I remember the Zzap! 64 review giving the game a Silver Medal (as they did for budget games at the time) - indeed the game has a different front cover with mention of the Silver Medal. That probably encouraged people to buy it. I must admit all the faults you've pointed out were similar to mine - no indicator of how much ammo you have, wasting of keys, and the way that the enemies spawn on some screens so you can't avoid them and lose energy (bear in mind you only have one life). There is a good game in there and with a bit more polish, it would have deserved such a high rating.
There's a similar letter arrangement puzzle in Ranarama when you fight the warlocks. I do like Joe Blade, but the map is a little tricky to navigate without any obvious landmarks.
I was far too dumb to deal with those bomb puzzles when I had this game on my Spectrum. Always looked like a good game, but never got anywhere with it.
I remember seeing this knocking about back in the day, but I never played it. From what I've seen on here though, it doesn't look like I missed much! 🤣 Yeah, being soft-locked so you can't leave certain areas, entering a new room on top of enemies that immediately drain your health and keys that open to dead ends are bad game design flaws, even at budget price. It's a shame though as this could've been a decent little "Rogue-like", what with the randomised items and locations.
Gary Biasillo also did the excellent music for Target Renegade.
..and also Slayer and the music for Steel.
@@rwxdesigns Also great music but TR is one of my favorite soundtracks on the C64 period.
I remember buying this but I had to return it to the shop as it wouldn't load. I jumped to watch this video to see what I missed out on back in 1988 😅
I don't think you missed much tbh!
I think I played Joe Blade, which is a very similar thing. Endless exploration and identical looking rooms. A nice idea but flawed.
I remember the Zzap! 64 review giving the game a Silver Medal (as they did for budget games at the time) - indeed the game has a different front cover with mention of the Silver Medal. That probably encouraged people to buy it. I must admit all the faults you've pointed out were similar to mine - no indicator of how much ammo you have, wasting of keys, and the way that the enemies spawn on some screens so you can't avoid them and lose energy (bear in mind you only have one life). There is a good game in there and with a bit more polish, it would have deserved such a high rating.
It definitely didn't deserve a Silver Medal! 😂
There's a similar letter arrangement puzzle in Ranarama when you fight the warlocks. I do like Joe Blade, but the map is a little tricky to navigate without any obvious landmarks.
It's not awful, but its not really good either. Classic budget fodder I guess.
had this for the Atari ST
I was far too dumb to deal with those bomb puzzles when I had this game on my Spectrum. Always looked like a good game, but never got anywhere with it.
I think I'm still too dumb now, at least with the time pressure it puts on you!
I remember seeing this knocking about back in the day, but I never played it. From what I've seen on here though, it doesn't look like I missed much! 🤣
Yeah, being soft-locked so you can't leave certain areas, entering a new room on top of enemies that immediately drain your health and keys that open to dead ends are bad game design flaws, even at budget price. It's a shame though as this could've been a decent little "Rogue-like", what with the randomised items and locations.
Agreed, it could have been a lot better with a bit more playtesting and thought. You definitely didn't miss anything 🙂
I know the name, never played it. Got it confused with Bazooka Bill in my head I think.
It does have a similar look to Bazooka Bill 🙂
There was a few Sequels to Joe Blade but they were not very good!.
I've played the second one, and yeah, it's probably worse than this.
I liked Joe blade 2 but not this one.