Over the next few weeks, each Friday will see a selection of new games drop into Antstream. So if you are still on the fence about signing up, or simply looking for fresh challenges, this is the place to start as we continue our weekly roundup of the latest titles available.
Arc Of Yesod
Following on from Nodes Of Yesod (which debuted on Antstream last week), the second adventure of Charlemagne Fotheringham-Grunes has the saviour of mankind jetting off to the alien world of Ariat, where nefarious aliens are busy deciphering the first game’s mysterious monolith. Assisted by an electronic mole called the sphere, Charlie boy must explore another labyrinthine world in order to save mankind. With its beautiful, clean graphics and jaunty tune, Arc Of Yesod is another memorable arcade adventure for the ZX Spectrum.
Ant-Fact: Arc Of Yesod contains a mammoth 256 screens to explore.
Ant-Tactic: Use of the colourful teleporters is key in Arc Of Yesod – learning where they are and where they take Charlie should be a priority.
Earth Defense
If you like a shoot-‘em-up to be an ultimate test of your skills, then this vibrant Mega Drive game is the one for you. Piloting a futuristic aircraft, the player is defending the Earth from a horde of invading aliens – hey, we never said it was original! Wave after wave of enemy craft assail the player’s Phoenix Spitfire plane; fortunately upgrades are readily available including tri-shot, bombs and rear shot. The aircraft is also fitted with a useful shield for when the action gets too hot, which will be a frequent occurrence, as Earth Defense’s aliens spit bullets at the hero with incessant regularity. It will take a mammoth effort to repel this extra-terrestrial menace – are you up to the challenge?
Ant-Fact: Earth Defense was originally developed by Taiwanese company AV Artisan and is unrelated to the Earth Defense Force series.
Ant-Tactic: As an old-school shooter, it’s important to learn the enemy formations in Earth Defense should you wish to survive for long.
Impossible Mission
Antstreamers already have access to the excellent sequel Impossible Mission 2, on the Amiga. But here's the game that started it all - the original Impossible Mission on the Commodore 64. Widely noted as being one of the first (if not the first) home computer games to feature digitised speech, IM tasks you with infiltrating the secret base of an organisation led by an evil criminal mastermind bent on world domination. Tricky platforming and puzzle solving is the aim of the game here, and IM also features randomised levels, so you'll never play the same game twice.
Ant-Fact: The hovering balls which chase the player in certain rooms were inspired by the TV series The Prisoner.
Ant-Tactic: If you get caught by the enemy robots or fall to your death, you don't lose a life in this game - instead the amount of time you have to save the world will drop, so speed is of the essence.
Where Time Stood Still
After last week’s The Great Escape, this week Antstream brings you Ocean Software’s fantastic spiritual follow-up to the World War II prison game. Inspired by movies such as The Land That Time Forgot and Lost Horizon, Where Time Stood Still follows the four disparate survivors of an aeroplane crash in the chilly Himalayas. Guide and pilot Jarret is the Indiana Jones-esque square-jawed hero; Clive, a large and wealthy passenger, along with his comely daughter Gloria, and completing the quartet is Gloria’s fiancé, Dirk. As with The Great Escape, the aim is to simply find a way out, across rivers, swamps and chasms, battling time-locked hazards such as dinosaurs and savage cannibals. Where Time Stood Still is another incredible 8-bit isometric adventure waiting to be discovered on Antstream.
Ant-Fact: Despite its reputation for licensed games, Where Time Stood Still was one of several quality original Spectrum games released by Ocean in 1988. Others included Gutz, Firefly and Phantom Club.
Ant-Tactic: Before you go anywhere, grab the bag, water canteen and rope, each fundamental survival items.
ASO: Armored Scrum Object (Alpha Mission)
Earth Defense not proving enough to sate your shoot-‘em-up appetite? Well fret not, as this week Antstream has another terrific shooter in the form of SNK’s ASO: Armored Scrum Object, known as Alpha Mission in the west. As with the aforementioned Mega Drive title, ASO is a vertically-scrolling game, with your advanced craft able to collect parts and transform into a more powerful attacking force. Both ground and airborne enemies can be destroyed using missiles and lasers respectively, and buildings can be blown up to reveal valuable power-ups. ASO is another great game to test your reactions and gaming endurance!
Ant-Fact: Gaming veterans and experts will recognise a similarity between ASO and Namco’s Xevious from three years earlier, an obvious inspiration.
Ant-Tactic: With your spacecraft initially moving sluggishly, it’s imperative you pick up the speed icons early on in the game to help dodge enemy fire.
Eliminator
Antstream Arcade is proud to bring subscribers another action-packed Hewson classic. Coded by John Phillips (who also created the tower-tastic Nebulus), Eliminator follows the devastating eponymous war machine as it travels the galaxy’s highways, destroying any life it encounters. With an air of ominous inevitability, you have been selected to jump into an armed road cruiser and take on this seemingly-indestructible menace and its throng of cronies. Skimming across the surface of each colourful checkerboard road, you’ll need some keen reflexes and a rapid trigger finger to survive this gruelling mission.
Ant-Fact: Programmer John Phillips envisioned Eliminator as a follow-up to his previous game, Nebulus, in that it utilises similar rotating techniques.
Ant-Tactic: Don’t forget your craft can jump and even fly upside down on the road above the player.
Also new to Antstream Arcade this week
If those games don’t tickle your gaming funny bone, there are another fresh five slices of entertainment to try out this week on Antstream Arcade. 16-bit racing fans can enjoy the pure speed thrills of Burning Rubber, and there is more shooting action in the form of the 8-bit Hades Nebula. Ninja Massacre is a Gauntlet-style game in which you get to – yes! – massacre ninjas, while Crazy Er-Bert is a variation of a classic arcade game, we’ll leave you to work out which one!
Check back next week for an update on another set of new games!
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