A.k.a. Soldiers of Fortune on the US SNES and Genesis (not to be confused with Soldier of Fortune on PC, which is a totally different kind of shooter.)
The title screen music (youtube link!) this time is by Joi, and it's awesome. Unless you're playing the DOS version, then it sounds like clown music (also youtube link).
Amiga CD32 |
Sometime in the last century, an experimenter with time, space, and early computers created a bizarre machine.
Amiga CD32 |
Although primitive, the machine became incredibly powerful and turned against its creator.
Amiga CD32 |
Its power to corrupt time and matter was out of control. A cloud of chaos descended over the land. Humans and animals were turned into ravenous beasts.
Amiga 500 |
Amiga 500 |
SNES |
Clockwise from the guy with the dramatic pink lighting on the left, they are: The Brigand (green), The Navvie (grey), the Mercenary (blue), the Preacher (red), the Thug (green), and the orange gentleman with the revolver and the pipe is the Gentleman. Actually wait, where's his pipe gone? Nintendo must have stolen it to stop him corrupting the youth.
Amiga 500 |
They've given me a starting budget of £6000 (which doesn't sound like much, but it must be over £500,000 in today's money) to basically hire myself and a sidekick. Though first I have to choose who I am. Each character has different health, speed, and IQ attributes, plus guns and special weapons, so it'd probably be a good idea to pick a pair that compliment each other.
SNES |
Hey wait, they've renamed the guy 'the Scientist' and taken away his collar! I guess Nintendo changed it to stop him tempting kids into becoming a priest. Actually it's not really their fault, he's a scientist in the Genesis version too. Whatever he's called, he seems a good choice for a sidekick because he's smart and carries a first aid kit.
Amiga 500 |
Basically, it's an overhead run and gun shooter, with fantastic art and excellent dynamic techno music. My automated associate and I have to proceed through the level, shooting the monsters we find along the way, and the ones that find us by sneaking out from the trees, or just plain appearing out of thin air.
Yeah it uses a bit of Gods style enemy spawning, trigged when I collect a certain pick up or visit a certain area, but in this it's far less annoying. For one thing, I'm actually able to move around and dodge bullets.
Genesis/Mega Drive |
The Genesis/Mega Drive version seems to be basically the same as the Amiga version, except for crappy music, more screen space and dodgier looking colours. Oh, and a difficulty select, which I think might be unique to this version.
MS-DOS |
The DOS version of the game has more colours on screen than the original Amiga version, and the music isn't so great, but otherwise again it's pretty much the same as far as I can tell. Oh, also the hud's a little different, with 24 pixels of extra screen space in exchange for floating numbers getting in the way. I think I prefered the simple health bars and having all the info lined up in one place.
Amiga 500 |
This particular weapon, which I guess is dynamite, blows up every single last mutant on my screen. And couple of the mutant generators too. It's so useful in fact, that I almost guarantee I'll totally forget to ever use any of my own.
Amiga 1200 |
The Amiga 1200 version has the extra colours like the DOS version, but otherwise seems to be identical to the original. And to be honest, I'm not sure that the recolour makes it look any better overall. It's more vivid for sure, but this isn't exactly supposed to be a pleasant stroll through the countryside on a bright summer's day.
Amiga 500 |
True co-op would be better, but I couldn't wish for a better fake player 2.
RISC OS |
Amiga 1200 |
The level has different paths branching off, depending on things like what keys I've picked up. Though I'm never sure which is the best route to go for.
Amiga 500 |
Amiga 500 |
I decide to spend £500 on a single extra life, instead of improving my gun power. Cause I'm an idiot.
Amiga 500 |
Enemies like to open up holes in the walls and trees and jump out at me, but they're usually a fair distance away when they're triggered. Sometimes though I'm not so lucky.
Fortunately the game has checkpoints, so I'm never thrown back far.
Amiga 500 |
Occasionally it'll pull this crap with part of the main path too, but thankfully it's rare that I have to start shooting the scenery.
Atari ST |
The Atari ST version of the game looks a bit worse than the Amiga version, and it doesn't have any music in game. It doesn't even have voices yelling stuff like "PLAYER SAVED!" or "NODE ACTIVATED!" That's basically half the experience missing!
Amiga 1200 |
Amiga 500 |
Amiga 500 |
Though if I can hold on just a little longer I can get the world 2 password. Every version of the games has the passwords as far as I know, and none of them have save games.
Amiga 500 |
Amiga 1200 |
Amiga 1200 |
RISC OS |
I gotta say, I love how these enemy bullets cast light on the ground instead of a shadow. It's a nice touch. My muzzle flash does the same thing, though you'd never notice.
Amiga 1200 |
Though here I fucked it up, and my dude can't jump across even the tiniest of gaps, so I've got to take the boring normal path instead. He can't even jump off a walkway to the ground below, he's rubbish.
SNES |
It's probably my fault for being impatient. There's no time limit in this so I'm free to trigger enemies at my own convenience.
RISC OS |
RISC OS |
They're crawling out of the trapdoors in the floor, and they've only got three fingers! How disturbing the forces of chaos are. Well animated though.
SNES |
Tapping the fire button is enough to stop my guy from walking forward as I'm shooting, which is nice when I'm trying to aim at enemies without throwing myself into them. Still, these little critters are fast, and I'm shocked I actually got out of this without losing a life.
RISC OS |
And I'd be having more luck the Preacher was still around so I could use his first aid kit.
BUT THEN.
SNES |
I think it's safe to say that as games go, this is probably one of the good ones. I'm not even much of a fan of Gauntlet 'em ups, and even I can't resist its steampunky charms. As far as I'm concerned, it's easily the best Bitmap Bros game and it's definitely earned itself a shiny gold star.
Though which version is the best version? They all seem to play exactly the same to my untrained senses, but I think the Amiga versions have the edge with music and visuals, with the SNES a close second. The game apparently plays to the Amiga's strengths and even the loading times are bearable.
Bitmap Brothers games:
Part 1: Xenon (Atari ST)
Part 2: Speedball (Atari ST)
Part 3: Xenon 2 - Megablast (Amiga)
Part 4: Cadaver (Amiga)
Part 5: Speedball 2 - Brutal Deluxe (Amiga)
Part 6: Gods (Amiga)
Part 7: Magic Pockets (Amiga)
Part 8: The Chaos Engine (Amiga)
Part 9: The Chaos Engine 2 (Amiga)Part 10: Z (MS-DOS)
Awesome, brought back some memories from my A1200 days! The graphics and the music and overall polish and atmosphere was terrific. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteI'm so pleased. Having just posted a thing on the Gods review about how much I loved this, that you do too. It's fair to say that all these years later few games have done an AI partner as well as Chaos Engine.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for showing such great reviews on Amiga games, really liked the Skeleton Crew review also. Hope you do more.
ReplyDeletePerfect game. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteGreat and very informative report, thanks! I am trying since a few weeks to break the games password mechanism. I still think it can be done, but it´s as hard as the game itself. Wish me good luck! (If I succeed, I will do a password coding/decoding software and publish it on YouTube. If not I will get crazy soon, like the experimenter...)
ReplyDelete