Commodore Free 36/Commodore_Free_Issue_36_2010_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/review

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 9KB | 311 lines

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         Wild Bunch Review
         By Commodore Free
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THE WILD BUNCH PROJECT - THE C64
CONVERSION
http://www.gamesplaygames.co.uk/
 thewildbunch/

Versions available

Tape / Disk / Digital download from
 www.binaryzone.org

Tape version
http://www.binaryzone.org/retrostore/
 index.php?main_page=product_info&
  products_id=509

Disk version
http://www.binaryzone.org/retrostore/
 index.php?main_page=product_info&
  products_id=507

History

The Wild bunch Computer game was
released for the ZX Spectrum in 1984
and then 1 year later in 1985 it was
released for the Amstrad CPC By
Firebird Software. The game is not
based on the 1969 film of the same
name but allegedly on the Wild Bunch
gang who were around in the 1980's

Jon Wells acquired a Commodore 64
sometime in 1987 and set about a
version for the Commodore 64. Sadly
although the Commodore 64 version is
said to be around 80% completed some
time in 1988-1991 Jon Wells at the
time didn't know anything about
machine code (the whole game was
written for all platforms in basic)
Jon wanted to exploit the Commodore
64 with interrupt driven music and
sound effects, but somehow the
project was put on hold.

As Reported in earlier versions of
Commodore Free Jon began work again
on the Commodore 64 version, after
being pestered by Frank Gaskin of
Games that Weren't fame.

Gameplay

The Wild bunch is a text based
adventure style game with the use of
some limited graphics and sound, the
Commodore 64 version also contains
music! You (the player) find a dying
man who had been attacked by a member
of The wild Bunch Before the man dies
he describes his attacker to you.
Then he gives you his colt 45 just as
the sheriff arrives.
You are assumed to be the murder of
the victim and the sheriff tries to
arrest you.

The object of the game is to prove
you are innocent by trying to trace
the real murderer and taking him to
the sheriff's office to clear your
name. While trying to track the
Murderer you can also arrest and take
into the sheriff other members of the
Wild Bunch Gang. The descriptions of
the other gang members are hanging on
the sheriffs office wall as wanted
posters.

The games score system is based on
the money you earn from arresting
members of the wild bunch and
"handing them into the law" You can
also visit the local saloons where
you can gamble to gain extra money,
enabling you to purchase supplies.
The salons are also good for renewing
your energy by purchasing whiskey,
but don't drink to much or in a
drunken stupor you may be hit on the
head by upset customers. While moving
between the 5 towns you could also
find valuable items like a gold
nugget that will be exchanged for
money or some water and food to help
you on your travels. You need to be
careful when moving out in the open
though as buffalo and vultures as
well as Indians and various none
mentionable creatures that attack you
on your travels. The game ends when
your strength reaches zero, from the
fighting or being attacked on the
open, be careful to when approaching
the mountains as rocks could fall on
you zapping away energy.

The game is won by successfully
tracking and apprehending the real
murder which could involve a
graphical shoot out, so you need to
be quick on the draw.

The game starts with the player (you)
choosing a town location from one of
the 5 displayed on a map each town
has a saloon a telegraph office
(useful for information about the
agent that is chasing you for the
sheriff) a sheriffs office and the
shop store to purchase supplies, and
of course don't forget the salon full
of smooth tasking liquor and fast
card gambling.

The player (you) have to travel
between towns looking for the
murderer, its quicker if you can buy
a horse, otherwise you will have to
walk and that takes twice as long, a
horse could also out run villains you
meet along the way. But remember to
take water and food, oh a saddle will
be needed or you cant ride the horse
and without food and water you both
will die. You will of course need a
gun and a knife, what about when it
gets cold in the mountains you will
need a thick coat and maybe a knife.
What if you are attacked by a snake,
you will probably need some snakebite
location. Of course all this can be
purchased before your travels in the
store, but do you have enough money
and or strength to make the journey.
You need to also watch out for the
sheriffs agents who are looking to
capture you for the murder, where
will they be could the telegraph
office know the agents whereabouts,
will this cost money to find out from
the telegraph operator.

The game has 3 levels of play and
once selected you need to give your
self a name, do you have what it
takes to survive, do you have the
guts to take on "the wild bunch"

The Game

Ok so much for the intro what about
the actual game.

The cassette version arrived through
my door, after being on pre-order for
what seemed to be a lifetime. I had
never seen another version but of
course reading about the potential
version for the commodore 64 with
enhanced sound and graphics, I had to
give it a try and besides they don't
call me "Quick draw Mc giver"
no-sureeebob, (they usually call me
Nigel although some emails have
called me other things.)

The cassette is professionally
printed with an enhanced version on
one side and what would have been the
original Firebird Release graphics on
the other side of the inlay card. A
nice touch is that the tape
information sticker also had been
printed, and on both sides, so far so
good.

Loading the game we see the enhanced
graphics and animation intro for the
Commodore version (on the disk
version), we see the man being shot
and you walking over to assist him,
then we see a splash screen. The game
starts.

Well its sure not going to tax the
Commodore graphics capabilities, as
the game still looks like its from
the 80's. Mostly text and the screen
updates seem to be written in basic.
However once you start to get into
the game you realise this is
something special. Ok so its not a
graphics masterpiece and we can look
over the Sea shanty that plays? The
sound is functional nothing more,
certainly this could still be any
machine producing the sounds and
music.

You have to look past this, once in
the game you are amerced in game play
there is so much to do and think
about, how many bullets to buy, where
is the agent, who is on the sheriffs
Wanted poster, will they be in the
saloon bar!

The game is samey but at the same
time different, some randomness
exists and its more chance than good
card playing with the salon gambling
team. The location of characters and
the sheriff's officer move with each
turn.  You could knock the game but
as the game play is so good who cares
about the graphics or the fact you
have to spend 12 days walking in the
desert because your horse died from
starvation, this is what classic
retro gaming is all about.

Some bugs still exist in the game,
for example don't press the cursor
keys as they crash the game with
illegal quantity in line XXX this
only happens on certain screens and
if you are about to enter your name
and hit runstop/shift you will be
known as LOAD ! /there are one or two
other small bugs but don't let this
put you off. The pictures in the
sheriffs office show the wanted men
they are all the same picture with an
eye patch or a scar, sometimes its
difficult to know what unique
features the villains actually have
and so how to track them

The only real graphical part is the
gun shoot out, the rest of the game
is really looking at text.

Hey I am not putting the game down,
there is so much more on offer here
from Jon. I am not sure why the bugs
weren't removed or why the sheriffs
posters weren't re- done for the
Commodore version in colour. But this
is a great game, if you love
adventure and mystery you will like
this, try to stop playing the darn
thing, I was up for hours trying to
get that pesky murderer so grab yer
milk and drink yer horse  ( Or
something like that) lets get this
pesky vermin behind bars.

Graphics35%
Sound 35%
Addiction 100%

Overall lets give this a 70%

COMMODORE FREE
Some Game problems/ Features or Bugs
(whichever you prefer to call them)
in the Commodore 64 version
In memory the following ranges need
changing, at this moment we are still
awaiting a patch for the game

53d9 should be c5
53df should be 30 30

If you play the game in WINICE or
Vice you can patch the game manually
by doing the following
start WinVICE or Vice

- press ALT + M for the monitor then
   enter: 53d9 c
- then enter :53df 30 30
- then enter:
- press x and press return to go back
   to the emulator

These were emailed to me from Shaun
Bebbington writer of the retro
feature in Micro Mart magazine

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