David Kudrev
Ah yes, the Commodore 64. Ask any gamer from the good old days what home computer was talked about the most in the 80’s and even 90’s, and most would say “Commodore 64”. Having only played the C64 (as it will be called for the rest of the review) in primary school, It sadly wasn’t enough to experience the whole feel that the C64 was trying to push, I did get to play Spy VS Spy 2 and Cave of Word Wizard, which reminded me a lot of The Boy and his Blob.
I’m very pleased to not only review what could well be one of the finest emulators to embrace the iPhone platform, but also to finally own it. I say that because this application has gone through a fair few approvals/removals due to the controversial nature of the App Store. Finally the C64 app is here to stay and at the price offered, it’s great value! At release of this app, you get the following 8 games included;
Arctic Shipwreck: Balance a block of ice with a mammoth, and keep the stranded folk from slipping off the ice.
Dragon’s Den: As a noble knight, you must fight your way through enemies to defeat the dragons. (or at least that’s what it looks like it to be, either way, it reminds me of Joust).
International Basketball: Ummm.. it’s Basketball!
International Soccer: Oh come on, really? it’s Soccer!
International Tennis: I’ll let you guess what this is about..
Before I forget, I should mention also that if you flip the phone sideways in-game, the perspective changes as well for a more full screen effect.
Jack Attack: You play as a cute little red alien, move the blocks around to squish the enemies.
Jupiter Lander: land your lander at the right speed and angle to get as many points possible.
Lemans: overhead grand prix racing game
Thankfully the C64 had basic controls (8-way joystick and one button labelled as “fire”), so controlling the games on the iPhone is just a simple two thumb factor. The games included give an extraordinary feel of gaming on the home computer back in the day, and with the in-app purchasing feature with 3.0 SDK of the iPhone platform, this means you will be able to buy and download more C64 games for this application. Manomio has announced that they are going to be releasing more titles within the C64 app VERY soon! Here’s what to expect in the next update:
Folks, this comes highly recommended from myself. Well worth the price considering the amount of games included, and the many more coming in the future. Keep checking Manomio.com or on their Twitter page for more updates of the C64 app.
Pros
– Keeps the nostalgic feel, yet keeping a modern feel at the same time for a modern gaming platform
– In-app purchasing game packs
– Simple controls
Cons
– That I didn’t get to play enough C64 games in the past
– Controls can be a bit slightly irksome (but I was told that’s how they were in the day, so thanks to the veteran C64 gamers)
Developer: Manomio
Cost: AU$5.99 (at time of review)