Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story

Genre: Compilation / Arcade

Players: 1

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Review:

By now, developer Digital Eclipse’s Gold Master Series has come to be seen as the gold standard of Compilation releases that not only treats the games it includes with loving care, but expands upon them to create something of an interactive digital museum with an absolute wealth of documentary footage, interviews, and promo materials, presented as a timeline. For its second entry in this series (or third, if you count Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection), Digital Eclipse has turned its focus to British developer Jeff Minter, probably best known for the games Gridrunner and Tempest 2000, as well as a huge library of Arcade-style games with sci-fi themes starring goats, sheep, camels, and llamas.

Many of these games may not be familiar to modern audiences, particularly modern American audiences. Jeff’s preferred platforms during the time period this collection explores tended to be old-school gaming PCs produced by ZX, Commodore, and Atari, and while these enjoyed some success in Minter’s own European region, in the US these were swiftly overtaken by consoles, IBM-PC, and Windows PC. It is perhaps telling that the most highly-acclaimed and well-known game in this collection is likely Tempest 2000 for the Atari Jaguar, a killer app for a game console that was a resounding flop.

Minter’s games are often bizarre and nonsensical, feature bright psychedelic colors and spacey backgrounds, and are usually fast-paced and require a great amount of skill. This is to say that while they clearly have their fans, not everyone will enjoy them, and I’m sorry to say I’m one of those “not everyone”s, as you’ll see as I run through the following list of 40 games included here.

Here is what I think of each of the games that are included in this Compilation:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Score
3D3D	Puzzle / Misc.	1	D-
tl;dr This First-Person maze navigation game is dull, monotonous, and has confusing controls. Interesting as a piece of history and little else.
Centipede (ZX81)	Arcade	1	D-
tl;dr This version of the Arcade classic is overly-simplified, has enemies that are too fast and a fire rate that’s too slow, resulting in a difficulty that’s far too high.
Deflex V	Arcade	1	C-
tl;dr A simple Arcade-style game about placing “bats” to deflect a ball to multiple goals. Compelling, but it’s frustrating that it’s difficult to predict which way a “bat” will deflect the ball.
Bomber	Arcade	1	C
tl;dr A simple one-button Arcade-style game inspired by Atari’s Canyon Bomber. Enjoyable, if fairly simple and shallow.
Ratman	Arcade	1	D-
tl;dr An extremely simple and overly-stiff game about a man moving left and right to hit falling rats twice each with a hammer.
Rox III, Spectrum Version	Arcade	1	F
tl;dr This game plays like a version of Missile Command where you only have the most minimal control over your aim and need to have perfect timing. It doesn’t look bad, but it’s barely playable.
Super Deflex	Arcade	1	D+
tl;dr A game where you place “bats” to deflect balls, not much has changed from Deflex V, but it seems harder to time your actions, making this game less satisfying.
Andes Attack	Arcade	1	D
tl;dr This Defender clone suffers from a screen that’s too small for the speed of the gameplay, and visuals that are too choppy.
Abductor	Arcade	1	D
tl;dr This combination of Space Invaders and Defender has enemies that are too fast and a fire rate that’s too slow, resulting in a difficulty that’s far too high.
Rox 64	Arcade	1	D
tl;dr This game plays like a version of Missile Command where you only have the most minimal control over your aim, although at least this time your timing doesn’t need to be quite as perfect as Rox III required. This is still a pretty simple, repetitive, and uninteresting game, though.
Gridrunner (VIC-20)	Arcade	1	D
tl;dr This game is similar to Centipede, but is faster-paced and it’s far too easy to get blindsided by an enemy attack you didn’t see coming.
Gridrunner (Commodore 64)	Arcade	1	D+
tl;dr This game is similar to Centipede, but is faster-paced and it’s far too easy to get blindsided by an enemy attack you didn’t see coming. This version isn’t quite as overly fast-paced as the VIC-20 version, but still too fast to feel fair.
Headbangers Heaven	Arcade	1	D-
tl;dr This odd game has you moving across a Space Invaders-style platform guarded by shields that gradually break down. The game oddly encourages you to get hit by the hammers falling down… but not too many? It’s odd, counter-intuitive, controls poorly, and very quickly becomes impossible with the massive numbers of falling hammers.
Attack of the Mutant Camels (VIC-20)	Arcade	1	D+
tl;dr This Arcade-style game is clearly a riff on the Atari 2600 Empire Strikes Back game’s take on the Hoth battle, but simpler and with worse controls.
Laser Zone (VIC-20)	Arcade	1	C+
tl;dr This Arcade-style game takes something like Space Invaders but has you controlling ships on both the bottom and the side at the same time. It’s a bit repetitive, but it’s a fun challenge multitasking the two.
Laser Zone (Commodore 64)	Arcade	1	C-
tl;dr This version of Laser Zone features redone visuals, but it seems like the hit detection is more iffy, and the difficulty curve ramps up much faster. Because of this, I think the VIC-20 version is preferable.
Matrix: Gridrunner 2 (VIC-20)	Arcade	1	C-
tl;dr This sequel is a bit less unforgiving than the original game, but still overly difficult.
Matrix: Gridrunner 2 (Commodore 64)	Arcade	1	C-
tl;dr I think this version of the game is slightly more fluid than the VIC-20 version, but still suffers from that version’s main flaws
Gridrunner (Atari 8-Bit)	Arcade	1	D+
tl;dr This game is similar to Centipede, but is faster-paced and it’s far too easy to get blindsided by an enemy attack you didn’t see coming. Like the Commodore 64 version, this version isn’t quite as overly fast-paced as the VIC-20 version, but still too fast to feel fair.
Hover Bovver (Commodore 64)	Arcade	1	C
tl;dr This is an odd game that has you trying to mow a lawn while avoiding your neighbor and managing your overzealous dog. It’s certainly unique, but not very compelling due to its odd mix of elements that too often feel awkward together, particularly how often your dog gets in your own way.
Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time (AKA Meta-Llamas) (VIC-20)	Arcade	1	C-
tl;dr This overly-complicated shot-deflecting Arcade game ends up being pretty repetitive, and when you mess up it’s difficult to fix your mistakes.
Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time (AKA Meta-Llamas) (Commodore 64)	Arcade	1-2 Alternating (Local)	C-
tl;dr This version of the game gives players more space, but makes movement slower and tosses more enemies at you far too quickly. On balance, I prefer the VIC-20 version.
Hellgate (VIC-20)	Arcade	1-2 Alternating (Local)	D
tl;dr Like Laser Zone, having you control multiple ships on different sides of the screen, unfortunately this game is far too fast-paced to make this sort of multitasking enjoyable.
Hellgate (Commodore 64)	Arcade	1-2 Alternating (Local)	D
tl;dr Similar to the VIC-20 version. Like Laser Zone, having you control multiple ships on different sides of the screen, unfortunately this game is far too fast-paced to make this sort of multitasking enjoyable.
Sheep in Space	Arcade	1-2 Alternating (Local)	D
tl;dr This game seems overly-complicated and unintuitive, while still borrowing elements from games like Defender.
Attack of the Mutant Camels (Atari 8-Bit)	Arcade	1	D
tl;dr This Arcade-style riff on the Atari 2600 Empire Strikes Back looks better on Atari 8-Bit, but the visuals actually make it harder to see shots, and it’s also harder to line up your ship to attack enemies, making this a worse game overall.
Ancipital	Arcade	1	D-
tl;dr This is far too chaotic and overly-complicated. You’re supposed to be figuring out how to open up the walls in each room, but enemies don’t really give you time to do that. This just ends up being a jumbled mess of a game.
Psychedelia	Application	1	C-
tl;dr This light synthesizer app may have seemed cool back when it was released, but now it feels pretty limited.
Mama Llama	Action / Misc.	1	?
tl;dr I’ve read the instructions for this, and tried multiple times, and I cannot figure out how this is meant to be played. Something about using a robot to protect a family of llamas? Sorry, this one has me stumped.
Colourspace	Application	1-2 Local	C+
tl;dr A successor to Psychadelia that greatly improves on what was in the original. Its options are not very accessible, and I would have liked to see a greater range of options, but I could absolutely see this in use at a party or rave today. In fact, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story cleverly uses this version of Colourspace to produce the trippy menu backgrounds in real-time.
Batalyx	Compilation / Arcade	1	D
tl;dr This Compilation consisted of six mini-games: Hallocin-O-Bomblets (okay, but counter-intuitive in a way that isn’t fun), AMC2 (An improvement on Attack of the Mutant Camels that’s still pretty bad), The Activation of Iridis Base (Inexplicable, I don’t understand this one), Cippy on the Run (an Arcade-style Platformer that’s simple and seemingly pointless), Synchro II (A clever concept, but it seems impossible to get it right), and Psychadelia (a stripped-down take on a light synthesizer program already limited in options). Yeah, I didn’t care for any of these.
Iridis Alpha	Arcade	1	D
tl;dr This side-scrolling Space Shooter-esque game has a jumbled, cramped screen where it’s difficult to see enemies until they’re right on totop of you.
Voidrunner	Arcade	1	C-
tl;dr This is a decent follow-up to the Gridrunner games, and I think the difficulty curve is much more reasonable. Unfortunately, there’s just too much noise happening on screen to keep track of what’s going on.
Revenge of the Mutant Camels II	Arcade / Action-Platformer	1	C-
tl;dr This Action-Platformer has its charms, but it’s awkward to control, and your movement is too slow.
Super Gridrunner	Arcade	1	C-
tl;dr Super Grunner overcorrects for the original game’s overly fast and chaotic gameplay by being slow and a bit too easy.
Attack of the Mutant Camels ’89	Arcade	1	D+
tl;dr While easier to control than earlier games in this series, your ship is too big to easily avoid enemy attacks, which come without warning from all over.
Llamatron: 2112	2-Stick Shooter	1	C
tl;dr This is a decent but mostly unspectacular 2-Stick Shooter
Revenge of the Mutant Camels ST	Arcade / Action-Platformer	1-2 Co-Op (Local)	C-
tl;dr This Action-Platformer is chaotic, and your movement is once again too slow.
Tempest 2000	Arcade	1-2 Co-Op (Local)	B
tl;dr This update to the classic Arcade game adds eye-catching visuals, power-ups, and more balanced gameplay. The result is a much-improved sequel that far surpasses the original. Definitely a highlight of this bundle!
Gridrunner Remastered	Arcade	1	C
tl;dr This brand new visually-updated take on the original Gridmaster half-fixes my biggest issue with it by showing an indicator of where the bottom turret is about to fire… but then fails to do the same for the left turret. Beyond that, this is a solid visual upgrade for the original game, but without fixing that issue, it’s not one I would recommend to most people

As you can see, while this package certainly contains a good quantity of games, I’m dubious about the quality. The two standouts here, in my opinion, are Colourspace, a niche light synthesizer app that some may find to be a delightful way to spruce up a party but is not in fact a game, and the aforementioned Tempest 2000, which is also included in Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection. In other words, if you came here for good games, you may be better off going for that compilation instead, especially since a good portion of the games found here are shameless copies of games in that bundle.

Beyond the games, there is of course the documentary content that Digital Eclipse’s Gold Master Series has come to be known for, but here I feel that you simply don’t get the amazing insight that was given in The Making of Karateka, nor the compelling story that unfolded in Tetris Forever. To be fair, if you’re a fan of Jeff Minter already, I have no doubt that this will be an absolute treasure trove of materials related to the man’s career, but if you’re not already a fan I’m dubious that this will win you over.

In the end, this is the first of Digital Eclipse’s Gold Master Series titles that actually had me feeling conflicted. As per usual, they’ve done a magnificent job in telling the history of the topic matter, including a huge list of games from that history to play while learning about their creator. However, like The Making of Karateka I don’t feel like most of the included games have aged well, and unlike The Making of Karateka I don’t feel like the documentary materials provide enough value to make up for that fact. I commend Digital Eclipse for their efforts here, but I don’t think this is a title I could recommend to anyone but those who are already fans of Minter’s work. However, if you are such a fan, this Compilation will no doubt be an absolute delight for you.

tl;dr – Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is a Compilation containing 40 mostly Arcade-style games created by the titular Jeff Minter, creator of Tempest 2000 and Gridrunner. Unfortunately, I do not think most of these games have aged well, and while Digital Eclipse has once again done a superb job with its documentary-style exploration of this section of videogame history, I don’t think that’s going to be enough to win over those who aren’t already smitten with Minter’s catalog of games. Unless you like retro-style Arcade games that are hard, weird, and at times difficult to understand, this probably isn’t for you.

Grade: C

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2024 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Most Overrated

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