ScuzzBlog: Diaries January 2022
Entry 11th January 2022: Post 1: Z O O L - Amiga games never played.
Z O O L - Amiga games never played.
OK so why buy a game and then never play it. In the case of Zool
I managed to get two copies of the first game, one copy of the
second and even acquired the PC version. So what was the problem.
Simple really, I dislike platform games. This game is a fast and
furious multicoloured, multilevel, ninja smashing blast of a game.
Sadly from the get-go I was bored. The reviews in the magazines were
very promising, though Zool 2 didn't get the same amount of praise.
But the simple truth is that, doesn't matter how many jelly smashing
candy bar blasting objects you throw at me I just see the game as
the same as every platform scrolling game. Just get as far as you
can and attain the highest score.
The first game I played on the Amiga 1200 was Oscar and I generally
only threw in the disk cus I liked the music. By the time I got to
the 'Roll'em' I was out of there. I did enjoy Marvin but only cus
it was a demo at first and a short hop, skip and a jump.
So why did I buy the second game... answer is I have no idea. This
game has sat in its box since it arrived here. I have kicked it
around the house so many times as an unwanted game and never once
had any desire to play it. Even now as I reflect on the possibility
of candy bar heaven and ninja fest of racing about, I just shrug
my shoulders and put the boxes away.
Games either work for me or don't. Personally I blame SONIC for this
type of game. Maybe if I had been younger it would have helped.
The game is a solid fun packed platform blast from Gremlin and was
particularly popular when first released. The game stickers appear
on a number of bits of kit I have here. I sense that many of the
platforms of the time would love to have a character that became
an idol and symbolic for the games machine. No doubt Gremlin would
have loved Zool to become, Rayman, Mario or Sonic. Problem was that
this had already been tried with Oscar and it just never worked.
The Amiga never had a character or game that dominated to the point
of cult. Maybe the crew at Sensible could have claimed some of that
high ground. Amstrad attempted to win gamers over with Roland. But
none were more skilled at projecting their games heroes as the
Japanese. Different cultural values I guess. No idea.
So what am I playing today ... Final Fantasy Online. Hardly cult
with just 20 million players world wide. I can only play late at
night cus the servers are full. In truth I'm still fiddling with
Ada Wong and the Resident Evil 2 Remake. ' Hey Rookie '. So way
too many late nights since the middle of December and not enough
time to play with the likes of ZOOL or any retro to be honest. I
am a black mage not a black ninja, what can I say, gaming heaven.
Z O O L - Amiga games never played.
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