"Parallax" Re-visited

Parallax

Sensible Software/Ocean, 1986

This month in 1986 saw Sensible's first big title reviewed in Zzap!64, scoring a very respectable 93% overall and receiving a Sizzler.

Over the past few days I've tried to remember where I first saw "Parallax"... I want to say it was at my friend Neil's house, but did he even have a C64?? I know he had a Spectrum and later an Amiga... Maybe it was someone else.. I'm certain that whoever it was owned an actual legit original, on disk no less (I, like most of my friends, was stuck with cassettes). I seem to recall the friend raving about it, loading it up to show me only to watch my rather unimpressed reaction. What was up with that weird title music?!

But at some point I got to spend quality time with it. The title music that I had found weird and annoying quickly became my favourite piece of game music ever, as it remains to this very day. It's incredible. I think it took Galway a whole two weeks to write, which was considered a long time back then. Crazy. Years later I chatted to Martin over email and it sounded like "Parallax" was a turning point for him as he realised he was making music that he enjoyed while kicking back at home, rather than music suited to computer game store displays to attract buyers. Personally I don't think that was a bad thing...

I loved the filmic intro - I don't really think I had seen many examples of that before. And I loved the fact that these Sensible blokes seemed like right characters who liberally sprinkled humour throughout the game (also, was the "Your a real man now!" grammatical error intentional??).

As for the game itself, well, I don't recall ever making it past the first level back then. I found the whole thing quite baffling, and was more than happy to just leave it sitting on the title screen.

Today I set out to rectify that. I knew I wouldn't have the skill or patience to get make a meaningful dent in the game, so I leant on some handy trainers. The funny thing (well, wasn't quite so funny at the time) is that even with trainers it is entirely possible to instantly die and go straight to game over if you make the mistake of trying to progress to the next zone without having shutdown the system first (and there is no indication that I could see that a particular route would lead that way).

The game is hard. Like, really hard. The whole bouncing-your-ship-off-buildings/barriers/etc can quickly make it feel like you're not in control and therefore frustrating. And don't get me started about landing. The system with the scientists and key cards was initially confusing (particularly since the key card dropped by a scientist is random, and not specific to that spot as I would expect) - I should've spent some time up front experimenting with it all. Or maybe read the instructions.

For the final steps of completing the game I admit I had to resort to double checking a youtube video due to it not being clear where to go, with the constant threat of a sudden unexpected game over event hanging over me.

Now, what happened next was astonishing... astonishing as in a bizarrely bad and highly confusing game complete "sequence". I think this may be one of the worst I've ever seen. I literally had to look up whether what I had just seen was the actual end. I get the feeling Sensible just ran out of memory and/or time.

At any rate, 30 years on I've finally completed one of the most memorable games I've played. The game is good and worth checking out, but the music continues to be absolutely stunning - a masterpiece, and the gold standard as far as I'm concerned.

Zzap!64 scored it:

Presentation 94%

Great title screen and many neat in-game features

Graphics 82%

Competent sprites and backdrops with effective parallax scrolling.

Sound 93%

Good FX and jingles, and a weird but wonderful piece of music on the title screen.

Hookability 90%

The instructions need to be read, but it's easy enough to work out what to do without them.

Lastability 93%

Tough, demanding, and very playable.

Value For Money 92%

A worthy buy - if you've got a tenner you can still buy another copy ZZAP! [sic] with the change.

Overall 93%

A neat mix between a shoot em up and an arcade adventure, with a few other things thrown in for good measure.

This month in... Zzap!64 '86

News

An article appeared in the Canberra Times in which a Mr Paul Gathercoal blathered on about the evils of games. Mr Gathercoal firmly believed games were corrupting the minds of children, driving them to lives of robberies, killing and masturbation. He claimed that playing "Franke Goes To Hollywood" would lead to "pill-popping". What utter nonsense.

Gary Liddon had buggered off to Newsfield's new software house, Thalamus, and a call went out to find someone to replace him at Zzap!.

With the PCW show (and Christmas, for that matter) approaching there were a tonne of announcements... which included quite a few which never saw the light of day.

Infocom had released two new adventures: the somewhat lewd "Leather Goddesses of Phobos" and Brian Moriarty's "Trinity". The latter - a game where the player attempted to change the course of history and avert a third world war - was the second game in their "Interactive Fiction Plus" range and required a C128, disk drive and monitor capable of 80 columns (or a 16bit machine).

Gremlin were to demo a bunch of new games at the upcoming PCW Show. In addition to a C64 port of their "cult" Spectrum game, "Jack the Nipper", there was "Future Knight", a follow up to "Way of the Tiger" in the form of"Avenger", a Snooker and Pool sim and footie management sim "Footballer of the Year". Shaun Southern was also bringing his very impressive C16 3D racer "Trailblazer" to the C64. One game that was not going to be ready to show was "Pentacle", which was suffering "technical problems".

Mirrorsoft's PCW stand would feature just two titles: "Raid 2000" and "Strike Force Harrier".

Elite had an impressive line up planned, with no less than five arcade conversions, two sequels and one license tie in. The arcade games making their way to the C64 were: "Paperboy", "1942", "Space Harrier", "Ikari Warriors" and "Buggy Boy". "Airwolf II" and "Commando II" were the sequels, and after an infamous failed attempt (featuring impossibly lush graphics), "Scooby Doo" was finally approaching completion thanks to Gargoyle Games.

Stavros Fasoulas revealed that his followup to "Sanxion" would be another shoot 'em up, and would feature two new music pieces by Rob Hubbard (his most experimental yet), and sound effects by David Whittaker. I assume this was "Delta". Thalamus had signed a "thinking man's shoot em up" called "Starline" from new team Kinetic Designs who had cut their teeth on Compunet demos (the team included none other than Bob Stevenson).

The US Gold stand looked to be packed with a slew of games: arcade conversions "Gauntlet", "Xevious", a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up "Ace of the Aces", three new games from Epyx ("Movie Monster", "World Games" and "Championship Wrestling" ), and a new 10 pin bowling game from the guys that wrote the excellent "Leaderboard" called "10th Frame".

Zzap! apologised to KCS for getting the price and functionality of their Power Cartridge wrong.

It looked like this PCW Show would be a rather tame one as far as System 3 were concerned. They had gained a bit of a notorious reputation for their previous antics, but this year they would be part of Activision's "immense" stand. They would be showing "Bangkok Knights" and "The Last Ninja". Mark Cale teased a couple of games that weren't quite ready to be demoed: one referred to as "Dominator - The Legend Begins" (apparently "not just a computer game"), while the other was a fist fighting game called "Knuckles".

After about a year in development, Virgin's "Dan Dare" was done. The review copy narrowly missed the deadline, but Zzap! said it was worth the wait.

Zoomsoft were to be showing three new titles from First Star: "Montezuma’s Revenge", "Boulderdash Construction Set" and "Spy vs Spy III".

Imagine and Ocean had a whole load of games to show off. Unsurprisingly there were a number of film and TV tie ins: "Street Hawk" (yes, it was finally complete - well, that's what Ocean said, but that would turn out to be cobblers), "Highlander", "Cobra", "Top Gun", "Short Circuit" and "It’s a Knockout" (?!). There were some coin op conversions too: "Mag Max", "Mikie", "Yie Ar Kung Fu II", "Hyper Rally" and "Terra Cresta". It wasn't all licenses and arcade ports though, with "The Great Escape", "Galvan" and "NOMAD".

Dire Spectrum surfing simulation "Surf Champ" - which came with a crappy plastic "surf board" that fit over a small section of the keyboard for controls - was being ported to the C64.

"Pub Games" from Alligata was a collection of eight "pub events" including bar billiards, table footy, dominoes and a couple of card games.

Domark's "Trivial Pursuit" and "Gladiator" were both finished and would be released any day now.

Durell had four new games on the way: "Chain Reaction", "The Vikings" (unreleased?), "Sigma Seven" and a sequel to the excellent "Saboteur", "Saboteur II - Avenging Angel".

"Flash Gordon" from Mastertronic was due out in time for Christmas and would feature "many types of game" and a cracking Rob Hubbard soundtrack.

Andrew Braybrook's "Alleykat" was complete but narrowly missed out on making it into this issue.

Martech's PCW show stand would feature: "WAR", "Uchi Mata", "Cosmic Shock Absorber", "Nimitz", "Catch 23" and "SDI" (perhaps this one became"Armageddon Man"?).

Orpheus were to be showing a couple of their own games, "Web" and "The First Starfighter", but rather intriguingly they were also promising conversions from Nintendo's new console... "Super Mario Brothers" on the 64?? (it was not to be)

The stunning arcade game "Marble Madness" was making its way to home computers thanks to Electronic Arts and Ariolasoft. There was also a sequel to "Scarabaeus" in the works by Andromeda imaginatively called "Scarabaeus II".

The rather brilliant looking "Sacred Armour of Antiriad" by Palace Software was almost ready.

Features

An interview with Greg Barnett who had worked on some of Melbourne House's biggest games, including "The Hobbit" and "Way of the Exploding Fist". "Fist II" was in development and Greg was cocky talking it up while pouring scorn on British developers. Andrew Braybrook was "professionally competent" ("Uridium" "only uses 40 to 50 percent of the 64's capabilities", didn't you know), Rob Hubbard was "very popular but I can't understand why", etc. Quite an odd attitude to take.

Notable Reviews

• "Beyond the Forbidden Forest" Cosmi/US Gold - 91% Sizzler "This must be one of the best games I have ever played. The atmosphere created by the parallax scrolling, the gradual change between day and night, and the haunting music make this latest gem more an experience than a game."
• "Druid" Firebird - 88% "A great two player game and a real 'fix' for Gauntlet junkies."
• "Powerplay" Arcana - 95% Sizzler "This is what a computer trivia game should be - fast, uncluttered, action packed and with a clear objective."
• "Parallax" Sensible Software/Ocean - 93% Sizzler "A neat mix between a shoot em up and an arcade adventure, with a few other things thrown in for good measure." The title music is - in my opinion - the finest piece of game music ever.
• "Hacker II" Activision - 88% "A very clever sequel, but as with all sequels, the magic has faded."
• "Iridis Alpha" Jeff Minter/Llamasoft/Hewson - 95% Sizzler "Another stunning and innovative Minter release which earns itself the position of the best shoot em up on the 64 to date."
• "Equinox" Mikro-Gen - 83% "A great game for arcade adventurers and shoot em up fanatics alike."
• "Super Cycle" Epyx/US Gold - 95% Sizzler "Epyx have excelled themselves and come up with the most addictive and exhilarating race game yet; I was surprised to find that even Pitstop II is considerably slower in comparison!"
• "Collapse" Firebird - 85% "The cheapest arcade puzzle available and definitely one of the best."

Charts

Games

1. "Ghost’s'Goblins" Elite
2. "International Karate" Archer Maclean/System 3
3. "Leader Board" Access/US Gold

This month in... Zzap!64

News

More staffing changes at the magazine this month. Roger Kean was moving over to a new Newsfield mag called L.M., with Gary Penn stepping in to the Editor role. There were three new faces with Richard "Dick" Eddy, Jonathan Rignall (Julian's younger brother) and Massimo Valducci starting.

Beyond announced the upcoming release of not one but two Denton Design games: "Dante’s Inferno" and "Infodroid".

Meanwhile, Beyond had managed to secure the first ever Star Trek license. Mike Singleton would be heading up the project, with two of Denton Designs's founders (Kenny Everett and Steve Cain) helping out with the programming.

Robtek were to release their first game - well, 50 games - in a 50 game compilation on cartridge called "King Size 50 Games in One Pack".

Compunet's Tim & Stoat, who had created the famous Thrust Concert demo, were working on "WAR", a "Uridium"-esque game with Rob Hubbard music.

"Druid" from Firebird would be a "Gauntlet" style game.

Ariolasot's "Swag" would see the player take the role of a robber planning and executing heists. They also announced "Deactivators".

Mikro-Gen's well received Amstrad game "Equinox" was making its way to the C64. The software house was also working on "Frostbite".

The first screen shot of Stavros Fasoulas' "Sanxion" appeared and was the eagerly awaited debut title for Newsfield spin off Thalamus.

Andrew Braybrook revealed that his next game would be a super fast vertically scrolling racing game: "Alleykat".

Domark snapped up the home computer rights to "Trivial Pursuit".

Features

Gary Penn looked at a whopping fourteen new games by American software houses that were making their way to the UK via US Gold. The list included five titles from Epyx, and four arcade conversions.

The conclusion of Jeff Minter's developer diary saw him putting the final touches on "Iridis Alpha". These included "Phase II" (a vertical scrolling section), high score table (the names being other Compunet folk), title screen and final debugging. Once it was all wrapped up he was off to Corfu for a break.

A rather odd interview with Chris Butler, who had programmed a number of big games for Elite. He was really quite arrogant and talked down other programmers, while openly saying he was just in it for the money.

ZzapBack this month covered:

• "Monty on the Run" Gremlin
• "Racing Destruction Set" Ariolasoft
• "Pinball Construction Set" Ariolasoft
• "Nodes of Yesod" Odin
• "Barry McGuigan’s World Championship Boxing" Activision
• "Spy vs Spy II" Beyond/First Star

Notable Previews

• "Uchi Mata" Martech

Notable Reviews

• "Arac" Addictive Games - 93% Sizzler "A neat arcade adventure with many unusual touches."
• "Ghosts ’n’ Goblins" Elite - 97% Gold Medal "After playing the arcade game at the local fair I've been waiting for this with baited nostrils. When it finally arrived I was amazed, it's absolute perfection! In fact, if it was a female I'd ask it back to my place!"
• "Trap" Alligata - 82% "A good shoot em up with many attractive features."
• "Mission Elevator" Micropool - 84% "A great Elevator Action orientated arcade adventure."
• "Knight Games" English Software - 90% Sizzler "Plenty of variety, clanking and bashing - don't miss it!"
• "Mercenary: The Second City" Novagen - 95% Sizzler "Magnificent! Using all the original aspects of Mercenary Paul Woakes has come up with one of the most devious and addictive programs I've played in a long time."
• "Warhawk" Firebird - 80% "One of the better shoot em ups on the 64 - one of the cheapest, too."
• "Graphic Adventure Creator" Incentive - Gold Medal (no score) "GAC sells at a price that can hardly be called cheap [£23.95]. However, all things are relative. When you compare this to the competition both in terms of price and performance, it comes out way top."
• "The Boggit" Delta4/CRL - 80% "It's a great game and even if Delta 4's development system had cost them a thousand times less than Ocean's, their game ends up being better value at only a couple of pounds cheaper." (The first review in the adventure section was Ocean's "Hunchback" which got 60%)
• "Jewels of Darkness" Level 9/Rainbird - 92% Sizzler "This is the best bargain currently available for adventurers, and unless you can't bear the thought of going underground you just have to get out into the shops and spend your £14.95. Nuff said."
• "Split Personalities" Domark - 93% Sizzler "Quite simply one of the best arcade puzzles on the Commodore."
• "Mission AD" Firebird - 80% "Overpriced [£9.95] for what it offers... but if the thought of terminating criminals appeals then you may well find it compelling."
• "Hercules" Alpha/Omega - 92% "Believe it or not Hercules is a great game. The action is fast and furious - in fact I don't think there's a more frenetic and addictive platform game available. It looks abysmal and the sound is even worse. But the game itself is brilliant."

Charts

Games

1. "Uridium" Andrew Braybrook/Hewson
2. "Mercenary" Novagen
3. "International Karate" Archer Maclean/System 3

This month in... Zzap!64

News

Gary Liddon was leaving Zzap! to join Newsfield's new software house, Thalamus, as Technical Executive. The company was headed by ex-Activision Press Officer Andrew Wright. The first game was due to be released in September on the C64 and Spectrum, with an Amstrad version following.

Gremlin were readying four new titles in time for Christmas: "Pentacle" (unreleased?), "Future Knight", "Bounder II" and "Trailblazer".

Arkana's BBC game "Powerplay" was heading to the C64.

It turned out that two images shown in the Art Gallery in issue 15 by "Chris" were taken from Audiogenic's Koala Touch tablet.

Microclassic's "Ultra Games" would feature 9 events, but rather than the usual sporting theme it would have Target Shoot Out, Urban Hellchase, Cyberball 2000, Pinball Wizard, Dawn Raid, Mind Twister, Tripple [sic] Draw Poker, Into the Abyss and Space Pool. Doesn't appear to have been released.

Activision's next releases would be: "Hacker II", "Two-On-Two Basketball", "Golf" (a C128 only game - unreleased?), "Portal" and "Big Trouble in Little China".

US Gold were bringing five coin op games to home computers, one of which was the hotly anticipated "Gauntlet". They were also to release five Epyx games in the UK: "Super Cycle", "World Games", "Movie Monster", "Destroyer" and an unnamed wrestling simulation.

Features

Zzap! visited Salute '86, a wargaming convention held in South London.

Zzap! gathered four of the top C64 musicians for a chat. Rob Hubbard, Ben Daglish and Tony Crowther (WeMUSIC) and David Whittaker were all present.

Jeff Minter's developer diary of "Iridis Alpha" continued, and this month featured details about ACONT (an instruction interpreter for his "wave language"), GENESYS (which was responsible for passing data to ACONT), his time at the recent Commodore show (where he did some "serious partying"), and his progress on the CORE section of the game.

This month's Zzapback featured games from September '85: "Hyper Sports", "Summer Games II", "Frankie Goes to Hollywood", "Skyfox", "Finders Keepers" and "Rescue on Fractalus".

Notable Reviews

• "Green Beret" Imagine - 93% Sizzler "Makes Rambo and Commando feel like a Sunday stroll throw the park."
• "Tau Ceti" Pete Cooke/CRL - 93% Sizzler "A brilliant and polished program that will appeal to strategenarians, adventurists, arcade zappers and just about any self-respecting Commodore owner."
• "Murder on the Mississippi" Activision - 89% "Novel approach to an interactive murder novel. Agatha Christie would be proud."
• "Superstar Ping Pong" US Gold - 85% "A great and addictive sports simulation."
• "Kik Start II" Mastertronic - C128 version 96% Sizzler "The original Commodore 64 version of Kik Start is extremely playable and is one of my all-time favourite games. The 128 version is even better though, and is hellishly addictive."
• "Time Trax" Mind Games/Argus Press - 80% "One of the more interesting (if demanding) arcade adventures to have appeared recently. But patience is a virtue."
• "Infiltrator" Mindscape/US Gold - 92% Sizzler "An unusual, but impressive approach to an arcade adventure."

Charts

Games

1. "Uridium" Andrew Braybrook/Hewson
2. "Paradroid" Andrew Braybrook/Hewson
3. "Mercenary" Novagen