Project Firestart is a game that deserves so much more recognition than it generally gets for being a pioneer of survival horror - and a damn good one at that.
Published by Electronic Arts and developed by Dynamix (who you may know from their Sierra-published flight sims), Project Firestart made its home on disk-only Commodore 64s in North America in 1989. No loading tunes here, I'm afraid! But what you are treated to instead is a stunning and atmosphere-building cinematic intro that knocked my socks right off the first time I saw it early in 2022. It feels way ahead of its time and even manages to pull off an FMV sequence feel with the use of a digitized pixel head.
Once you're through the intro and its creepy tuneage, the premise is clear: You're taking on the role of Jon Hawking, a seasoned agent working for the United System States. A research vessel orbiting Saturn has suddenly gone radio silent and it's up to you to board the ship, find out what has happened, and recover valuable research data. All within a time limit before the powers-that-be trigger the vessel's self-destruct mechanism. Not super original stuff, but it gets the job done.
The Master of Magic was the first RPG I ever played on the C64 and
whilst it isn’t as hardcore an example of the genre such as titles like
Wizard’s Crown, The Bard’s Tale and Abandoned Places, it is certainly rock hard
and it contains all of the elements and traits of the usual dungeon delve.
From one of the Darling Brothers: Richard, the man that brought us BMX
Simulator, comes an extremely rich text and graphical adventure that is as
challenging as it is engrossing. One of it’s crowning glories is its unique and
innovative interface. The screen is split into four main sections: an overhead moveable
playing map with ‘fog of war’; a localised graphical depiction in glorious
pixel art detail of interactibles you can currently see; a horizontal “choices”
bar; and the standard dialogue box and GUI. Every action you want to carry out
within the game is available via a “pause” menu with a click of the joystick
button.
You know the tune, it dings and blings around in the back of your head as you vainly search for the yellow sweetie, narrowly missing the flung rolling pin of doom. Bubble Bobble on the C64 was fantastic, but not, as I had once believed, as good as I thought it was.
It’s a great conversion – no doubt there - and the C64 really does well with regard to collisions, colours, sprites and speed and there are even the hidden extras in there, but, well… Myself and a friend, fuelled with beer one evening set out, with our limited credits, to fully complete Bub and Bob’s quest. We loved the game, he didn’t mind playing blue and I PON’d for green. We had all night, no distractions, we were fed and watered and I should point out, around 24 years old and the game was nearly 15 years old (if not more) itself – and we’d never, ever done it, so, we shucked off another can and launched our crusade.
I unequivocally adore this game – the arcade, of course, is nigh sheer perfection (depending upon which difficulty level the board is set on…) and at still only 10p per credit, well, you’re mad for not hitting the arcade under the Palace Pier, Brighton every weekend back in the day; or Dusters in Plymouth way back in the 'olden days, but, with my beloved C64 conversion – I found faults…
Well: fault, really.
You see, we played that fateful night, taking turns to leap levels utilising the EXTEND function, umbrellas and more, we failed a few times around the 70s, sometimes earlier with our limited credits (one credit each – no rebuys), but we continued into the morning hours, relentlessly slogging back through the early levels, relentlessly playing Bubble Bobble on my C64, sitting, cross-legged on my old bedroom floor. Adults.
And..: we did it – we survived the hideous space invaders and the ridiculously evil later level design and we found ourselves facing a bloody super-huge rolling pin-thrower on LVL 100. Having never reached this point, it took a few moments to work out what to do and we struggled and muddled our way through the boss pattern until finally – he just disappeared!
We’d done it – we’d got to the top of Bubble Bobble! For the first time in our lives. Ever.
However, this was a short-lived elation, as even though we knew we had really completed the game, we also knew that we now had to fight our way back down the tower, as in the arcade, to get ourselves and our prizes back home again. We glanced sidelong at our lives/credits tally. Not too good.
Thing is, with the C64, that was that – Game Over.
Michael Finnegan.
Simultaneously one of the greatest achievements and absolute disappointments of my entire life. Second only to realising that they aren’t rolling pins – they are whisky bottles.
Join the journey of a lifetime as you help Alice, a girl stranded in the Pleiades star cluster, find her way back to Earth. Scoop asteroids for credits, collect defeated pirates' cargo, and
upgrade your ship with missile locks and a jump drive. Explore six space
stations managed by Alice's sisters to find the remaining ray stones.
Battle Captain Orion in a thrilling showdown and embark on a cosmic
odyssey in "Pleiades 3D," where the power of friendship and courage
knows no bounds.
Mondays aren't always bad, we have some great News today! Three new writers will be joining CommodoreBlog! Please welcome BeardedSonOfNel, Commodorelad and LogrusUKfrom Twitter. Great to have you aboard guys, looking forward to your rambles.
If you would like to join the team as a writer, you can contact us here commodoreblog.twitter@gmail.com
Super Delivery Boy is a new family-friendly platformer game in development for Commodore Amiga made with Scorpion Engine, inspired by the classic japanese platformers from Konami and Hudson Soft. More info and download here: neesogames.itch.io
Maciej Witkowiak has released new firmware for the TIB-001. The TIB-001 is a
3.5" disk drive for the Commodore 64 computer that connects via the
cartridge port.
Plus4Serial is an Open Hardware Serial Port Adapter that plugs into the
Commodore Plus/4 User Port, turning it into a fully-functional RS-232 interface.
Help Ooze navigate through various corridors and laboratories, using
its gravity-reversing powers to overcome obstacles and avoid the robotic
guards in an attempt to escape from this dangerous subterranean
complex. Collect keys and insert them in the computer terminal to gain
access to further areas. Can you escape?
This is a port of the Spectrum version to the Commodore Amiga. Follow the link below for more screen-shots, info and download.
