The 100 Greatest Amiga Games

By Tom Crossland

It felt like a very big deal at the time to go from the Commodore 64 to the Amiga. There were some fantastic games on the C64 but the Amiga felt like a quantum leap and the full 'arcade at home' experience. Sadly though, as we know, the Amiga era was not destined to be the longest or most stable slice of home gaming history. In the end the competition was too much and the Amiga, not helped by poor business decisions and a lack of innovation, began to struggle in the market.

 

One tends to feel that the Amiga never quite fufilled its full potential but what an amazing few years it gave us. I spent many happy hours and weeks playing all my favourite Amiga games. To this day I am still discovering interesting Amiga games which passed me by at the time. Trawling through the Amiga years again I found there were many more great games than I actually remembered. The book that follows includes racing games, shoot 'em ups, military simulations, platform games, licenced movie games, puzzle games, and so on.

 

So, without further delay, let's sit back and take a look at the (in my own humble opinion) 100 greatest Amiga games...

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Apr 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9783755412793

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Copyright

© Copyright 2022 Tom Crossland.

All Rights Reserved

Contents

Introduction

The 100 Greatest Amiga Games

Bubbling Under to Varying Degrees - Games That Missed the Cut

INTRODUCTION

It felt like a very big deal at the time to go from the Commodore 64 to the Amiga. There were some fantastic games on the C64 but the Amiga felt like a quantum leap and the full 'arcade at home' experience. Sadly though, as we know, the Amiga era was not destined to be the longest or most stable slice of home gaming history. In the end the competition was too much and the Amiga, not helped by poor business decisions and a lack of innovation, began to struggle in the market. One tends to feel that the Amiga never quite fufilled its full potential but what an amazing few years it gave us. I spent many happy hours and weeks playing all my favourite Amiga games. To this day I am still discovering interesting Amiga games which passed me by at the time.

Trawling through the Amiga years again I found there were many more great games than I actually remembered. In fact, this list was harder to compile than the one for my Commodore 64 book because there were so many great games on the Amiga. To give an example, games that did NOT make this list include Ambermoon, F-19 Stealth Fighter, King's Bounty, Pang, Gunship, Fury of the Furries, Second Samurai, Jetstrike, Wing Commander, Uridium 2, and so on. There are just too many good games on the Amiga to include ALL of them. It wasn't the longest gaming era but in terms of quality it was highly memorable and not found wanting in the slightest.

Now, the list that follows is of course purely subjective. These are just my personal choices and reflect my own personal tastes. Your list would probably be different to mine but then that's the fun of lists isn't it? The list that follows is - happily - eclectic and diverse. It would be a dull list if one genre dominated too heavily but the Amiga era threw up enough good games in different genres to avoid this pitfall. The book that follows includes racing games, shoot 'em ups, military simulations, platform games, licenced movie games, puzzle games, and so on. So, without further delay, let's sit back and take a look at the (in my own humble opinion) 100 greatest Amiga games...

THE 100 GREATEST AMIGA GAMES

ALIEN BREED (1991)

Label: Team 17, Designer: Rico Holmes

Alien Breed is a top down shooter much in the style of Gauntlet. The game is an unashamed riff on the classic 1986 film sequel Aliens. You move around a sci-fi environment (the space station ISRC-4 to be precise) as a Space Marine shooting aliens (who are clearly patterned on the acid blooded creatures in the Alien franchise - you even get face-huggers too) and must complete each level before taking the lift down to the next one. You can purchase weapons using computer terminals and - as ever in these types of games - must make sure you blast everything in sight and don't get trapped in any tight spots. You'll need keys to open certain doors and must watch out for some traps - like doors that are electrified.

The designer of Alien Breed said he was inspired by Laser Squad and Paradroid more than anything when planning this game and you can plainly see their influence. Alien Breed was very popular and one can see why. The graphics are crisp and competent, the sound FX superb, and an immersive atmosphere of dread and danger is generated. As far as these top down shooters go this was one of the best on the Amiga. Quibbles? Well, an unquantifiable number of people thought this game was too difficult. Ammunition is very limited at times and the pesky respawning aliens can test your patience. Be warned that Alien Breed is no walk in the park. It's definitely a good game though that most Amiga owners would have sampled at some point and most likely have good memories of.

Alien Breed became something of a franchise in the end with various sequels. Alien Breed II: The Horror Continues arrived in 1993 and while the gameplay is similar you get better scrolling, more levels, and can play as more characters. If you liked the first game you should like the sequel. 1994 brought the release of Alien Breed: Tower Assault. Once again you are tasked with investigating a space colony infested with aliens and once again you must blast everything in sight while escaping from numerous levels. There isn't much new on offer in Alien Breed: Tower Assault - save for the ability to fire your weapon while moving backwards. Still, if you liked the previous games you should like this one just fine. As ever though it is difficult to the point of being annoying at times.

Alien Breed: Tower Assault got a right old drubbing in the magazine Amiga Power but that seems rather baffling in retrospect because the game is merely giving you more Alien Breed capers. Maybe they wanted something a bit different. The franchise DID though give players something different in 1995 with Alien Breed 3D. This was, as the name implies, a first person shooter. By now we'd had the Doom phenomenon and so companies were tripping up over themselves to latch onto the FPS genre. I suppose then you'd probably be within your rights to say that Alien Breed 3D was part of the cavalcade of Doom clones that arrived like a tidal wave in the mid to late nineties.

Alien Breed 3D is a decent effort but the problem is that the Amiga just wasn't very good at FPS games. Compare games like Alien Breed 3D to the likes of Doom and Duke Nukem 3D. The difference is night and day. Alien Breed 3D seems horrendously blocky and primitive compared to classic PC FPS games of the era. The level design is good though and the game (mercifully) moves at a fast clip. The sequel Alien Breed 3D II-The Killing Grounds is generally felt to have been an improvement though some players thought it was a bit too difficult. The sequel is a mix of Doom and Quake (though obviously nowhere near as good as that synopsis makes it sound) and has a decent frame rate and some big outdoor levels.

Generally though, the FPS games on the Amiga constituted a small and largely undistinguished bunch. The Doom clone Gloom seems to have its fans (Gloom Deluxe cleaned up the graphics somewhat and is better) and 1998's Genetic Species was a decent effort. However, by 1998 you could play brilliant and ambitious PC FPS games like Unreal and Half-Life so why would you bother with Genetic Species? Anyway, to go back to the original Alien Breed, this game is solid Gauntlet style fun with a horror sci-fi twist. If you don't mind difficult games and like top down shooters then this game is pretty good for what it is.

AGONY (1992)

Label: Psygnosis, Designer: Various

If you were being super nitpicky you might say that Agony is a case of style over substance but few games serve as such a visually stunning showcase for what the Amiga was capable of graphically. This is one of the prettiest games released on the Amiga and has a wondrous music score too. The game is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up but quite unlike anything else in this well worn and rather over familiar genre. Agony has the player as a ban owl flying through six monster filled worlds in an attempt to reach the Cosmic Power. The owl fires huge energy waves at enemies and can obviously swoop around niftily - much in the same fashion that a real owl would. The gameplay can't possibly match the visuals but it is decent enough and the difficulty ramps up with each new level - making this a considerable challenge in the latter stages.

Some felt that Agony is simply TOO difficult in the end but it all comes down to one's aptitude at these types of games I suppose. A lot of these old games seem to be quite difficult compared to newer games. In old eighties and early nineties games you don't get your hand held and be deluged constant onscreen instructions and tips. You are thrown straight into the action and it is up to you to sink or swim. That's why people still play the original Doom to this day. There are no cut scenes, preambles, or endless instructions in Doom. You are simply flung straight into the game and shooting zombie soldiers. That approach seems refreshing today when modern games sometimes take FOREVER to actually let you start playing.

The real stars of Agony are the amazing music and the lush graphics. The backdrops are absolutely stunning with forests, waterfalls, waves, red skies, puffy clouds. Agony is truly a work of art. Occasionally you'll find yourself drifting out of the game simply to gaze at the incredible backdrops - such is their ability to enchant and entrance the player. The animation on the owl is absolutely wonderful too. Agony is definitely a game that seems to divide opinion somewhat. Some believe it was a masterpiece and others seemed to feel it didn't have much gameplay depth beyond the pretty graphics. Maybe the real truth was somewhere in the middle of these two perceptions. Agony is definitely a unique experience though and one of the most attractive shooting games ever released on the Amiga. This was truly a game that showed the Amiga in a positive and highly stylish light.

ANOTHER WORLD (1991)

Label: Delphine Software, Designer: Éric Chahi

Another World is a platform action adventure game which was quite unlike anything else at the time. The game had beautiful cinematic cartoon style graphics and felt like a quantum leap forward from other similar games. While there have been cases where games looked great but didn't have the gameplay and depth to match the visuals thankfully this wasn't the case with Another World. The game was an immersive, atmospheric, and satisfying experience for gamers beyond the wonderful visual presentation. I gather that the designer Éric Chahi was inspired to make this game after being impressed by the graphics in the Amiga version of Dragon's Lair. * He felt if he used similar sort of graphics tailored to a story which blended all of the sci-fi he loved there might be a lot of potential in this. He was obviously right about that.

In the game you play a young scientist named Lester Knight Chaykin. Lester has an unfortunate particle accelerator accident (I hate it when that happens!) when a lightning bolt causes his experiment to go haywire. A hole in space and time is ripped open and poor Lester ends up trapped on an alien world. Lester is incarcerated and must escape. But navigating this hostile and strange world will not be easy. An alien named Buddy (who Lester befriends along the way) will become an important part of the story.

Another World is not an adventure game in that you don't interact with people or talk to them but it does have a depth beyond the usual arcade adventure games of this type. You can run, jump, fight, and even swim during the game and you get a blaster weapon later on which has different modes. There is a checkpoint system in the game so you don't have to start all over again if you get killed. The impressive graphics make this game feel like you are playing the central character in a polished sci-fi cartoon and the intro sequence is incredible and justifiably famous.

Where this game really scores though is in the sense of atmosphere. You really do feel like you've been plunged into a strange alien world. One can see some influence from Another World on an eclectic range of other (future) games like Unreal, Silent Hill, and even Half-Life (which has a similar sort of plot with its dimensional science gone wrong capers). Another World is a really unique experience and one of the most memorable games of the Amiga era.

I think you could reasonably argue that Another World is one of the most influential and ambitious games of this era. Very rarely has a game had such a rich and immersive atmosphere of isolation and feeling trapped in a weird far away place. Another World was one of those games that you simply HAD to sample for yourself just to see the amazing graphics, animations, and backdrops. Happily, there was also a very good game beneath the polished and impressive exterior.

* Dragon's Lair was an unusual game that came out in the arcades in 1983. It featured animation by a former Disney animator named Don Bluth and was more of a choose your fate adventure than an arcade game. The player made a choice and then watched the next animation play out to see if they had made the right choice or the wrong choice. Dragon's Lair was popular at first but this type of game didn't catch on. Watching the game's hero Dirk the Daring get killed in cartoon animation simply became annoying (and expensive) for players. Even you eventually worked out the pattern of choices to beat the game you'd have little motivation to return to it again. I can't say that any of the home computing system ports of Dragon's Lair ever appealed to me much.

APIDYA (1992)

Label: Blue Byte, Designer: Various

An insect themed side-scrolling shoot 'em up in which you play as a wasp who used to be a man named Ikuro and now seeks revenge on the evil Hexaae for the death of his love Yuri. Wikipedia states the player is a bee while other sources say it is a wasp. It certainly LOOKS like a wasp to me. Maybe it would be better to play as a bee because bees are more sympathetic than wasps. Bumble bees are a comforting sight in the summer whereas wasps are a pain in the neck.

Anyway, the plot is not really important in Apidya and never makes much sense. Let us stop idly discussing bees and get on with the review. There are five levels in Apidya and the action takes you through ponds, gardens, and even the intestine of a rat - which is certainly novel to say the least. There are bonus levels to discover and a memorable boss battle at the end. That giant hornet is the stuff of nightmares. The game is tough but never outrageously unfair and the gameplay is polished with some nice weapon power-ups. Where this game really scores is with the amazing music and the lovely graphics. The backdrops are inventive and colourful and the scrolling and animations are excellent.

Apidya is a very stylish and unusual sort of shoot 'em up and it makes a nice change from the usual spaceship or military aircraft themed shooters which make up a large proportion of this familiar genre. This is one of those games where you simply wallow in the outlandish backdrops at first and become rather entranced by all the colour and detail. What is likeable about this game is that a lot of effort has gone into the design. They were patently determined not