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2016/2/7: Commodore 64: Blue Max, Raid on Bungeling Bay
Posted: February 7th, 2016, 6:18 pm
by VideoGameCritic
Here are two new C64 reviews by Scott, the C64 critic. Let him know what you think!
Re: 2016/2/7: Commodore 64: Blue Max, Raid on Bungeling Bay
Posted: February 8th, 2016, 9:37 am
by BlasteroidAli
Blue Max is great. I only ever played it one the 800xl. Review the sequel if you have it. I love that one as well.
Re: 2016/2/7: Commodore 64: Blue Max, Raid on Bungeling Bay
Posted: February 8th, 2016, 8:41 pm
by VideoGameCritic
There's a Blue Max sequel? I had no idea.
Re: 2016/2/7: Commodore 64: Blue Max, Raid on Bungeling Bay
Posted: February 9th, 2016, 7:47 am
by C64_Critic
BlasteroidAli wrote:Blue Max is great. I only ever played it one the 800xl. Review the sequel if you have it. I love that one as well.
Can do! I'm pretty sure I have the sequel around here somewhere, Blue Max 2001 or something like that correct?
Re: 2016/2/7: Commodore 64: Blue Max, Raid on Bungeling Bay
Posted: February 10th, 2016, 4:40 am
by Retro STrife
Good stuff. I played Blue Max for the first time just a couple weeks ago, but the Atari version. Bought an Atari XEGS for my collection and, based on the Critic's review, I made Blue Max one of my priorities. Really enjoyed it. How does the C64 version stack up against it? Any preference?
Re: 2016/2/7: Commodore 64: Blue Max, Raid on Bungeling Bay
Posted: February 12th, 2016, 8:45 pm
by scotland
VideoGameCritic wrote:Here are two new C64 reviews by Scott, the C64 critic. Let him know what you think!
Thanks for these reviews Scott.
I booted up Raid on Bungeling Bay for the first time in decades because of your review. It was certainly an old standby back in the day. Like hearing an old song, it brought back lots of memories.
While the description sounds like Sinistar, disrupt the building of the enemy superweapon, the pace is much slower. The healing and growing factories are a bit annoying, especially as they heal immediately sometimes.
I was also surprised with the control system...you push up to accelerate, down to brake, etc. Thus is similar to the 3DO arrmy men games, which I really never enjoyed because this seemed unintuitive. Yet with a helicopter and joystick, it seemed more natural. There are times when a joystick works better, and this is one of them. Does anyone like the NES version? Do you use the standard controller or a control stick?
It was fun bombing that battleship again. I also probably mispronounced this game for years as "Bung'ling Bay".
Re: 2016/2/7: Commodore 64: Blue Max, Raid on Bungeling Bay
Posted: February 12th, 2016, 10:36 pm
by scotland
C64_Critic wrote:BlasteroidAli wrote:Blue Max is great. I only ever played it one the 800xl. Review the sequel if you have it. I love that one as well.
Can do! I'm pretty sure I have the sequel around here somewhere, Blue Max 2001 or something like that correct?
It seems that the guy who made the port of Zaxxon for the C64 made Blue Max. I do enjoy the setting, as WWI flying ace is a great little daydream. Its nice the BlastoidAlien enjoys thus, but it feels like Zaxxon meets River Raid, which should be awesome but just seems stilted and simplistic to me. The scenery is dull and unsophisticated, there are tanks everywhere (not common for almost all of the war), targets repeat, targets go by quickly, there is very little variety, the planes all feel generic "biplane", there is no dogfighting or even turning around. Its like a filmstrip on a loop of forever flying NorthEast blowing up buildings with rainbow bombs.
As you wrote, its nice for some quick arcade fun, but I feel it lacks the variety that makes you return a lot, even as a flying ace. Its more of a Colecovision game than a C64 game. Compare this game to Raid Over Moscow from about the same time. Thats a game to come back to more often. Blue Max does have difficulty levels, which helps a lot as I am not a fan of being tossed into steep learning curves o video games, and I also like configurable controls.
Blue Max 2001 lets you shoot in multiple directions. Different programmer, although same company I believe. I have never given it enough time for a fair assessment, so I will be interested to hear others opinions.
Re: 2016/2/7: Commodore 64: Blue Max, Raid on Bungeling Bay
Posted: February 13th, 2016, 9:17 am
by BlasteroidAli
VideoGameCritic wrote:There's a Blue Max sequel? I had no idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZKWKgst3ek
Re: 2016/2/7: Commodore 64: Blue Max, Raid on Bungeling Bay
Posted: February 14th, 2016, 11:40 am
by C64_Critic
scotland wrote:VideoGameCritic wrote:Here are two new C64 reviews by Scott, the C64 critic. Let him know what you think!
Thanks for these reviews Scott.
While the description sounds like Sinistar, disrupt the building of the enemy superweapon, the pace is much slower. The healing and growing factories are a bit annoying, especially as they heal immediately sometimes. The game could use a flying antagonist, I think.
Glad you enjoyed! I think you may be confusing the buildings healing 'immediately' with the fact that when they are at a certain level of health their smoke stacks are either smoking or not. I thought the same thing at first, but then I realized the smoke was just an indicator of some percentage of health. I figured this out because I noticed that it may take 3 or 4 bombs to get a factory to stop smoking, but then I'd be distracted by fighter jets attacking - the smoke would start back up before I could start bombing again, but then a single bomb would make them stop smoking (vice the 3 or 4 it originally took). Thus, I think the smoke/not smoke is maybe an indicator of about 50% health. A health bar may have been a better way to indicate how damaged the buildings actually are, but that would lose some of the appeal for me I think. I thought the jets and guided missiles were antagonistic enough but to each his own I suppose. I also thought the pace was perfect, fairly slow and relaxed to start with but builds at a nice pace to keep you on your toes.
scotland wrote:I was also surprised with the control system...you push up to accelerate, down to brake, etc. Thus is similar to the 3DO arrmy men games, which I really never enjoyed because this seemed unintuitive. Yet with a helicopter and joystick, it seemed more natural. There are times when a joystick works better, and this is one of them. Does anyone like the NES version? Do you use the standard controller or a control stick?
Yeah while I thought the bombing/shooting/landing/takeoff control with the single button was a bit awkward I found the joystick control for flight very intuitive and easy to master. Personally I've never played the NES version of the game, maybe if the Critic has it in his collection he can give it a whirl and let us know!
Re: 2016/2/7: Commodore 64: Blue Max, Raid on Bungeling Bay
Posted: February 16th, 2016, 10:18 pm
by scotland
Got a chance to play the NES version of Raid on Bungeling Bay. If you have any NES or Famicom multicarts, it might be on there.
The NES version is missing the small inset map, but it has an arrow pointing the carrier as a substitute. The factory graphics did not seem as nice. Shooting and bombing are two different buttons, but the dpad is just not well suited for how this game controls. You fly about too fast, and end up doing loop da loops about your targets. This is a case where maybe in emulation you could remap the dpad keys. You could also try the NES advantage controller.
I was reminded you can land at enemy airports in Bungeling, which is an odd connection in with Blue Max. Fifth columnists, I presume.