C64ANABALT

[Carlos]

Kindly reproduced From LOTECK 64 Magazine  please visit for more details.

Translation By Georg Fuchs, Andrianik Ghalustians




C64anabalt.................................Andranik Ghalustians



C64anabalt is with an excellent port of a game which is available for the iPhone. The game resembles the classic coin op Chelnov Atomic Runner by Data East (1988).  In Canabalt you run automatically from left to right and the only game goal is to run as far as far as humanly possible. As a player, you have to time your jumps. On the iPhone you have to touch the screen anywhere to jump, in the C64 you press the fire button of your joystick. The Game depicts your character, the Running Man, running on the rooftops of a futuristic city of elegance and jumping over obstacles such as small boxes. Bombs fall from the sky every now and then to keep you from finishing the marathon as efficiently as possible.


The levels are randomly generated. Therefore a memorization of the level structure is completely impossible and a waste of time. Lightning quick reaction is the key to success. Even the deliberate collision with small obstacles (boxes) must be timed very carefully. Sometimes when you clear an obstacle, you will lose important momentum that your character builds up. This game requires a quick reaction from the player. To prevent the loss of the speed, the correct calculation of the jump point and angle must be predicted at very short notice. This game has the ability to dry out the player's eyes through lack of blinking. After all, if you lose concentration only for a split second, you will stumble into one of the many obstacles, and end the game prematurely.

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The C64 port is technically brilliant. The scrolling is smooth and fast. The original soundtrack has also made it into the official port, it fits the adrenaline-promoting game perfectly. Even minor things like the birds flying away right at the beginning of the starting levels are present in the C64 version which is a nice touch. The character is almost perfectly animated which is an artistic challenge given the tiny size of the character. Collapsing skyscrapers and bursting windows are not only present on the iPhone version but have made it to the C64 cartridge.


In short: The port, as most C64 modules that have been released recently, is unfortunately missing a saveable high score table. It's a pity that there is no leader board at all! When you finish the game, you restart by pressing the fire button which is sad because this would have been an important feature in a score-centered game. The only way to work around this is the old school way using notebook and pen.

The unofficial version, which was published almost simultaneously to the version reviewed above is by gameplay and technical/visual standards at the same high level as the official version. Nevertheless, the original soundtrack is missing and has been replaced by one in my opinion less appropriate one for this style of game.


Do not adjust your set! The graphics are deliberately grainy with a monochrome look.

[zapiy]

Nice one fella.

[TL]

This was playing on one of the C64's at Retrovision. 

Somebody has done a rather nice Atari 8-bit version of this game too.