Following in the footsteps of the excellent The Making of Karateka, Digital Eclipse’s first sequel in their Gold Master Series is another informative and entertaining Docu-story focusing on one of the weirdest/wildest game developers of all time.
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is based entirely around this British developer that enjoys making games about laser shooting camels, sheeps in space, and light synthesizers. Like The Making of Karateka, the presentation is an interactive timeline that allows the player to see, play, and learn about Jeff’s gaming history in chronological order. Along the way are text burbs, blogs, pictures, playable games, and well edited videos that entertainingly document this unique piece of gaming history.
Personally, I was unaware of Jeff and his work. However, his impression on the European market, mostly based around early home gaming computers like the VIC-20, Spectrum, ZX81, and Atari 800, is well explained throughout the easy-to-navigate timelines. By the end, I became familiar with Jeff artistry, his passion for programming, and filled my head with bits of European gaming history that was sorely missing.
In addition to high-res scans of original design documents, personalized video interviews, and a clean user interface, the standout highlight is having playable access to the library of Jeff’s work. There are over 40 playable games, all of which can be played when clicking on each bullet point sequentially in the timeline or from one clean game menu.
Here is the thing. If someone decided to play roms of these early home computer games, it is doubtful they would be played for more than one minute and could be immediately dismissed. However, when presented in the context of a documentary, each playable game means something and becomes a learning experience. Being honest, most of these games do not hold up as most are really obscure, you have no idea what you are even supposed to be doing, and the game over screen can literally appear within seconds are starting. But since it is presented with the contextual story behind it, I found myself wanting to play more even though I would get immediately smoked most of the time. I never played or had access to these games, which is part of the learning experience and wonder. Impressively, each playable game has been treated with care as modern emulation features have been implemented like rewind and saving.
One of Jeff’s most noteworthy games was Gridrunner, a crazy shooter which is well documented and playable here. Just like how Digital Eclipse essentially remade Karateka in the original Gold Master release, they turned Gridrunner into an entirely new, modern game. Gridrunner Remastered, as well as his light synthesizers Psychedelia and Colourspace, have been updated and optimized for use with a controller, acting as the cherry on top of an already delicious treat. Also, this is one of the rare instances of having an Atari Jaguar game playable on non-Jaguar hardware. Heck, maybe this is even the first..? Either way, this is an impressive feature of note.
My complaints in this package are minor. First, all the Achievements are designed around getting a high score or completing these old, highly difficult games that are designed to kill you within seconds. In other words, unlocking a single Achievement (or Trophy on the Playstation version) is quite the challenge. Also, the first time I booted up this Xbox version, I played through the entire first timeline. As the player moves through the timeline and clicks on all the bullet points, the bullet point gets filled in and a completion percentage gets registered on the main menu. When I returned the next day to click my way through Chapter 2, I was disappointed that my game didn’t save. Thankfully, I think this was an isolated issue because everything worked fine after my initial session (plus I am also playing this pre-release).
To no surprise, Digital Eclipse has once again proven their passion for game preservation and remains the high mark in the industry. If it wasn’t for this digital download, I would have remained ignorant to Jeff’s story, his games, and the impact it had on European gaming. While I found most of these titles challenging to play, it is easy to see the influence they have carried through gaming history. If anything, this sequel just makes me anticipate what the Gold Master Series holds for the future. That, and I now have more appreciation for llamas. Especially ones that shoot lasers. And camels. Don’t forget about camels.
SCORE: 8/10
Not As Good As: building a time machine and going back in time to play these games as they released
Better Than: reading a boring encyclopedia
Wait For It: a Nintendo, Squaresoft, or Rare Gold Master Series
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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