankfully your cars handle
extremely well and each corner is preceded by an arrow so you
can make your way around quite easy without knowing the
track inside out with plenty of turbo pads, booster pick-ups and
O.D. - How do they get that paint to stick to the dirt?
oil slicks to watch out for on each track. Talking of pick-ups you
have to keep a close eye on your fuel gauge as on later tracks
you will not have enough fuel to go the complete race distance
and it is vital to watch out for them or it will be game over and
you will loose a credit. Overall it is quick to pick up and
challenging, but most importantly fun to play and I found
myself quite often coming back for that 'one more go..' which is
always a good sign of a challenging but fun game. If there was
one thing that was a little odd it would have to be there are
only ever three cars on the track for each race including
yourself, so you only ever have two opponents who have very
simple AI making them prone to smacking into you, bouncing
all over the place and sometimes even getting stuck when they
crash off the track. Really good fun would sum up this game.
O.D. - Note the pick axe on the race track... real safe!

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 880 Gamer - Overdrive / Turbo Trax - Nov 2013

Turbo Trax
T.T. matches its cars to its tracks with no mixing up and plays grouped
race events in the same environments like mini events which you have
to accrue a certain amount of points overall to proceed to the
following race groups. I like this as it means you could do not very well
in one race, but claw your way back in points in following races to
manage an overall points win letting you progress instead of an
instant game over. Speed wise it starts a lot slower than Overdrive,
and almost feels sluggish at first but you can upgrade your car with
T.T. Having a red car does not make you faster!
cash collected and won in races to improve speed, turbo, steering etc.
There are double the amount of cars racing with a total of six
including yourself and this makes for a more challenging race to try
and make your way though with a nice touch been your grid position
depends on your performance. Finish 1st and you will start at the
back of the grid to add to the challenge, but winding up last will see
you at pole position in the next race to give you a fighting chance.
Opponents also have better AI and they will actually manoeuvre to
avoid and steer around you. Another neat touch is how your car does
not stay centre as you speed up, the screen will move to show you
more of the road ahead the faster you go making it easier to see
upcoming corners. Tracks are also more interesting with the city O.D. Spinning off again.. on a straight road!
tracks having roundabouts and split roads that allow you to drive over
the curbs but will slow you down so avoiding them is a must. All this
sounds good but unfortunately the difficulty is quite steep right from Overdrive
the start and you can end up feeling deflated and frustrated early on A500 - 1993
when you find yourself getting lapped and coming last constantly. A
few easier races up front to get you really hooked would have made GRAPHICS 81%
for a more fun game. SOUND 85%
So who wins the game-play race? This is a really tough one to answer.
T.T. can be a very good racing game once you get the hang of it but its GAMEPLAY 85%
initial impressions can be somewhat frustrating. It certainly offers a Fast, crazy arcade fun.
much deeper racing experience. O.D. on the other hand is somewhat Did I mention fast?!
simple in its racing but rewards you with a few easier wins initially and Great pick up and play
has a fun arcade racing experience. I am putting this one down to a racing sure to please!
photo finish draw as it really depends on the style of racing game you
are looking for as both offer very strong and fun racing thrills. SCORE 84%
Race Four - The podium
Turbo Trax
So far its dead even between the two, so who will be crowned overall
A500 - 1995
winner? For me it is Turbo Trax! I am sure a lot of you will be throwing
your hands up in disbelief, but I enjoy the detail and challenge that GRAPHICS 91%
comes with Turbo Trax and it is the game I always come back to
despite its frustrations. Overdrive is a great game as well and I SOUND 75%
thoroughly love the arcade racing fun it brings along with its insane GAMEPLAY 88%
speed, but its simplified racing makes it good in turbo charged doses
but not with ongoing teeth gritting challenge. To be perfectly honest, With good looks and
they are both excellent examples of Amiga top down racers and both depth, this is one of
come highly recommended, so do yourself a favour and strap yourself the best top down
in with both games for a burn around their tracks. They both may look racers on the Amiga.
very similar at first glance, but under the hood they are both packing
very different engines that are both fun and brilliant in their own SCORE 90%
individual ways.
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880 Gamer - Nov 2013

Page 21
 880 Gamer - Typhoon Thompson - Nov 2013

T YPHOON T HOMPSON
Typhoon Thompson, 'The Quest for the Sea Child' is an odd little game that I am completely
torn in my opinion. Do I love it? Do I think its just average? One thing for certain is that it 's
unique enough to forever stick in my mind and I always feel something special when I load it up.
Its a very had feeling to describe!

The game is simple. Fly your little hover craft over the
oceans and shoot the varied enemy crafts which their
pilots (little fish like people) then float in the water
once destroyed, allowing you to pick them up as you fly
over. Don't wait to long or they will swim back to their
small base and you will have start again. Capture all of
them on each level and then you can exchange them for
an item in your quest to rescue the child they have
taken hostage. Simple! Each enemies craft has its own
abilities from merely bumping you around, to sucking
up your craft or killing you. In an odd twist, you have lives for your character, and then limited
number of craft, so its possible to not loose a life but loose all of your craft and be game over!

The style is simple and cute with some lovely animated characters.
There are many neat touches including how the short intro animation
where your reluctant 'hero' gets 'shown' to his craft is not always the
same, and has a lot of character in how he expresses himself. The
whole game is played in a 3D style, and can be a little sparse at time
but is effective. Charming is a word that springs to mind.

While there is never a moment when you will not hear something
from your speakers, all the sounds and music are computer
generated style which while having their unique style and suit the
game, but they can feel a little basic and not satisfying when you
destroy something.

There is something special about Typhoon Thompson, it has real character and a real charm, but
after the first couple of levels things just become a little repetitive and its just not as fun as you
wish it to be. Worth having a look at just to experience its uniqueness.

Typhoon Thompson
A500 - 1991

GRAPHICS 70%
SOUND 55%
GAMEPLAY 60%
A cute and charming little
game worth at least a look
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SCORE 65%
880 Gamer - Treasure Trap - Nov 2013

TREASURE TRAP
Even though you have the
option to skip the introduction in
Treasure Trap, I honestly can not
remember once where I actually
have skipped it and gone straight
into the game. Its a simple
introduction where your little man
wearing old style deep diving
equipment is literally hoisted up on
the back of an old paddle steamer
and then dropped into the ocean,
only to have the captain point to exit
stage right leaving you bobbing in Just hanging around again!
the ocean all alone. What makes this
so enjoyable is the accompanying song which is a non stop remix of 'row row your boat', starting
traditional, going techno, then rocking out and finally slowing the beats down building to a
dramatic ending. I know I am here to review the game and not just the song, but even if you don't
like the game you have to check it out just for the music, I just a lot of fun!

Now on to the actual game which

sees your little man from the
introduction now deep in the ocean
inside a giant wrecked ship of steel
from the Titanic era. Essentially it is
an isometric platform puzzle game
that gives you the opportunity to
just go in any direction you want and
explore the ship seeking out the
precious gold that is hidden through
out the ship. Of course its not as
simple as just walking around
picking up gold everywhere, you
have to beware of the many sea
creatures that will kill you if you bump into them, and of course there is always the threat of
running out of that all important life giving oxygen which you can fill back up on from oxygen
tanks also hiding around. As mentioned, it is a puzzle game as well so you have to pick up keys to
open doors, but you can only carry three at a time so you have to be strategic with picking up and
dropping keys. Sliding and pushing platforms around allow you to jump to higher places or
getting a ride on the back of a stingray to get over some other nasties is also needed, and you
need to be strategic in your use of oxygen tanks as picking them up to early is only wasting
valuable oxygen as it bubbles out of your helmet from overfilling. Its best to wait until you are
low on oxygen and then grab a fresh tank. Finally you do have one weapon which you can use
against all of those nasties which comes in the form of a rather psychotic piranha fish that will
eat everything on screen, but again you need to be very strategic when you use this little guy as
you have very limited supply and its best to only use him if you have no other alternative.

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 880 Gamer - Treasure Trap - Nov 2013

While the sounds effects are good, they

certainly feel a little bit of a let down
after the awe inspiring introduction
music. Overall it all sounds a little
empty with just the pitter patter of your
feet and the bubbles rising from your
helmet. There are some nice touches
though like the violent wood chipper
sound your piranha fish makes as he rips
apart other nasties on the screen along
Feeling lucky punk? Well... are you?
with the very heavy metallic grinding
noises the doors make as they slide
open. They all fit into the game very
nicely, but a little more background
noises would have made for more
atmosphere and less empty feeling. It
all looks very pleasant though with
some nice animations and graphical
touches, and while sometimes each
room can be a little lacking in detail
they all look nice and different varying
in size and shape which makes each
room feel fresh and not repetitive. The Map screen
Little animated touches like your spare
man walking inside the glass bulb on
the edge, or the way the melted gold
flows out the pipe as you collect it
makes for a very interesting way of
displaying lives, score and so forth.
There is also a very nifty map that
shows the entire ship and all the rooms
which become visible as you discover
them.

How do I get up there?

Treasure trap is not a fast paced game
and requires a little thought and
strategy when you play it, and you can Treasure Trap
some times feel there is not much point A500 - 1990

to it all as it doesn't have the normal GRAPHICS 73%

clear goal of get from A to B, but it can
be quite an entertaining game once you SOUND 60%
get the hang of it and becomes more
about discovering what lies behind
GAMEPLAY 70%
every door as you try to explore deeper A lot of thought went into
and deeper into the bows of the sunken Treasure Trap, but it can feel
ship. Its not for everyone, but if you are slow and pointless at times.
looking for a slower platform game that Wonderful into though!
requires a bit of thought and a lot of
exploration then you really should give
Treasure Trap a shot.
SCORE 71%

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880 Gamer - Nov 2013

Page 25
 880 Gamer - Bleeding eyes - Nov 2013

Bleeding eyes
Welcome again to bleeding eyes where
some of the greatest coders, artist and
musicians come together to completely melt
your mind with their artistic flare! The effect
can be like like having your brain smashed out by
a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold
brick!
There are three up for review again this issue,
with a couple of real special numbers that really
show what can be achieved with some coding
know how and and eye for flare and design. So
sit back and enjoy that slice of lemon!

ARTE
PAGE 27

DYNAMIC ILLUSIONS
PAGE 28

NEURAL ASSULT
PAGE 29

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880 Gamer - Bleeding eyes - Nov 2013

arte SANITY - 1993 - OCS

Without doubt one of the Amiga's

greatest demo's ever released, Arte is not
fantastic because of its technical
achievements (although there are some
very special and impressive effects here),
but its about the style and art direction
that sets it apart from so many others.
Everything ties in perfectly from the
stylised visuals to the fantastically funky
sound tracks all timed to perfection.
The demo is essentially three parts with the
to main sections comprising of a selection
of impressive effects and artwork, finishing
with the ending which has a wonderful
mellowed out tune winding everything
down nicely.
All the way through everything is tied
together with consistent colour schemes
and style, and its hard to pick which part of
the demo is stand out for me as it is
consistently impressive right from the start
to the end. Soak up the images here, and
then do yourself a favour and fire this piece
of art up to see what I am talking about.
Again youtube will not do this one justice,
so use real hardware or emulation if you
can! Truly amazing!

98%

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 880 Gamer - Bleeding eyes - Nov 2013

Dynamic Illusions QUARTZ – 1992 - OCS

By a complete and unexpected accident, I found myself downloading this title from Quartz
which I had never heard of before so I was a little excited to see what was in store as I fired it up. It
soon become apparent why I had not heard of this demo before, while not shockingly bad, it is
quite uninspired and very unexciting. From the generic demo music that does little to add to the
overall production, the demo consists of a small story that does not really go anywhere leading in
to some scroll texts and effects.
Image quality ranges from average to poor, and there are no effects that make you stand up and
take interest. Everything also does not gel as the music just plays in the background and is not
timed as you have to click the left mouse to progress past some text at times.
Overall there is nothing here that I can recommend for checking out. There is some nice rainbow
effects on the scroll text if thats your kind of thing, but I am afraid thats about it. Yawn...
21%

Page 28
880 Gamer - Bleeding eyes - Nov 2013

Neural Assault RAGE – 1993 – OCS

Opening in a very moody style of

music as the camera zooms through a crowd
in a darkened cinema counting in the start,
this demo gives you a feeling that something
special is about to happen... and for some
parts that's true.
I really like the music in this one as a bleepy
bloopy tune that has a good bit of meat on it
suiting the feel of the production nicely.
Some cool effects mixed with not so exciting
ones keep you interested enough with a cool
introduction zooming into the eye of a
rather evil looking dude! The group had an
obsession with BP at the time making a
number of appearances throughout. A really
cool looking blue swirling effect makes an all
to brief appearance which I would have liked
to seen more of.
But above all that, Darth Vader gate crashes
the demo flying into a space station (BP of
course) to... of all things... use the rest room.
Its completely random but gives the demo a
bit of personality which I like. All is finished
off with a nice ray-traced looping animation
for the credits and more moody music which
suits it perfectly.
Don't come looking for new or amazing
effects (and not for sexy half naked
women... you will see what I mean), but for a
good time with some cool music and Darth
Vader using the rest room, you can't go
wrong!

73%

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880 Gamer - Nov 2013

Page 30
880 Gamer - Cheat - Nov 2013

880 Cheat!
When the going gets tough, the tough go and cheat!

Alien Breed – Tower Assault

This is one bad ass game guaranteed to drive even the hardest of hardcore players to the brink of
madness! So why not throw some of these level codes in to give you the upper hand when dealing
with the scum of the universe....

Want a stack of keys, lives and cash? Enter “EBSSSCAAHAAAAACN” for 7 lives and $255,000!!
Security level 3–-“FCDBMDEASDCAAADM” Security level 3–-“FCCELDAAHDCAAAEK”
Engineering level 1-“FKBDMDEAFDCAAAEB” Science level 3–—“JGCJNDEAPDCAAACS”
Military level 3–-“EPAEMDEBBDCAAAEA” Military level 3–-“IPCBSDADSDCAAACI”
Main tower level 2—“LAAPJDAISDCAAACM” Main tower level 2—“LACJPDADSDCAAACS”
Main tower level 3—“HCAPJDADSDCAAADD” Main tower level 4—“HCBPSLADSDCAAACB”
Stores level 3––“EJDCPDAASDCAAADG” Civilian level 3–-“EEHBNDAASDCAAADK”

Quick the Thunder Rabbit Second

Not mad for carrots? Try these Samurai
passcodes to get through life with Learning the way
out having to go veg.. of the Samurai
takes many years
Enter “SUCOLOKU” to be invincible. of intense training
Level 2 - “SILIRONE” both physically
Level 3 - “FUNETOC” and spiritually!
Level 4 - “URODECOLE” Why not skip all of those intense lessons with these
handy dandy level codes to speed things up!
“3245VQQP” “6XE41KNO”
“GK5MAZUR” “ZFAUA2WA”
“R4FHLOSC” “QYMOSBRS”
“E3B4N3KN” “XYG65MFC”
“34HQORS3” “GQYC3YP5”

Page 31
 880 Gamer - Nov 2013

880 Talk Back

Feel free to drop us a line to abuse or praise....

Hi, usual 'home', although I am in real deal Amiga floppy disks

I've just discovered “880 Shanghai right at this moment and and are the 1.44mb variety.
Gamer” and I like it. Is seems any attempt to access lemon The image was picked purely
is blocked due to spam coming out on its looks and not
it still active? When will of China which is hardly surprising!
be issue 2? authenticity, although a very
Hope you enjoy issue two!
Piotr large proportion of disks I
use on my Amiga are these
Glad to hear you like it Piotr! It took
a while, but here is issue two for Hi there, very disks as you can no
you hot off the press! Due to work I just found out about longer buy the older type,
your Amiga mag, can you but they are still Amiga
and family its going to be a little tell me when the first
random when it pops up, but as issue was released and if formatted and still 880k on
long as people are interested I will you intend to release them so …. oh ok, yes! Your
keep working on new issues. more? right! I will make sure I use
I have advertised it on my authentic disks in future =)
site:
Hi, www.retrovideogamer.co.uk
Got a question : Could you Cheers, Jamie
do an article about music There is some confusion with dates Via “retrovideogamer”
trackers and music related as issue one states it was out in not a bad job at all,
software on the Amiga? May, but that was when I started loved the disk that
Good luck with the coming writing and was not released until a came with it..a great
issues and tissues. of idea of yester-year.
few months later in August. This is But needs to work the
LathspeLL
because of the way I write it out articles some
I love music on the Amiga and I
and cant change things easily (and I proof-reading required,
have also messed around a little in
didn't really notice until after...). I but a very good effort
Protracker back in the day, but none the less for one
have realised that getting these
honestly I am not the guy for this person.
out regular will be hit and miss, so
as I am very devoid of musical Greyfox
you will notice now it is no longer a
talent! I might look at doing a It certainly is a one man show
bi monthly mag, but a completely
special feature about this and its a here, even though I refer to
random month mag!
good idea, but don't expect any in 'we' and 'us' often... must be
Thanks heaps for spreading the
depth tutorials since this is more of something to do with my split
word, I really appreciate it, keep up
a gaming mag... but I am sure there personality! My spelling and
the great work with your web site
is room for something... grammer is far from perfect
which I visited after getting your
and this is one of the reasons I
email.
started this to help improve
Just wanted to say thanks these short comings. I (we) will
for the miggy mag, was a try our utmost to improve in
great read, looking Via website “PPA” and Google
future issues. Thanks!
forward to the next one translate...
Btw, have you been over to Storage may be, just do
Amibay yet? not understand why, if the Remember, if you have
Cheers, Justin name is 880, on the first something to say about
Thanks to you Justin for reading my page and the editorials anything please feel free to
little mag. I have popped over to have floppy 1.44. drop us a quick email at :
Amibay a few times recently after cheers. Robii_k 880Gamer@gmail.com
hearing my mag had been I am glad someone noticed this! Thanks to everyone for your
mentioned there, but Lemon is my Yes, they certainly are not original comments and support!

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880 Gamer - Nov 2013

>>Next Issue
Nowthere is a surprise that even I was unsure would happen... we actually have a
completed issue number two and once again looking towards the following issue! So what
wonders of glory and greatness await in issue three? Brain teasing puzzles? In depth strategy
thinkers? How about some mindless violence....

The scrolly text shout out bit...

I would like to acknowledge the following people / groups / software / sites for making 880 Gamer possible:
Ubuntu – 880 and emulation is run on Ubuntu, along with use of the Ubuntu font used within 880 Gamer
FS-UAE – A big thanks to Frode Solheim and the UAE team for bringing great Amiga emulation to Ubuntu
WHDLoad - Bert Jahn's masterpiece, making disk swap-less dreams come true
The GIMP / Fotowall – All image manipulation powered by the gimp and his full leather suit, with awesome help also from Fotowall!
LibreOffice – 880 is fully written up and saved in PDF using LibreOffice Writer
Lemon Amiga – Thanks for their wonderful website where some information is gathered, even if I am blocked while in China (IP blocked for spam)
EAB – For helping spread the word of 880 Magazine!
ADA – Both to the Amiga Demo Archive site and all of those that keep the scene alive and pumping to this day!
HOL / Amiga Magazine Rack– Some Cover disk ADF files and information gathered from these wonderful sites
The Amiga – An eternal thanks to Jay Miner and the amazing Amiga team that built this great machine
EVERYONE! - A big thanks to you all out there reading and spreading the word, I am truly humbled by your comments and acceptance. Thank you!

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880 Gamer - Nov 2013

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