Recently, there's been several new games for the C64 appearing on itch.io. I've had some time to check a few of them out, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on the one's that I've played so far.

You can read Volume 2 of this series, here.

https://psytronik.itch.io/precinct-20

I took a chance with this purchase. I never heard of it before and wasn't sure what to expect, but the game write-up sounded interesting. The first thing I noticed about it was that this game was not NTSC compatible. Not a huge deal, in this era of the emulators, but I typically only purchase games that I can play on my real C64.

So, my only choice to play this game is with an emulator (or C64Mini), not the end of the world. But I'm experiencing some significant slowdown when the screen scrolls. I've also had the game unexpectedly reset on me in the middle of game-play a few times.

As a whole, unfortunately this game isn't up to the standard I've come to expect from Psytronik and it's been a little disappointing. I think it could have benefited from a little more time in development.

Update - I've since learned that this game was made with the Shoot Em Up Construction Kit, and not a properly coded game in it's own right. I have to say, I've felt quite mislead and ripped off by Psytronik selling such a game in the first place.

☆☆☆☆

https://rgcddev.itch.io/relentless-64

​I'm terrible at space shooters games. So, typically I don't spend much time playing them. From the game's title, I was expecting to find yet another overly difficult and frustrating space shooter. But I really like what has been done here. Next to Salamander, I think Relentless 64 will become my next favorite shooter game.

Thankfully it includes different difficulty levels, so for someone like me, you get a chance of building up your skill level and not get thrown feet first into the fire.

I liked the PETSCII graphics on the intro screen, too, and how it carries that theme over into the game-play. Very cleaver.

★★★★

https://c64cd.itch.io/death-weapon

At first, I wasn't sure what was going on, but soon realized that I was confused by the fact that my ship's laser fire wasn't appearing on screen every time. But, now that I figured that out, the game-play makes much more sense.

The only issue I have with the game is the colourful backgrounds. They are done really well, but I find that the bright colours and sharp focus makes it difficult for me to target the enemies at times. Also, with other space shooters, the rule of thumb is not to collide with background objects. So, it takes some time to adjust and ignore the backgrounds, in this case.

Overall, this game is a nice change to the typical space shooter. Well done!

★★★☆

https://megastyle.itch.io/ice-cold-beer

This is a very simple marble game: lift the marble with a bar and get it into the appropriate hole for points. Easier said than done, at least for me. It's very frustrating, but in a entertaining way. Once you master it though, there's not much point in coming back to it.

If you're looking for a simple game to test your eye-hand coordination for a short time, then this might be for you.

★★☆☆