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Amiga Arena CD

Published by Amiga Arena
Price $10.00
Primary Genre Secondary Genre

Amiga Arena is one of the most popular Amiga websites. Based in Germany, the most Amiga friendly country, the site has recently released a CD-ROM of Amiga games that can be played on an Amiga or any other computer with appropriate emulation. The latest version of WinUAE, the Windows Amiga emulator, is very accomplished and can emulate almost every aspect of Amiga hardware allowing PC owners to enjoy lots of great games legally at prices that start at free.

Gnome Uropa II

This CD is packed with games and many of these once commercial titles still stand out among today's indie games. Many but not all of the games are in ADF format, a virtual floppy disk format used in emulator programs. Hard-drive and/or CD versions of the games also appear on the disk and with a Workbench 3.1 ADF to get the Amiga OS booted up you can play anything on a PC. Unlike in Windows, most Amiga programs don't need 'installing'.

Roadkill from Acid Software instantly drew my eye. An overhead scrolling race game, Roadkill is one of those cars-with-guns games that allowed competitors to attack and kill opponents. Here it is done brilliantly. The game plays really well, scrolls in 8 way parallax smoothly and has lots of features and depth.

One of the most outstanding features is the sound design, which in this game really shows what developers should be doing in this area. People who've played Roadkill know that sound can really improve a game.

Another game that grabbed me then and now was Rocketz. The genre known as 'cave flyers' started with Thrust and is still not very popular but on Amiga there were some very nice variations on the theme. Strictly multi-player, space craft can rotate and thrust rather like in Asteroids but here gravity pulls everything downward. Add some maze-like levels and weapons, and you've got some great battles ahead. Rocketz was probably the best cave flyer and had races with battles, lots of nice ships, weapon choices and slick presentation.

Fans of point and click adventures will appeciate a number of full commercial titles here. The gorgeous Beneath A Steel Sky and Lure Of The Temptress, and there's also Blade, an isometric rogue clone.

Of course old games play just as well as new ones, they just look more blocky. Some of these look as good as some contemporary indie games! Scoring for this CD is impossible, there are just too many games. Like most ex-users, I have a particular fondness for the Amiga and although it wouldn't be true to say this compilation displays all of what was good on that machine, it's still worth €10.

Here is the full game list: Burnout (HD), BabeAnoid, Behind the Iron Gate (ADF), Cybernetix (ADF), Embryo (ADF), Fussball Total (ADF/HD), Hilt I/II (ADF), Renegards (ADF), Roadkill (ADF), Roketz (HD), Sharks (HD), Seek&Destroy (ADF) Uropa 2 (DMS), Wheelspin (ADF), Xtreme Racing, Benath a Steel Sky (ADF/CD), Blade (ADF/HD), Der Seelenturm (ADF), Lure of the Temptress (ADF/HD), Tower of Souls (ADF), Awaiking (HD), Blockhead I (HD), Blockhead II (HD), BallMaster (HD), Chaos (HD), Doktor (HD), Dawn Video Poker (HD), Fancy Fuxies (HD), HBMonoply (HD), My Locomotion (HD), Mahjongg Tiles (HD), Risiko (HD), Spaceball 2000 (HD), Der Trainer (ADF), Hollywood Manager (DMS), Flamingo Tours (ADF), Samba Partie (DMS), Samba Partie Pro (DMS), Samba Partie Worldcup (CD), Tactical Manager (ADF), Boulderdäsh (HD), Gnome (ADF), Crazy Sue I/II (HD), Fatman (ADF), Jimmys Fantastic Journey (ADF), Kiros Quest (ADF), Monty the Wolf (HD), WoodysWorld (ADF), Wiz2 (HD), Cygnus 8 (HD), FreeCiv (HD), Imperium Terranum II (HD), Mobile Warfare (HD).

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Gold Star

Published on 23 May 2003
Reviewed by Mark Sheeky

Keywords: amiga arena cd review, amiga arena reviews, amiga arena games, amiga arena cd scores, pc game reviews, indie game reviews, independent gaming.