We are still waiting on a suitable Amiga AGA emulator with robust recording features before tackling such games.
Tusker
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Screenshot |
Player's Review
Spectrum 128k
Tusker, a conversion from the c64 game by System 3 in 1989
"Finding the mysterious Elephant's Graveyard in Africa was your Father's lifelong quest. When he disappears you are determined to find out what might have happened to him, and what secrets may lie within."
A 128k game from System 3! Well, sorter. This is another conversion where you wonder if the developer had actually played the C64 game before making this game. However its not bad as spectrum games go as effort has gone into it. The gfx are spectrum and in colour no less. The only 128k editions are some Sound effects. I did try a 48K with AY addon, but the sounds didn't play there so we do have a 128k game where they put 4k of its ram to some use!
The game plays mostly the same as the C64 version but there are differences. Water is like a reserve energy bottle where you can top up your life bar. In the c64 version it was more like a timer which was constantly counting down. You can take you time in the Spectrum version. The way you attack enemies is much more difficult though. you have to press fire and a direction and you cant just hold the button and then a direction. This can make it challenging to get a hit in as the enemies seem to be able to attack a double the speed. The gun makes quick work of enemies in level 1 and 3. in level 2 it didn't seem to work that well as the enemies could defend against it. On the C64 version I think I ran out of ammo by level 2 as although it would do the fire anim, it would not kill in levels 2 and 3. In this version, the map doesn't seem to work and there is no Pocket watch(Compass?) to pick up. Also there is no stick or chisel. Although I don't know what the stick was for in the c64 version.
Other differences include being able to attack the worm to boost you score before releasing it from the chains with your acid. You need to give the Key and Orb to the natives to open the game to Level 3. On the c64 you only gave the key and the orb was for the monkey guarding the temple. On Spectrum you give a piece of gold to the monkey. There is also no Slighshot weapon in this version. Reaching the end, I am still annoyed that there is no music .. On the whole though it was a good game on the spectrum, just not as polished as the game it was based on but as spectrum players we are more than used to that.
A bigger crime might be the Amstrad release. They got the music we should have also had on the Spectrum, but it came at a cost. The Amstrad version lost all its colour and looks even more like a spectrum game than the spectrum game!!
You can compare against my C64 run here "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0-4Kqp25y8"
Tusker, a conversion from the c64 game by System 3 in 1989
"Finding the mysterious Elephant's Graveyard in Africa was your Father's lifelong quest. When he disappears you are determined to find out what might have happened to him, and what secrets may lie within."
A 128k game from System 3! Well, sorter. This is another conversion where you wonder if the developer had actually played the C64 game before making this game. However its not bad as spectrum games go as effort has gone into it. The gfx are spectrum and in colour no less. The only 128k editions are some Sound effects. I did try a 48K with AY addon, but the sounds didn't play there so we do have a 128k game where they put 4k of its ram to some use!
The game plays mostly the same as the C64 version but there are differences. Water is like a reserve energy bottle where you can top up your life bar. In the c64 version it was more like a timer which was constantly counting down. You can take you time in the Spectrum version. The way you attack enemies is much more difficult though. you have to press fire and a direction and you cant just hold the button and then a direction. This can make it challenging to get a hit in as the enemies seem to be able to attack a double the speed. The gun makes quick work of enemies in level 1 and 3. in level 2 it didn't seem to work that well as the enemies could defend against it. On the C64 version I think I ran out of ammo by level 2 as although it would do the fire anim, it would not kill in levels 2 and 3. In this version, the map doesn't seem to work and there is no Pocket watch(Compass?) to pick up. Also there is no stick or chisel. Although I don't know what the stick was for in the c64 version.
Other differences include being able to attack the worm to boost you score before releasing it from the chains with your acid. You need to give the Key and Orb to the natives to open the game to Level 3. On the c64 you only gave the key and the orb was for the monkey guarding the temple. On Spectrum you give a piece of gold to the monkey. There is also no Slighshot weapon in this version. Reaching the end, I am still annoyed that there is no music .. On the whole though it was a good game on the spectrum, just not as polished as the game it was based on but as spectrum players we are more than used to that.
A bigger crime might be the Amstrad release. They got the music we should have also had on the Spectrum, but it came at a cost. The Amstrad version lost all its colour and looks even more like a spectrum game than the spectrum game!!
You can compare against my C64 run here "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0-4Kqp25y8"
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