We are still waiting on a suitable Amiga AGA emulator with robust recording features before tackling such games.Nightbreed - The Action Game
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Player's Review
ZX Spectrum 128k
Clive Barker's Nightbreed - The Action game, developed by Impact Software and published by Ocean Software in 1990.
"You are Boone, drawn to the 'Nightbreed' ... their victim, or their saviour? Begin your journey at the gates of the Necropolis, a graveyard above an underground labyrinth named Midian. Your task - to save the Nightbreed, a race older than man, of fantastic beings, shape-changers who are being attacked by man's jealousy in the form of the 'Sons of the Free', an evil organization bent on destruction."
The first game of a planned trilogy of games based on Clive Barker's movie Nightbreed. Only two were developed and the second did not get a release on the 8bit platforms. The second game being Nightbreed - The Interactive Movie, more of a puzzle adventure game where as The Action Game shown here is more a side scrolling brawler.
From the Manual:
In order to complete the entire game you must do the following:
1) Collect the 3 keys to Midian: one is located on each level. In
order to obtain the 3rd key, you must defeat the MASK (although
he will subsequently escape).
2) Work your way around the Necropolis and down through Midian
to the Nightbreeds' God, BAPHOMET, who will then baptize you.
This will enable you to transform into CABAL for short periods of
time. CABAL can withstand attack better than BOONE and has
greater strength than his alter-ego.
3) Open the door to the BERSERKERs chamber,
4) Work your way up to the surface of Midian to free the Breed.
They then tell you that the MASK has your girlfriend, LORI.
5) Descend back down and engage in the ultimate battle with the
MASK. With victory achieved, you must get back to the surface of
Midian where you will be re-united with LORI.
This is another well made movie game for the Spectrum. very colourful, sounds ok and plays well. for an 8bit game the level of presentation puts many other games to shame. We have intro, outro and even mid game interludes. However the insane tape loader might cause issues. You should really note down the Counter of where each level is on the tape. Another game, you would move through the tape in a linier fashion until you hot the end. But not this one. Here you move to levels 1-2-3 then a cutscene. rewind until level 3 loads again, rewind and wait for level2 to load, then late tape playout for the next cutscene, rewind and wait for level 3, rewind and wait for level 2, then late tape playout for the ending. The game really deserved a disk release.
The three levels are quite large, the first being overly large as you only need to travel through a few screens. Compared to the C64 version, the games difficulty differs in a few ways. Here, enemy fights are quick and decisive and you can get hurt quite easily. There are health orbs around but not as plentiful as on the C64. However, there are more ammo drops to pick up here for the gun. As you progress there are symbols on the walls to note which can be used as passcodes to continue the adventure should you lose all 3 lives.
Overall a great game for the spectrum if you can bare the tape loading. Ocean really did push out some great games towards the end of the machines life.
Clive Barker's Nightbreed - The Action game, developed by Impact Software and published by Ocean Software in 1990.
"You are Boone, drawn to the 'Nightbreed' ... their victim, or their saviour? Begin your journey at the gates of the Necropolis, a graveyard above an underground labyrinth named Midian. Your task - to save the Nightbreed, a race older than man, of fantastic beings, shape-changers who are being attacked by man's jealousy in the form of the 'Sons of the Free', an evil organization bent on destruction."
The first game of a planned trilogy of games based on Clive Barker's movie Nightbreed. Only two were developed and the second did not get a release on the 8bit platforms. The second game being Nightbreed - The Interactive Movie, more of a puzzle adventure game where as The Action Game shown here is more a side scrolling brawler.
From the Manual:
In order to complete the entire game you must do the following:
1) Collect the 3 keys to Midian: one is located on each level. In
order to obtain the 3rd key, you must defeat the MASK (although
he will subsequently escape).
2) Work your way around the Necropolis and down through Midian
to the Nightbreeds' God, BAPHOMET, who will then baptize you.
This will enable you to transform into CABAL for short periods of
time. CABAL can withstand attack better than BOONE and has
greater strength than his alter-ego.
3) Open the door to the BERSERKERs chamber,
4) Work your way up to the surface of Midian to free the Breed.
They then tell you that the MASK has your girlfriend, LORI.
5) Descend back down and engage in the ultimate battle with the
MASK. With victory achieved, you must get back to the surface of
Midian where you will be re-united with LORI.
This is another well made movie game for the Spectrum. very colourful, sounds ok and plays well. for an 8bit game the level of presentation puts many other games to shame. We have intro, outro and even mid game interludes. However the insane tape loader might cause issues. You should really note down the Counter of where each level is on the tape. Another game, you would move through the tape in a linier fashion until you hot the end. But not this one. Here you move to levels 1-2-3 then a cutscene. rewind until level 3 loads again, rewind and wait for level2 to load, then late tape playout for the next cutscene, rewind and wait for level 3, rewind and wait for level 2, then late tape playout for the ending. The game really deserved a disk release.
The three levels are quite large, the first being overly large as you only need to travel through a few screens. Compared to the C64 version, the games difficulty differs in a few ways. Here, enemy fights are quick and decisive and you can get hurt quite easily. There are health orbs around but not as plentiful as on the C64. However, there are more ammo drops to pick up here for the gun. As you progress there are symbols on the walls to note which can be used as passcodes to continue the adventure should you lose all 3 lives.
Overall a great game for the spectrum if you can bare the tape loading. Ocean really did push out some great games towards the end of the machines life.
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