Category Archives: Gadgets & Electronics

Buying a Car?

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1 in 4 used cars* are revealed to have finance owing against them, making it the biggest risk to used car buyers today. Now shoppers can avoid the danger with the help of a new vehicle history check service which includes finance data – carstatuscheck.co.uk.

Following on from the successful launch of the Car Status Check app on iTunes and Google Play, vehicle information experts HPI have now launched the service online, which provides three levels of protection, allowing used car buyers to choose the level of protection they need, at a price to suit them.

To get an instant picture of a vehicle’s past; users simply tap in the vehicle registration number (VRM) at carstatuscheck.co.uk to immediately get basic details, such as vehicle make, model and year of manufacture for free. The user then decides how much information they want to buy on their next used vehicle.

Buyers can purchase the ultimate peace of mind with the Platinum Car Status Check for just £9.99, which provides a full history of the vehicle, including if it has been stolen, declared a write-off by an insurer or has outstanding finance registered against it. In addition to this data, the Platinum check is supported with a Guarantee of £10,000 should any data be inaccurate or incomplete.

For those who want the full picture of a vehicle’s history without the Guarantee, the Gold level check is offered for £7.99, which provides a full history check and includes a finance check as part of the service. “We recognise that more cars than ever are bought on credit. If shoppers buy a car that they later find out is on outstanding finance, they stand to lose both the vehicle and the money they have paid for it,” comments a spokesperson from Car Status Check. “This is because the finance company may be the legal owner and have the right to reclaim it.”

Finally, for used car buyers who need to count every penny, but still want an idea of a vehicle’s history the Silver level Car Status Check is offered for £4.99, which provides vital information, including if a car is currently recorded by the police as being stolen, has been written-off by an insurer or it is at risk of being sold illegally.

All Car Status Check customers receive a report for them to download and keep for reference. This confirms if the car is ‘clear’ or not, and includes a CO2 Certificate giving emission ratings, fuel and Vehicle Excise Duty costs.

The spokesperson concludes, “The Car Status Check provides history check information for people on the move. Consumers are offered a choice on the level of vehicle data they need, with price points to match. Knowing the full history of a vehicle is crucial when buying a car, and with all the information available in just 90 seconds – used car buyers are a just a click away from potentially saving themselves from an expensive mistake.”

Should You Read That Text?

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New phone app protects people’s moods

Computer scientists have developed the world’s first mobile phone app which automatically colour codes messages so people know before reading them if they’re likely to make you feel good or bad.

The development, for Android phones, could mean the end of people being surprised by an angry or hostile message, whether it’s from Twitter, Facebook or text.

It would also allow smart phone users to prepare for bad news and allocate time to receive it.

Master’s student Lorraine Chambers and her supervisor, senior lecturer Mohamed Gaber, both at the University of Portsmouth’s School of Computing, will present their breakthrough at a conference in Spain in September.

Dr Gaber said: “We are increasingly sending and receiving information via messages on mobile phones. The rate of growth in this area has never been witnessed – everything from Twitter streams and Facebook messages to direct text messages are coming straight at us all the time on our handheld devices.

“This information has an immense power, whether we are reading a worrying social media news story or a warning email from our manager, messages can upset mood and increase stress level, just as good news and encouraging emails can cheer you up.

“The ultimate objective of this application is to make the user aware of the negative contents they receive so they are able to manage their stress in the best possible way. For example, if most of what is received from social media websites by a user on a particular day was negative, it is important that the user attempts to take an action in order to not get stressed, especially if this may affect the individual’s performance at work and/or their behaviour at home.”

The app works by automatically colour coding incoming messages as green for positive, red for negative and blue for neutral so a user can see before opening any message whether it is likely to be worrying or encouraging.

The Portsmouth researchers were inspired to research and develop the app after a visit by their colleague Mykola Pechenizkiy at the Eindhoven University of Technology, in the Netherlands, who had developed a similar capability for emails on desktop computers, together with his Masters student Erik Tromp. Mykola and Eric have worked with the Portsmouth researchers, Lorraine and Mohamed using state-of-the-art technology for sentiment analysis to classify ‘on the fly’ any textual input received on the user’s handheld device.

The researchers tested the technology on a range of Android mobile phones and find it works faultlessly no matter what each phone’s computational power and memory were. The researchers are working on ways to make it freely accessible via Android Marketplace.

If there’s sufficient demand, it will be made available to users of iPhones and iPads.

The results of the project are reported in a research paper that has been accepted for presentation at 16th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, to be held in San Sebastian, Spain.

The Amazing Spider-man Game Review

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Whilst The Amazing Spider-man Video Game may lack the all out ‘spit and polish’ of some premium titles it does bring something new to movie-game tie-ins of late; it is genuinely fun and exciting to play, is full of features and successfully regenerates the Spider-man franchise under software developer Beenox.

Excuse the pun but Spider-Man’s web franchise has been a bit of a sticky web in terms of quality and variety over the past number of years. When it has been good it has been great, but let’s face it when it has been bad, it has been crap. Beenox have been in-charge of the franchise since the highly acclaimed Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, a game that really showed what could be achieved when game’s developers who love the material actually put their minds into bringing the concept to life and who are willing to put in blood, sweat and tears so that new ideas become reality and that these ideas work well. It was for these reasons amongst others that Shattered Dimensions was so well received. Tragically though, the follow up – Edge of Time saw Beenox dropping the ball somewhat almost spectacularly by condemning our beloved wall crawler to confined spaces, changing the control system so that it was tricky to play and having a ho-hum storyline that did little to engage players.

Listening to the critics of Edge of Time and looking at the efforts put into what some would say the ‘all too soon’ reboot of the Spider-man franchise Beenox knew they had to up their game. Mentality wise, they had to approach this just like Marvel Studios were going to approach the movie – it was going to be a one shot gun; they knew they were either going to re-energise the title or kill it. Restore the hope to millions of spidey fans, or destroy it.

Games that successfully manage to re-create the magic of comic books and movies is no mean feat; superhero games especially have a hard time translating the mass of abilities with ease of control. With the exception of Rocksteady and their Batman franchise there are few others that actually do it well. Thankfully though, Beenox fulfilled what some would say is a tall order The Amazing Spiderman plays very well indeed, in places it is incredibly cinematic and having it linked so closely to a movie which is heavily anticipated does it no harm at all.

The story in The Amazing Spider-Man the video game takes place some months after where the movie ended. After the Dr. Connors’ incident, Oscorp Industries went on to create an army of robots that maintain peace inNew York, scanning and attacking infected life forms. Unfortunately Oscorp also continued Connors’ research into cross-species and in one of the opening stages these potentially walking infectious diseases attack and infect Parker’s high school sweetheart: Gwen Stacey and escape intoManhattan, infecting innocents on the way. This leaves Spider-Man with no choice but to break Connors out of prison and work together with him to come up with an antidote to cure the infection in the city and save his girlfriend Gwen.

Set in a free-roaming open-world you will protect innocents of the city, battle with the infected, come across and battle super villains, tackle muggers and other perps of criminal activity all with the ability to explore and swing to your heart’s content.

The mechanic feels great and both looks and works tremendously well. Out in the city whilst you are web-slinging the camera moves in nice and close, and there is this immense feeling of motion, propulsion, gravity, speed and not to mention impressive grace. Swinging through the city you can swing really low between traffic like the movie, you can also free fall and swing at the last second. If you have seen any of the previous Spider-Man movies, you’ll experience that same feeling Peter Parker did the first time he mastered his new abilities. Sometimes in the game you even hear the character whoop with excitement as he enjoys the rush of flying through the air. This helps bring the game to life and I thought a nice touch by the developers who obviously had the master of movement as one of their core angles for this title. It is something perhaps I might not get tired of for a while and in my view makes up for any lack of online multi-play which could have further benefitted this game.

Combat wise this title doesn’t disappoint either. Spidey can confront enemies head on or attack from the shadows. Much has been borrowed from the control method of the Arkham series of Batman games; a single button to initiate and carry out a combo which builds your combo meter with every successful hit, and when the spider-sense goes off around Spider-Man’s head, you know someone is about to attack you so you tap the reversal button to stylishly take them out.

I’ve heard some reviewers complain that it is ‘too borrowed’ from Batman (including the degradable suit) but how can you realistically complain when a formula works so well. It makes it easy to look like a superhero when you skillfully drop down above an unsuspecting enemy, web them into a cocoon and propel them to the ceiling. If you don’t fancy going down the stealth route then you can take them on one by one or in a group with webs and signature moves galore which can be upgraded. Very nice indeed.

New to this Spider-man game is the inclusion of Web Rush. By holding a shoulder button, time slows down and you go into Spider-man’s ‘eyes’ where you can look at and select locations you desire to zip-line to, interact with or attack. It’s an elegant way to get Spider-Man around quickly and in a room full of enemies it allows you to quickly see objects you can use to your advantage.

Of course, there are some areas in which this title falls short of the mark and whilst they are not in my opinion deal breakers (because they are common issues found in most open world games) they do detract from what would otherwise be a quality title. Firstly, whilst the model for Spider-Man is exceptional, there are ten times as many average looking character models in the game. So many people just look the same bar a few palette changes here and there and many sound the same or say the same things. This equally goes for many of the adventures you have around the city. The first time you stop a robbery and hear Spidey deliver a cool line like ‘Stay frosty’ you are going to be excited and the second time and the third but by the time you take out your 15th armed robber who looks or sounds the same or has stolen exactly the same car, stopping robberies wont be high on your agenda. There’s a lot to do in the life of Spider-man but be prepared to repeat these missions over and over again; you’ll hear the same one-liners from Spidey and help the same police officer over and over again. That’s one of the things I think LA Noire got right; each of the side missions were individual crimes in their own right. This is an area for improvement for any future titles. Secondly, Spider-man falls foul of another typical issue of open world titles which is of graphical dexterity. Some of the surfaces especially those which are indoor just lack that spit and polish and look gaudy up close. I found this more noticeable on the Xbox version than on the PlayStation 3 but really, should it be there at all? There are also some niggling camera issues especially when you are in combat or adopting a stealth approach to attacking enemies. Sometimes you’ll find yourself backed into a corner that brings almost certain death and inevitably, some frustration.

On the PlayStation 3 you can play with the PlayStation Move. Now before you get images of two motion controllers in your hands flicking your webs acrossManhattan, think again. You hold a navigation controller or regular controller in your left hand and then the PlayStation Move controller in the right.

Basically, the Move puts a cursor on the screen and gives you a more accurate way to Web Rush or fire webbing. That is, rather than cycling through your options with the right analogue stick you can now just point. Flicking the Move also does an immediate Web Retreat. Whilst it works o.k. and has some novelty value I found it by no means a necessity. I played through the game with normal controls and never actually felt like more precise aiming would greatly help me or make the game any easier; in fact using the move controller just made my arm tired for all the wrong reasons.

The Verdict

With stunning visuals, decent enough storyline and lets not forget incredible web-slinging, Spider-man might not be the best game but is probably one of the best movie tie-ins of late. Fair play some of the missions get repetitive and some of the graphics are rough around the edges but The Amazing Spider-Man is still fun to play and gets me really excited when I think about the movie release next week.

8.5 / 10

Apple Bring Out New Macbook Line

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Apple are bringing out a new range of Macbook computers months before competing devices with Microsoft come out.

Apple have added faster chips and sharper displays. The thinner, lighter Macbook Pro computers have high definition screens. The Macbook Pro will have seven hours of battery life and up to 768 gigabytes of flash memory.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook revealed the new range at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, which began today. Apple also announced a new version of it’s mobile software iOS 6, which includes new features for the voice-activated Siri service.

Last year’s event was hosted by Steve Jobs before he died in October. Jobs introduced Apple’s iCloud service.

This conference, which lasts from June 11-15, will allow CEO Tim Cook to reveal his vision for Apple.

Max Payne 3 Game Review

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What would you do if you came home one day to find your beloved family murdered by a bunch of psychos? Become a manic depressant? Turn to drink? Drugs? Not rest until you had hunted the scumbags down and wiped them off the face of the planet? Well, Max Payne did all of the above. Now, after a lengthy nine-year hiatus and with the franchise firmly in the hands of Rockstar Games – proprietor of titles such as Red Dead Redemption, the Grand Theft Auto series and LA Noire, – Max Payne is back, gulping painkillers down like no tomorrow and killing his foes softly and…erm, not to mention slowly. But has the wait been worth it?

Rockstar Games have built a solid reputation in creating games of high calibre. Just look at their back catalogue. They don’t release a game without it being tested to extinction, they flourish in building deep storyline arcs and cinematic traits in all their titles, and in nearly all their games, they invest highly in intricate details. Plus, they’re unafraid of raw violence. Max Payne 3 might not rank as their best title to date – let’s just get that out of the way – but let’s also be clear, it doesn’t fall too wide of the mark.

The quality in Max Payne 3 shows from the moment you load up the disc. Faithful to the original game, it starts at the end and rewinds to the beginning. Strong cinematics give you a taste of what his world has become introducing you to some of the main characters with real vigour and energy. Max is now a reluctant bodyguard charged with looking after a millionaire’s family who like to live fast, and die young.

The in game graphics are superb

Looking at the screen as the sequences unfold, you can’t help but take pleasure in the quality of the animation and Rockstar’s trademark dialogue. If you enjoy movies, you’ll find it draws parallels with movies of its genre – the chromatic aberrations and the dialogue between characters where key words appear on screen – there are flavours here of ‘Man on Fire’, ‘Miami Vice’,  ‘Wanted’. ‘Domino’ and ‘Lethal Weapon’. Oh, and not forgetting ‘The Matrix’.

A shootout in a nightclub demonstrates all that’s good about bullet-time – moving from cover to cover in slow motion, flying through the air delivering headshot after headshot to save a woman from being kidnapped,  shooting a vehicle’s tyres so it has to stop or taking out foes while you dangle helplessly from a helicopter. It’s scenes like this that make you semi-orgasmic and pleased you bought this title.

Max Payne is simply a badass with badass guns and badass quips, even when he takes painkillers to restore his health. Having lost everyone he cared about in his life, he really couldn’t care less and is ‘damaged goods’ with inner demons – a reluctant hero who would be happier doing other things.

As the storyline develops, it is hard not to be engaged with Max and the struggle he gets drawn into. And wow! What a struggle he has on his hands…or rather, you have. Max Payne 3 will prove to be one tough game for some players and some levels especially can be hugely frustrating. Enemies are just so numerous and hard to kill, leg shots won’t do it, chest shots won’t always do it and if they have head gear expect to expend a whole clip. Even when enemies go down, they will fire a last few rounds to take you down with them. Now, some will argue that my criticism is unfair, after all, a game where enemies fall to the ground like dominoes would quickly become boring and let’s be honest, Max Payne himself only needs a handful of painkillers to restore his entire health. However, when some guy you have shot point-blank in the chest gets up a few seconds later and comes running at you, and delivers a head shot that means you have to restart, excuse the pun, but it is a tough pill to swallow.

It’s flaws like this that start to creep in, and the longer you play, the more apparent they become. Painkillers are few and far between and the checkpoints are unevenly and unforgivingly spread which means if you die, you will often have to redo entire sections again, and with the game as challenging as it is you can expect to die more than once.

Because of this, frustration quickly sets in. I think the programmers realised this because if you die in a section too many times the game will restart you with extra painkillers. It’s a weird compensation, especially thinking you may have to die a good number of times to get it. The steep difficulty curve also means that to survive you are forced to engage bullet-time more often and then entire stages just become a repetitive matter of slowing things down and holding out long enough behind cover.

It’s also a shame too, that unlike the original game, Rockstar did not build in some kind of bullet-time reward system so that you could increase the length of time you could enter slo-mo. I can’t help thinking it was a bit of a missed opportunity. However, if you do manage to stick with it ,you are rewarded with a dark and deep storyline full of betrayal and deceit, not to mention some of incredible set pieces.

In multiplayer, Max Payne 3 delivers excellently too. At first you’re limited to straight death-match and team death-match modes and it all feels slow and a little second-rate, but prolonged play provides benefits.

Bullet-time makes all the difference, with its use balanced by the same post-slow-mo movement issues as in the single-player game, and by the fact that it also affects line-of-sight targets, not just your character. Gain enough kills in the boot-camp scenarios, and you can also join in a Gang Wars mode. This sees two teams running through objectives in a themed mini-campaign. It’s another example of a game that can start off on the wrong foot, but that works hard to turn your initial impression around.

My Verdict
Max Payne 3 might not be Rockstar’s best work to date, but it probably is the best example of its genre. What Rockstar brings to Max Payne 3 is style, personality, cinematics, gritty rawness and an exciting and memorable experience. Max Payne 3 might not be perfect and might be frustrating as hell. But one thing’s for sure, it packs a mean punch and, despite its flaws, is a quality title

9/10

THQ ANNOUNCES DARKSIDERS II COLLECTOR’S EDITION FOR EUROPE

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THQ announced today that a Darksiders II Collector’s Edition is available for pre-order on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.

The Darksiders II Collector’s Edition will include The Limited Edition version of the game as well as a life-sized replica Death Mask with display stand, a unique Shadow of Death armour and scythe set with enhanced stats, a digital copy of the Darksiders II sound-track and a hard-cover Darksiders II art book. The Collector’s Edition will be available in limited quantities as a pre-order item only and is anticipated to sell for around £79.99.

In UK & Ireland the Collector’s Edition will be available from GAME, HMV, Amazon, Play.com, Gamestop and other select retailers as well as the THQ.com store.

The Darksiders II Limited Edition will include the standard retail game along with a unique code allowing the purchaser the opportunity to download the game’s first single player downloadable content pack, Argul’s Tomb for free once it becomes available. All pre-orders of Darksiders II will receive the Limited Edition version of the game at no additional cost.

Darksiders II follows the exploits of DEATH, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, in an action-packed tale that runs parallel to the events in the original Darksiders game. This epic journey propels DEATH through various light and dark realms as he tries to redeem his brother WAR, the horseman blamed for prematurely starting the Apocalypse in Darksiders.

The original Darksiders, released in January 2010, received critical acclaim including the Best Fantasy Game 2010 award from IGN. Darksiders followed the story of WAR, wrongly accused of starting the apocalypse, on a quest to reclaim lost honor and take revenge on those who wronged him.

Want to check out the trailer? Of course you do – have a look below and don’t forget to give us your feedback!

 

THQ CONFIRMS DEVELOPMENT OF SAINTS ROW: THE THIRD – ENTER THE DOMINATRIX

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Thank heavens April Fools day jokes are long gone – otherwise one could be forgiven for thinking this latest announcement from THQ Inc was a prank but isn’t.  THQ and Volition, Inc have announced the development of Saints Row: The Third – Enter The Dominatrix, a standalone expansion to Saints Row: The Third.

Slated for an Augsty/ Septemberish release date on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, Saints Row: The Third – Enter The Dominatrix looks to take the award-winning, over-the-top action of Saints Row: and mix it up a little by throwing in super powers.

Executive Vice President of THQ Danny Bilson, stated in a recent press release “Faster than a speeding cyber jet bike, more powerful than a chromed-out SUV, able to leap flying aircraft carriers in a single bound… That’s the power you’ll find inside the Dominatrix. Use it for good. Use it for evil. Use it for whatever you want. As always in Saints Row, it’s up to you,”

With a franchise of reportedly more than 11 million units shipped globally so far, it looks like an incredible amount of fun for Saints Row fans and most importantly as it’s a standalone expansion will give users good reason to hold on to their copies and not trade them in just yet.

Enter the Dominatrix picks up immediately following the events of Saints Row: The Third with a story just as wacky and fun. For those of you not up to date with Saints Row, it is kind of like a mix between Grand Theft Auto and…erm something very very different. Put it this way, it has long been regarded as the guilty pleasure of gaming. Very tongue in cheek and serious at the same time, wrestlers, gangsters, guns and hitting people over the head with a huge bright pink dildo. This expansion sounds like it will add something very Matrixy to the mix and increase its longetivity.

More details and a first look at Saints Row: The Third – Enter the Dominatrix will be available this summer stay tuned to Frost for more details.

I Can’t Believe That Actually Ran On a ZX Spectrum

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Incredible to think Sinclair’s classic ZX Spectrum is a whooping 30 years old yesterday and even more incredible to think I was just 6 years old when my parents blessed me by buying one for me and my sister for Christmas.

The Sinclair Spectrum was seen back then as the height of technology and although its technical capabilities seem amazingly weak by today’s standards, it marked the beginning of the real start of home computer gaming. The keys were made of rubber, games did not come on discs but on cassettes, Graphics may never have stood a chance, there were no cut sequences, no insertion of video and photo- mapping was unheard of. But that did not stop it from becoming a home favourite. What programmers had to focus on was real gameplay, interesting storytelling and making one fire button count for everything. Join us as I give you the run down on games that were incredible to see on such a small rubber button keyed home computer.

Daley Thompson’s Decathlon (1984)

Back in 1984, Daley Thompson was a national sporting hero so it’s no surprise he ended up the star of his own game. Inspired by Konami’s Track & Field, Daley Thompson’s Decathlon featured ten sporting events over two virtual days and was probably the cause of more fractured wrists and broken keyboards than any other game. Yes to play this game you had to erm…waggle the joystick from side to side.

Competing in events like the long jump, pole vault, javelin and 1500 metres.  If you did manage to complete the game though you would find yourself it was right back to the start to do it all over again.

One of the biggest-selling games of 1984, it enjoyed two equally frenetic follow-ups in the form of Daley Thompson’s Super Test and Olympic Challenge. For some though it created uproar – a black athlete portrayed as a white character. Nothing personal cried the programmers the humble Spectrum only had a palette of 8 colours and the black, well…it was just too dark to really be useful in play.

Street Fighter 2 (1993)

Yes, you heard me correctly the mighty Street fighter 2 had a port to the ZX Spectrum. A computer running at not even a fraction of console let alone the arcade hardware, perhaps what’s more incredible is that although it had a loading time to begin with it had no loading screen. Perhaps even more incredible is that it received high acclaim. The one fire button had to count for everything with the space bar alternating between kicks and punches. Incredible. Gameplay was obviously slower than its counterparts but to see the game moving is still remarkable to see.

 

Chase HQ (1989) 

Based on Taito’s sit down in the cabinet racer, Chase HQ was a game where you hunt down criminals with the aim of shunting them off the road before the time limit expired. Boy it was fast, boy it was frantic but was it ever going to fit into a Spectrum? Well, yes and it worked even if the Spectrum’s rather limited hardware did turn everything an unsightly shade of cyan and yellow.

 

 

 

Operation Wolf (1988)

Operation Wolf was perhaps one of the most well-known and iconic arcade games of all time. Basically, the game is pretty much a movie conversion of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando, only without the funny quips and one-liners. The experience begins as you dared to even approach the coin-op machine; an Uzi gun positioned on top just screaming ‘if you are not a man step away from the cabinet now…’. Essentially this was an ‘on the rails’ shooter that set the precedent for further games to come spawning three sequels: Operation Thunderbolt (1988), Operation Wolf 3 (1994) and Operation Tiger (1998). Many of which appeared on the Spectrum. So how was this was game achieved? Well you controlled the cross-hairs on-screen but later when the Spectrum released the 128k and +3 disc versions, a light gun was released which further increased the playability.

 

Elite (1985)
David Braben’s much-loved space trading and exploration game was packed with innovations and is rightfully heralded as a classic. With wire-frame-style 3D graphics and a vast, open-ended universe to uncover (featuring no less than 8 entire galaxies with 256 planets each), optional missions, space ship upgrades and elaborate trading rules, Elite was technical triumph of its time. It spawned two official sequels but its influence on the space exploration genre remains far-reaching even today.

 

Shadow Dancer (1991)

Produced by Sega as an arcade game in 1989. It is the second arcade game in the Shinobi series, following the original Shinobi itself and the unique selling point of this game was that you had a dog that you could send in to attack enemies. The game was developed on the (at the time impressive) Sega System 18 motherboard hardware. Home versions were released for the Master System and various home computers all of which had more raw power and technical prowess than the Spectrum, but did that stop our rubber keyed baby from trying to reproduce it? Hell no…I reckon she would have taken on Resident Evil if she had the chance.

Out Run (1986)

Another arcade game released by Sega. Designed by Yu Suzuki and developed by Sega-AM2. This game was a critical and commercial success, becoming one of the best-selling video games of its time. Most noted for its innovative hardware (including a moving cabinet), pioneering graphics and music, innovative features such as offering the player choices in both soundtrack and non-linear routes, and its strong theme of luxury and relaxation. So in retrospect one could be forgiven for thinking the Spectrum could possibly have bitten off more than it could chew, I mean, the memory is not big enough on the 48k to load everything (48k being an average bit rate per second for a common MP3 by today’s standards!) So how did they do it? Well with great difficulty. I had the tape version which meant you had to load each stage by hand, forwarding to the necessary ‘point’ which was very fiddly on a cassette. As for the music, you were required to turn over the tape which was a ‘music side’ to play a pre-recorded soundtrack of the game and this just condemned the game to confusion. However this did not deter game players and sales of this title went through the roof

Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985)

An arcade fighting game developed and published by Konami. It was and still is considered by many gamers to be the basis for all modern fighting games. It pits the player against the now familiar variety of opponents, each with a unique appearance and fighting styles. So why is it here when the mighty Street-fighter 2 is on this list? Well the player could perform up to sixteen different moves, which, back in 1985 was practically unheard of. Note too the energy bar and the KO counter in the centre of the screen and the detailed backgrounds. Look familar? These facets are now common in fighting games thanks to this title and its success.

 

Skool Daze (1984)

You think of school and you think that would make a good game, hey lets just learn French and German all over again, lets find that girl who cheated on me, lets avoid those bullies and hey, let’s try it on with that cookery teacher all over again right? Well, we thought so. In this 1984 classic though, you’re on a quest to swipe your report card from the headmaster’s office. Trouble is, school keeps getting in the way and you have to attend classes, placate teachers and steer clear of the school bully if you’re going to avoid expulsion before your job’s done. It’s like Grange Hill but with the actors singing ‘just say yes’ and not only did it spawn a sequel ‘Back to Skool’ but also was the godfather of ‘Bully’ another school game for the PS2.

 

The Lords of Midnight (1984)

My penultimate entry in the how-the-hell-did-they-pull-this-off is Lords of Midnight; a fantasy game with ground-breaking ‘3D’ visuals and an incredibly rich mix of classic adventuring. It was possible to win the game in one of three ways, all focused on the destruction of Doomdark the Witchking of Midnight. You could play it as a straightforward adventure, as a strategic war game where you’re tasked with recruiting lords around the land to defeat the evil forces or through a combination of both. The graphics do not look much hack but it was incredible to play and when you think of RPGs today such as Final Fantasy and the upcoming Dragon’s Dogma they all have a lot to thank titles such as this one.

RoboCop (1988)

A run and gun and beat ’em up…hybrid arcade game based on the movie of the same name. I personally owned this (although I was too young to see the movie…obviously and good thing too, it would have given me nightmares…)  However, the technical inefficiencies meant the Spectrum had a less than faithful port that only loosely followed the arcade version. In addition to a different soundtrack, the boss battles were replaced with a screen where the player must shoot a man holding a woman hostage (without hitting her). However this did not stop the game receiving critical success, a CRASH Smash award from CRASH, 94% in Sinclair User and Your Sinclair gave 8.8 out of 10 placing it at number 94 in the Your Sinclair official top 100. The overall opinion was that this game was better than the original arcade game. Its capture of the original material, smooth scrolling and animation, sampled speech and sound effects were huge bonus points and the playability of the game was fantastic.

And so ends our list – Happy Birthday to The Spectrum! Now…how does that loading noise go again….