EDGE GRINDER
2011/12
EDGE GRINDER is first of all a challenge, a "collabortition" as they like to say on the Format War forum where all the adventure started, meaning a collaboration between developers motivated by the spirit of competition. All this effervescence gives birth to an impressive cross-platform shoot'em up on C64 and CPC.

But whereas the CPC version of a game technically focused on the quality of its scrolling could be feared, the result is just stunning! The animation is smooth (in return, the trick used does not allow to play with a CPC connected to a flat screen) and there is no slowdown. The action is accompanied by a lively music that feeds the frenzy of this game dedicated to make the better score. A second version exclusively developed for CPC, SUPER EDGE GRINDER, offers stunning new graphics, music and even a boss to face at the end of the single level. A very short but difficult game that will give you a hard time to beat your own records. An experience of a rare intensity!


Original game : Cosine Systems
Code : Axelay
GFX : Smila & Rexbeng
Music : Tom&Jerry
DOWNLOAD : 1 / 2 - Cover
Original cover-artwork and picture by TREVOR (SMILA) STOREY


EVIL DONJON
1989
From platform to platform, climbing more and more ladders, you will stride the rooms of a castle. In each room, you must collect all the phials scattered before you can go to the exit to reach the next one. Monsters are chasing you and your only way to get rid of it is to dig holes into which they fall.

Published in the shade in 1989, here is a very nice clone of LODE RUNNER now freely distributed by one of its authors. If the game features colorful graphics, unfortunately the gameplay of EVIL DONJON do not reach the excellence of its model whose late CPC version offers an impressive fidelity to the original. Here, no ropes, the holes are just used to kill monsters and they do not automatically recap. The low resolution offered by mode 0 reduces the space to play and after a few levels it becomes very difficult to escape the monsters. Playability is also very rigid. On the other side, teleporters constitute a good idea and the level selector avoid to restart each time from the beginning. It remains a platform game still honorable to discover for all ladder games fans.


Code & GFX : Marc Delaperrière
Music & SFX : Sylvestre Campin
Publisher : Genesis Software
DOWNLOAD : Game - Cover
Original cover-artwork and picture by GENESIS SOFTWARE


FRES FIGHTER II TURBO
1999
For their last game, Bollaware wants to prove that the CPC may offer a game that can be compared to the legendary STREET FIGHTER II. Done ! Of course, many concessions had to be made and we can not decently claim that FF2TURBO reach the level of its legendary model. Even so, the game from the German group did not lack quality.

Two floppy disks, nothing less! A retrospective of the group, a great introduction, tons of graphics, animations and music, all in mode 1 for an amazing result in 4 colors, it is clear that Bollaware wants to impress. But what is exhilarating is that the game also offers this abundance with six arenas, more than ten attacks per character, visual effects on the screen, tons of game options and secrets to discover. All this technical debauchery tends to slow down the game, but the whole remains very playable. Find out more about this excellent title in our report dedicated to Bollaware.

Read the report dedicated to Bollaware...


Code : Doc Barthoc
GFX : Uncle Siggi
Music : Tom&Jerry
DOWNLOAD : 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 - Cover
Original cover-artwork by IXIAN FACTORY - Picture by 92BENNY


FRESTRIS
1995
FRESTRIS is a TETRIS. But not only. There is a wider play area, detailed graphics, blocks consisting of more than 4 pieces, up to three players can play simultaneously... Anyway, I only have a few lines and it is not going to be easy!

For once, the game is programmed by Uncle Siggi and if it is not technically impressive, he decided to play the generosity card. Each game, divided into levels requiring to perform a given number of lines, is also an excuse for a nice slideshow. A feast for the eyes of anyone who grown in the pop culture of the 80s with its imagery suffused with heroic-fantasy and gory movies. Regret? Well, all these options above shows that the perfection of TETRIS is based on its simplicity. And the oversight of the display of the next block destroys the strategic dimension. All this lack of maturity, but we still give it a kind look. In any case, we come back regularly for some customized games, even if we quickly return to the excellence of basic rules.


Code & GFX : Uncle Siggi
Add. code : Doc Barthoc

DOWNLOAD : Game - Cover
Original cover-artwork by IXIAN FACTORY - Picture by BORIS VALLEJO