The Games That Time Forgot: 1989 Edition

Atlantis had some pretty decent artwork actually

PERISCOPE UP

(Atlantis)

Much like Alternative, Atlantis managed to keep churning out largely unremarkable cheapo games for years. I remember buying Satcom (dull), Battle Field (dull) and Sceptre Of Bagdad (du...oh wait, it was alright actually). Not much was expected and the same was duly delivered.

I can't decide if this writing is clever or not. No clash to be seen at least

But they seemed to up their game in later years when they released a number of games by the Shaw brothers, like Kosmos, Heartbroken and Moontorc. Having a decent group of programmers to call upon really was a godsend for some of these budget software houses. And having looked more closely at a number of budget titles recently, one can appreciate the effort that went into making them more now. At the time there were so many games flying around, relatively ordinary releases tended to fall under the radar. But there's usually something good to be found in the majority of games. With some exceptions naturally...

There's your little scout craft, send him forth to fetch that fuel

Periscope Up presumably avoided litigation from whoever made Up Periscope, whatever that may have been, whether film or book or musical. Ah it's annoying me now, hang about... Okay, it was a 1959 war film. Think it's old enough for them to get away with one there. Then again, the '80s brought us Up Pompeii, so Frankie Howerd might well have patented the word 'Up' in titles, who knows? I fancy budget games companies did some serious research into this kind of thing.

That looks a lot like a pass code. Off you go, li'l crafty

The sub plot (I crack me up) is this. It's the year 2007 (terrifying) and a supercomputer, like the one Imagine thought they could make, has malfunctioned at Blighty's underwater nuclear missile base. If it's not debugged and quick, the result will be global thermonuclear war. Think someone's been watching War Games.

Don't worry, the doors open and shut regularly, unlike Monty's crushers

The only way in is by submarine, equipped with a handy scout craft. You need to find 8 pass code digits to crack the comp's code, and destroy 6 reactor pods too. And not run out of fuel or it's Das Boot for you. Touching anything around the place with your sub or scout craft results in a watery death, due to shoddy build design. Good old UK labourers!

Some lovely sub porn here from Chorrigames. Thanks Chorrigames!

This game looks highly basic and budgety, but it plays better than you might think. You have to move your unwieldy submersible quite carefully as it struggles to fit through many tight places, which is where your scouty ally comes in handy. I couldn't seem to get the hang of shooting the reactor pods, but I didn't get upset about it or cry. I just concluded that this was indeed a perfectly reasonable budget game. How very mature of me.

Another appropriately underwater title from Atlantis here - Submariner

PERISCORE

65%

THE GAMES THAT TIME FORGOT: 1989 EDITION

3rd out of 5