Classic Amiga Games – James Pond 2 Robocod
The is the first post of Classic Amiga Games, where I look at some of my favourite Commodore Amiga Games.
Our first game was released in 1991 James Pond Robocod 2, is the second game to feature James Pond, (I never played the first one) and is an all time classic game, and not just for the Amiga. Robocod has been released on multiple platforms, it can be enjoyed on no less than 10 systems including the Commodore C64, MegaDrive/Genesis, SNES, Gameboy, Nintendo DS and PlayStation.
It is a platform game where our fishy hero must retrieve the Christmas toys Dr Maybe has stolen. This time however James Pond is now part fish, part machine, which gives the game it’s Robocod subtitle. Although rather than being a cyborg cop from the future, he has been armed with an Inspector Gadget-style stretch device, which he can use to view higher areas or claw onto ceilings so as to slide across them.
Before we getting into the game play, there is an interesting note about the game. The UK version of the game contained product placements for Penguin Biscuits, with most notably the Penguins providing the narrative during the introduction sequence.
The main game area is the outside of a castle. At first only a few doors are open, each leading to a level. Completing the levels opens up more doors. Each level has a distinctive theme, such as sporting goods, candy and aircraft. On each levels you must locate the items hidden by the Dastardly Dr. Maybe. There is a large number of brightly coloured and very well designed levels, so it’ll take a good few hours to play through the game. After completing two worlds (each of which has three sub levels), a big (but cute) boss must be faced. There are also Power-ups such as wings, (flying ability) and umbrellas (floating) to collect and the enemies are varied across the levels, and fit the theme for example the birds on the games level, have playing cards for wings. The game also has many hidden sections and a lot of levels had a secret exit, giving you plenty of reason to continue playing the game after you completed it.
The game has lovely colourful cute graphics, perfectly suited to this Christmas themed platformer. The Amiga version also benefits from a copper backdrop adding even more colour (the console versions suffered with repeating teddy bear backgrounds on a lot of levels, which could be confused with the teddy bear platforms which used the same graphic). It also has excellent music by the late great Richard Joseph, feature cute and bouncy circus music and some brillant and funny Robocop theme parodies.
In summary this an great example of what every platform game should be like. Colourful, cute, Charismatic, charming, original, imaginative and must of all fun. Check it out, with it being out for modern formats such as the Nintendo DS, you have no excuse to miss out.
Went to the match last Saturday despite the fact I’ve actually give up all of Boro staying up after the humiliation of the Bolton away match. However I know there is a little piece of me that ignores this logic and will not give it up until it is mathematically impossible, so off I went to watch Middlesbrough v Fulham in the Premier League. This was a must win game for the Boro, and disappointingly we didn’t win. We managed a come a way with just one point after drawing the match 0-0. This was because of lack of a cutting edge as the extremely well worn football cliché goes, and to be honest we were lucky not concede a late goal as Fulham piled on the pressure in the last five minutes. All in all, like the rest of the Middlesbrough’s season, it was very disappointing.
Have I used this title before? It seems likely, as it is a massive cliche.
You remember the 
This week I got three seperate invites to a website called LadsLads.com, which is a little odd as It’s a Gay Networking Website and I’m not gay. 
Since my Windows XP install has been misbehaving lately, I have been experimenting with using Windows 7 as my primary operating system. I’m doing this as I’ve had a play with the public beta of Windows 7 and I like it, it’s a massive improvement on Windows Vista, and because being an early adopter of Windows XP worked out very well for me.
As anyone who is remotely aware of my existence could tell you, I love the Commodore 64, and I especially love C64 music. In the early 21st Century, thanks to Internet, I found out that there are a lot of other people who share this strange passion. I also discovered there are a large number of websites that are made just for people like me. Over the last few years more and more of these websites have popped up, so I thought I make a list of my favourite sites, and share them with you. 
tmimichael
Stormkeeper
Scribbler
