Gbax Competition Review Thread


b._.o._.b

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2006
Messages
1,157
Wow! What a great games this GBAX competition has given us. The amount of GP2X contributions was overwhelming and the quality superb. Who needs advertising if you have these kind of devs :)

First small review, I will try to add more later.

Ruckman from Ruckage


ruckman.png


I guess everybody knows pacman. There are tons of clones of this game and I've played a lot of them. That doesn't make me an expert on the subject, normally I'm an occasional - play ones - kinda guy, but I know what' s in the market.
Well to start with the verdict, this pacman clone is amazingly good. The graphics are soo damn sweet, but hey... that's no suprise, we don't expect any less from Ruckage.
Ruckman is also responsive and the animation is fluid, I was very impressed by the animation of the dots bumping up and down and even be able to steer Ruckman fluidly with the creeps following me and the music not missing one beat. I know it's overclocked to 233 but so much happening at the same time without losing speed, incredible. And this is made with Fenix.. ? How?? Teach us!
It's a superb version of pacman with eye for detail, very sweet animation, powerups, special modes, hiscores, great soundeffects and also great music from Pat Ferguson.

This is a game with lasting appeal, and absolutely the best thing Ruckage made till today.
 
Review Blast Riot - Pete Covert

blastriot.png


The description of the game is "Blast Riot is a fast paced retro shoot-em-up" so I expected something fast and.. it is!

If a real retrogamer (like me ;) ) hears the name Jeff Minter, that surely rings a bell. The name of the creator of Blast Riot (Pete Covert) did not ring a bell, but his game did, and it rang lots of Jeff Minter bells! That doesn't mean this is a Jeff Minters game copy, it just has that special speedy, frantic, hypnotic action feeling.

You run around a maze collecting disks. You need to gather 5 disks to enter the next level. The disks also increases health and gives power ups.
Most games need baddies, and this game has lots of them. Baddies that blow you up, baddies that shoot you down and the baddies even blow each other up.
Luckely you are the owner of a nice automatic rifle so you can shoot them nasties to pieces.
You really have to play the game to know how great this game is, it has got fantastic soundeffects. You hear chickens, shooting, explosions, screaming and it has got great background music. There is happening a lot in this game: baddies shooting, bombing , running and it starts from the beginning. No foreplay, just frantic shooting from second 1.

Highly recommended!
 
sam fisher said:
Its not even 233mhz ;) As far as I know the Fenix overclock doesn't actually work so thats all at 200mhz.
I've read it in a thread somewhere. I believe everybody and everything. That's why I'm always broke ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I am seriously betting that ruckage will get the first place!
It's just like a commercial game from the early 90's made by a company of 100 men.
 
I agree. Ruckman is a whole different level of greatness than the other great games this year. Fantastic game. I love the fruit frenzy game!
 
QUOTE

If a real retrogamer (like me ;) ) hears the name Jeff Minter, that surely rings a bell. The name of the creator of Blast Riot (Pete Covert) did not ring a bell, but his game did, and it rang lots of Jeff Minter bells! That doesn't mean this is a Jeff Minters game copy, it just has that special speedy, frantic, hypnotic action feeling.



I was a huge fan of LLamatron back in the day. There's more than a little of Jeff Minter's influence in Blast Riot. Thanks for the review!

Pete
 
i've played through them all, but i am waiting to get through them all again before i make any comments. for me it's still too early to pick the best. i found many of them quite enjoyable.
 
I have only played a few of them so far but one that comes to mind is Beatbox. It plays better if you clock to 240mhz (not using Fenix's -s option, because it really doesn't work). What I like about it is on hard and normal you have to have both eyes, both hands, and your brain focused.

Also Xump3D looks pretty good. I have only played it on GeePee32 because my GP32 is broken. If you give me the source, Rtb7, I will seriously put some effort forth to try and port it :).
 
Thanks for the review b._.o._.b, and to everyone else for the comments, I'm really pleased you like the game.
 
PokeParadox said:
I still haven't got around to downloading all the entries just yet... in fact.. a job for now I think!
There is a torrent out there with all the GP2X entries in.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top