SLAINE | Commodore 64 (1987)

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Was 'Slaine' your favourite 2000 AD comic character? 😇🕹👌 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= More from 1987: tinyurl.com/1987-C64-GAMES My Top Picks: tinyurl.com/CCGS-BEST-GAMES

[@mousebetr]

I was on track for posting one of the best comments in youtube history, but then the "POST" command slid away from under my hand. Instead, a powerful combo command of "select all and delete" snuck in right there and I clicked that accidentally. It's tough living a Slaine life.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Haha... I like it 😇🕹️👌

[@Syragar]

When I first saw this, I thought, "Please don't tell me that's the interface for the whole game!" Wow! I can't imagine playing an entire game like that. I think I'd go mad!

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Yup - give it a go, I can almost guarantee you'll be frustrated within minutes. I was actually starting to go dizzy after playing it haha 😇🕹️👌

[@Eirath]

There's been some really bad interfaces through gaming history. But this certainly deserves to be among top 10, if not top 5 of them. Haven't played it. But it was an instant facepalm just watching it.

[@MrLondonGo]

Man I thought I had a pretty extensive collection, but so many games I never played. Used to love 2000 AD, The 13th Floor!!

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Haha yeah - Maxwell Tower! I love the 2000AD comics too 😇🕹️👌

[@MrLondonGo]

@@CheekyCommodoreGamer ah yes Maxwell Tower!

[@commocore]

Great video. Just a small correction: the game was created by Creative Reality and published my Martech. This game is tough to play, but David Whittaker's music made it possible for me :). For many years I plan to make the full walkthrough. I have to admit that I would like to fix the way the "thought" is selected first... Besides the fact it goes just too fast, when the hand taps the space between the words in a "thought", it just cannot select it. This is extra frustrating so when I play the game, I try to have a hand a little bit off centre. I've been working on a modern game (still unfinished) called The Third Messenger inspired by Slaine and the Reflex concept. However, I revisited it to be actually playable and fun so "thoughts" only disappear in combats that have different nature as opposed to when you're just walking around.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Would be great to see the interface 'fixed' so the thoughts scroll much slower! Then I'd be able to get somewhere with it... but I kept going backwards and forwards by accidentally clicking on the wrong directions. Was frustating 😇🕹️👌

[@commocore]

@@CheekyCommodoreGamer Definitely frustrating! I hope to give it a go again at some point as I've already managed to make some notes once and collect some variables used in the game. I didn't use C64Debugger back then, so now I will definitely have more fun with it.

[@cybermodo]

Martech was for me a very interesting company, they were trying to be innovative and stylish, considering the design and GUI in their games (just check Fury, for example). Slaine seems to be very cool as an idea. Not knowing much about 2000AD character, I presume the concept of arcade-like text adventuring (?) might be ingenious approach to presenting a mind of a brute, primitive human being - trying desperately to stay in touch with his thoughts. Having them swarming on him, but easy comes and easy goes. In that key, this approach for the game GUI might make certain sense. And as I always point out - daring concepts like this, and relying on visual material (covering comic book art form) - really craves for MULTILOAD game, having several chapters, and allowing designers to put much more visual and textual content, because comics are both about quality and quantity. Then again, I also have full respect for the old-school design decision to do as much as possible for the single-load format. It was truly an art and craft for itself. Nice to see so many different, even weird designs in the C64 gaming world. Even failed ones, if they really are such. Who knows, might be something redeeming there, and very appealing to certain people.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Yeah - those guys at Creative Reality were certainly ambitious! Yet because the GUI was so 'out there' the games only got mediocre scores with reviewers, which is a shame because graphically I really liked their games. They have that certain 'gritty' feel to them 😇🕹️👌

[@daviddawson6150]

I was told that it should be pronounced ‘Slarn-ya’ by an Irish Gaelic speaker, but it makes more sense to be ‘Slain’ given the nature of the character.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

A bit like sláinte is pronounced... 'slawn-che'. I don't speak Gaelic although my mother does but on that logic then his name would probably be pronounced 'Slahn-yeh/Slorn-yeh' like you say... 😇🕹️👌

[@daviddawson6150]

@@CheekyCommodoreGamer - But nobody is making a comic strip about a bloodthirsty Celtic warrior who dismembers and disembowels nearly everything he meets and calling it ‘Slarn-ya’! I’m sticking with ‘Slain’. 😉

[@mirkovragovic]

I had this game on CPC464, and i clearly remember thinking that there was a good game hidden beneath this weird hypnotizing interface. I was astonished by Slaine’s different expressions, apparent relationship with the creature on his back, and god knows what lied deeper in the game… However, that all eluded me due to this crazy interface.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

I had the same problem as you - I never really got far because the interface would make me physically dizzy and nauseous after 20 minutes or so of play... so never got too far into the game 😇🕹️👌

[@Nosaveddataretro]

Always thought this guy from the cover looked like Razor Ramon

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Haha yeah, the wrestler 😇🕹️👌

[@MammaApa]

I had only ever seen screenshots of this game in an old issue of C+VG, which also came with a Slaine poster that teenage me appreciated. Finally seeing the game move I'm glad I gave it a miss.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

You genuinely didn't miss a great deal. I suppose for those who can get into it and be able to navigate the controls, I can imagine there's a semi-decent game behind it. But it made me too dizzy to be able to continue on for long! 😇🕹👌

[@Dorelaxen]

Ooooh, I see me some Simon Bisley artwork there. Awesome.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Superb artwork, very recognisable. It was only years later that I realised he did the artwork for the Amiga game 'Gods' too 😇🕹️👌

[@jupreindeer]

While I do love this unique idea of commands that come and go... using a joystick was a bit too clunky. And that had me thinking about how Windows works. *A:* A mouse. I do believe that Commodore had a mouse. It just was about as common to find as a witty comparison when dog tired at 3 am. And what did Windows do when a mouse wasn't available? *B:* Shortcut keys! The Commodore came stock with a keyboard. Imagine if each word that was racing by was alphabetically ordered and kept as best as could be to the first letter. Say, "LOOK" shows up. Quickly type 'L' to 'Look'. Or 'E' for 'Examine'. Controlling a pointer... like a huge skeleton hand is hard enough with a mouse. But a joystick is utter nightmare fuel. And if we needed to have two words with the same first letter... 'Shift' for one and not for the other, I suppose.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

The whole 'Reflex' menu interface was well and truly broken, I have no idea how the guys at Martech thought that using a joystick cursor would have been a great idea! Shame really as there is definitely a game behind it all 😇🕹️👌

[@bigleciezki]

In your list of popular 2000 AD characters, you missed Nemesis the Warlock, who also got a very strange C64 game. That said, Slaine was definitely my favorite character. Starting a bit rough, the books became better and better over the time, peaking in the Simon Bisley masterwork "The Horned God". I loved the series mix of dark humor and surprisingly deep elements from celtic mythology.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Yeah I'm planning on linking that on future video 😇🕹👌

[@Batidaplus]

loved 2000ad, got it when it first came out lol, my faves were judge dredd and strontium dog

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Both those games are on the channel... Strontium Dog is a little, let us say, colourful - to say the least! 😇🕹️👌

[@MorrisseysMonkey]

The 'reflex' thing did my head in and couldn't be arsed with the game.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Tell me about it! I think I had 2 paracetamol after playing this... 😇🕹️👌

[@Ultrapub]

I used to think it was annoying when a game’s interface was filled gibberish icons you had to constantly look up, but Slaine has shown me a much deeper level of horror. Who cares if you can read the options, if the options are constantly running from you?!

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

The amount of times I'd just click wildly trying to hit the option I wanted... only for it to fly off the screen and reappear near the top or bottom. A true test of patience this one... but unfortunately it was making me dizzy so I couldn't make massive progress 😇🕹️👌

[@hiidenlaulaja]

Just bought Horned God -anniversary book ❤

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

I've got in on hard-back, but not the anniversary version - looks superb though 😇🕹️👌

[@IsaacKuo]

I'm not very familiar with 2000 AD, but I have seen a couple movies. I can't help but imagine Judge Cassandra Anderson peering into Slaine's mind and going, "WTF is this god-awful mess?"

[@MechaFenris]

I LOVE Judge Dredd, but as a yank, it was expensive to import when I was younger...

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

I AM THE LAW!!! Haha great character 😇🕹️👌

[@SeanONeill-ef5vb]

I had a game called Professional Fly Swatting Simulator from Codemasters. After playing that, I became good at this game 😀

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Haha did that have 'New Release' plastered on the cassette box too! "Absolutely brilliant, those flies never knew what hit them" 😁🕹👌

[@KnowYoutheDukeofArgyll1841]

Soth! Guess I won't be dusting down the loincloth anytime soon for that one. Looking back at the golden age of the comic scene... I think an interesting conversion...(although their Dan Dare did have his own computer game too) could've been based on the Eagle Comic's rather dark horror story 'The House of Daemon' then again, probably not. But... I guess 2000ad probably had the bigger following and the more recognisable characters?

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

There were a good few 2000AD games in the end, all as weird and wonderful as each other. Strontium Dog was the only major failure as a game, along with this 'reflex' system on Slaine. I'd love to see Slain return to the gaming scene someday, a AAA game would be brilliant 😇🕹️👌

[@TheFacelessTwo]

Watched it twice and still can't figure out the interface.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Played it for a good hour or so and didn't get very far with it! The words just keep popping in and out of the screen and I kept going to the wrong destinations by accident. Frustrating interface indeed 😇🕹️👌

[@matslarsson5988]

Holy crap. I got just frustrated by watching the gameplay! Thanks for biting this bullet so I didn't have to. 😅

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

To be honest, its tougher to watch than it is to play... seriously, give it a try - you'll be tearing your hair out in places 😇🕹️👌

[@maxmirni2768]

congrats for getting as far as you did

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

I must admit, I had a bad headache when I came off this game! 😇🕹️👌

[@sterling7]

I can't help but think of another game featuring a Celtic warrior: Hellblade. But I get the impression that, despite his berserker nature, Slaine is supposed to be relatively sane. Mental illness would at least make that interface make a bit more sense. Perhaps with enough space to display more art doing the comic justice, this might have been more rewarding; as it is, it sounds like Whittaker's soundtrack is the only real saving grace.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

I quite liked Hellblade, which is a similar type game where thoughts are flying around her head... but the interface on this game spoil the game somewhat. I just cant seem to click the words I want in time haha 😇🕹️👌

[@exidy-yt]

A noble effort, but this looks extremely frustrating to play as you said. We never got 2000AD on this side of the pond, it sounds a bit like Heavy Metal, but a bit more pre-teenage oriented rather then the late teen-early 20s adult audience of HM. Some of the 2000AD characters were still known over here like Judge Dredd and to a lesser extent Slaine MacRoth, but Savage Sword of Conan was a far more popular comic in North America.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

I only really got into 2000AD comics after playing Dan Dare... I really wanted to know the backstory and obviously due to age missed out on the original 'Eagle Comics' - then I came to love Slaine! He's one brutal mo-fo 😇🕹️👌

[@vidarlystadjohansen9829]

looks ahead of its time and also hard to play

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Such a shame as I can imagine theres a really in-depth game there, but the interface is just very off-putting and was what probably caused this game to fail so hard with players 😇🕹️👌

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

I give them credit for trying something new, but this is definitely a failure. I suspect that it would be a bit more tolerable with a mouse, but those were not quite as common at that time on the Commodore 64. I wonder if they play tested this thing, and if they did how did it go?

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Sometimes the words REALLY ramp up in speed and its a frustrating 'click fest' with the joystick. Definitely would be 100 times easier with a mouse 😇🕹️👌

[@OperationPhantom]

The Wild West days of GUIs. Hits and misses with Martech but certainly interesting ideas. They really tried to innovate or do things a little different (like Uchi Mata which you covered already) which is to be commended. Still, a game that isn't fun to play is kind of like a broken pencil. Will you be reviewing Eddie Kidd maybe too? That one's kind of hilarious and has one of the biggest sprites in any C64 game.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Dont forget the great Martech classic - 'Samantha Fox Strip Poker!' haha. Yeah I'll definitely be reviewing Eddie Kidd too... theres quite a substantial list to get through, but I'll get there 😇🕹️👌

[@OperationPhantom]

@@CheekyCommodoreGamer Interesting company to cover (or uncover as is the case for Sam Fox... *groan*). Quite a bit of variety in their titles and they haven't had nearly the attention on YT as most of the big name companies.

[@jamesstaggs4160]

That reflex thing is a neat idea and would have worked if implemented properly. It should have been something situational and not the primary interface.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

The 'Reflex' system would have been perfect on the Amiga, with the mouse... but with a joystick, it just feels too unresponsive and 'clunky' 😇🕹️👌

[@zensibleone2295]

Interesting concept. Not a game I'd want to try, but might have to take a look at a playthrough to see if there's an actual flow to the game once you get passed the interface. Maybe it's my old eyes, but that font doesn't help matters either, with commands sliding in and out, it makes it that bit more difficult to read and react.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

You're not alone, playing the game made me pretty dizzy and even felt nauseous afterwards 😇🕹👌

[@nicoful86]

I wonder if a mouse input would help here?

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Would have been the perfect solution as trying to hit the words with joystick control could be a nightmare at times! 😇🕹️👌

[@caeserromero3013]

I think I'll give that one a miss 🤣🤣

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

You won't miss much, apart from avoiding a lot of frustration 😁🕹👌

[@Eirath]

Nemesis was from 2000 AD too, right?

[@KnowYoutheDukeofArgyll1841]

It was.

[@grahamtastic83]

Was coming here to ask where Nemesis was!

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Yup, got that lined up for a future playthrough 😇🕹️👌

[@tombolenbaugh4030]

What an odd design! I like experimentation, but I have to wonder if they did any proof of concept or just went from, "here's an idea," to production.

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

In theory the concept it brilliant, but it just doesn't work in practicality. I think it would be ideal for use with a mouse, not with the unresponsive joystick! 😇🕹️👌

[@djrmarketing598]

Did this game even get playtested or go thru QA at all????

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

The 80s was a time for experimental games for sure 😇🕹👌

[@ArttuTheCat]

My old friend had that 2000AD comic book tie-in for his Commodore 64 back in the late 1980's. We were the little kids during that time. I still want to look for this - and the other 2000AD comic book tie-in, NEMESIS THE WARLOCK - for my Commodore 64. In fact, it would be retrospectively pawsome 🐾 to look for them in the original game boxes 😺👍🕹️. And it doesn't matter, are they the tape or disk versions 😺👍🕹️. SLAINE may be a difficult game, but the best thing in this game is the soundtrack 🎵🎶 by David Whittaker 😺👍🕹️. I'm also looking for the SLAINE comic books 😹. A big retrospective like 👍🕹️ from Vantaa, Finland 🇫🇮.

[@commocore]

Slaine comic books are fantastic. Great and funny stories written by Pat Mills and drawn by several artists as Glenn Fabry, Simon Bisley, Dermot Power and initially by Massimo Beladrinelli, Angie Kincaid and Mike McMahon. All styles completely different, both loved and hated depends who would you ask. When I found one of Simon Bisley's comic book somewhere in the late 90s, I didn't connected the dots at first, that it was the game I played in the beginning of that decade. Indeed, music is outstanding and hooked me to the game forever. Nowadays, I have most of the Slaine comic books collected, including many languages like Polish, Italian, English or Dutch, but I have only one issue of 2000AD. I would love to have them all :). I also own the tape and the disk version, it's simple yet beautiful. I am definitely a Slaine fan! I wish to resurrect one day the webpage I ran between 2006 and 2009 with all the remixes (one by Zyron, another by Trace), with the solution and the map. Also, thinking of making the walkthrough, and working on a modern game project called The Third Messenger, inspired by the visuals, the atmosphere and cherry-picked aspects of unfortunate Reflex system :D.

[@ArttuTheCat]

​@@commocore It's also amazing, that Simon Bisley drew the art works 🖋️🖊️✏️🖍️, such as for one of the Amiga games, GODS, and also, if i remember correctly, one of Danzig's studio albums. 😺👍

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Superb artist, very distinct art style 😇🕹️👌

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Nemesis The Warlock is a game I'm planning on playing again soon 😇🕹️👌

[@commocore]

Oh, you're right @ArttuTheCat ! I actually never seen GODS original box art! At the very first glance I see this must be Bisley, no doubt!

[@chainreaction8977]

Did someone say Judge Dredd?..

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Also on the channel - strange game for the C64 though! 😇🕹️👌

[@chainreaction8977]

@@CheekyCommodoreGamer 10 YEARS IN THE ISO CUBES, PERP!

[@richardslotboom9250]

This looks BORING!

[@CheekyCommodoreGamer]

Definitely one for fans of the comic... but otherwise, a very confusing interface! 😇🕹️👌