I loved what Digital Eclipse did with Gold Master Series: The Making of Karateka. You can read my review here. I couldn’t wait for the reveal of the next installment in this series that was shaping up to be “the Criterion collection of video games.” When they finally announced that it would be the compilation of games Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, I was somewhat disappointed. I didn’t know who Jeff Minter was despite considering myself a supposed “connoisseur” of video game history and therefore I didn’t feel interested. How foolish and clumsy I was.
The purpose of this series of documentary video games is precisely to present important works in the history of video games and all the necessary context to understand them and their creators.. This installment made me realize that not only am I not as “knowledgeable” as I thought, but it introduced me to over twenty excellent games that I wasn’t familiar with.
Jeff Minter is a legendary video game designer and programmer whose works were primarily released for 1980s home computers such as the VIC-20, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Atari 8-bit.. Most of the titles he worked on—which he released under his own company called Llamasoft—are shooters with psychedelic elements and animals like llamas, sheep, and camels. I found out that he is the creator of the legendary Gridrunner and the best version of the classic Tempest. I felt a little embarrassed for not having met him before.
The story of a furry
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story It is not a simple compilation of games, but a ‘museum-style’ documentary work in which we can take a chronological journey not only through its ludography, but through the stories that surrounded it, the things that influenced it, the documents and art that it has left its path through the world of video games.
We can watch videos in which Jeff talks about the things that influenced him and tells anecdotes from his life as a developer. We also see video game journalists and other developers explain the importance of Llamasoft games, the impact they had on the industry, and what it was like to be a video game fan in 1980s England, where home computers played a big part. more impact than consoles.
That is the most “traditional” part of the documentary. In addition to the videos, we can look at a good number of photographs and documents. Among these are the advertising of Llamasoft games in computer magazines of the time and the development notes that Jeff made in notebooks.. There are also complete editions of the ‘fanzine’ that the same developer edited to be in direct communication with his fans. It is a shame that, unlike the videos, these documents are not translated into Spanish.
Through all these videos, documents and the more than 40 games that it includes Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story We discover the “origin story” of a young man who taught himself to program video games, we learn about the golden era of home computers and the harsh decline of this market in the 90s.
Let’s not forget the games!
As attractive as this developer’s story is, the ‘raison d’être’ of Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is the impressive collection of games it offers. We have more than 40 titles available. Although it is true that some of them are repeated in different versions – many of them are the ‘ports’ for Commodore 64 or Atari ST of games originally released for VIC-20 – it is worth trying them because they offer interesting playable and aesthetic differences.
These works are not simple curiosities for collectors and lovers of retro games. The vast majority are genuinely fun games. Every time I tried a version of Gridrunner that of Revenge of the Mutant Camels I would end up trapped in their webs, chasing high scores or trying to beat my previous records.
Even Jeff’s older games have that addictive quality. I had a good time playing Abductorthe seemingly simple Deflex was unexpectedly intriguing and Andes Attack It’s as fun as Defender. Now that I mention that, we must talk about a “controversial” element of Llamasoft’s works. The vast majority of their titles, including the most popular ones, are derivatives—sometimes literally copies—of some of the best-known arcade games of the 1970s and 1980s.
Space Invaders, Defender, Centipede, Robotron, Missile Command and even the game Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for Atari 2600 are easily recognizable in Jeff’s works, only changing the design of the ships or replacing them with animals such as llamas, sheep and camels. The important thing is that many of these They turn out to be better than the original titles on which they are inspired, demonstrating Jeff’s powerful originality and imagination when adapting well-known concepts.
The most iconic example of that is Tempest 2000. This not only overshadowed the Tempest original, but is considered the best Atari Jaguar game. Interestingly, this is the only Jeff Minter game I had played before learning about this compilation.
Jeff Minter, what were you thinking?
But I didn’t have a positive experience with all the games in this collection. I remembered “the hard way” that not all retro games are simple works. Titles like Mama Llama e Rainbow Alpha They had me completely confused until I remembered that manuals existed for a reason. Fortunately, they are all scanned here.
Minter games can also be insanely difficult. Even after many attempts it seems impossible to survive more than a few seconds in Hell Gate, pass the third level in Rainbow Alpha or find the way out of the maze Ancipital Jeff himself admits that he’s not the best person to balance a game’s difficulty.
Other works included in Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story They are not really games. Psychedelia y ColourSpace They are “light synthesizers” that allow you to create hypnotic light and color effects. They wouldn’t be out of place setting the scene at an electronic music party.
What’s missing
My only real complaint against Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is the little that explores Llamasoft’s works from the last 30 years. The videos are very clear in explaining that Jeff has never stopped working. We are given brief looks at the titles he has made for mobile phones, VR and the infamous Space Giraffe, but he hardly takes them into consideration.
We regret the absence of Space Giraffe, the recently rediscovered According to Arrh or any Jeff game released after 1994 in this collection. This may be due to licensing problems or because we do not want to affect the sale of titles that are still available, but the collection feels incomplete. In compensation we have gems like the version of Revenge of the Space Camels for the canceled Konix Multisystem console, which had not been seen before, and a new version of Gridrunner developed by Digital Eclipse in collaboration with Jeff.
Same as with The Making of KaratekaI don’t want to treat Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story like any game. This is an important work for the preservation and history of video games that transcends the need for a rating out of 10. The only thing I can add is that this is a must-buy for anyone interested in video game history.
Review made with a digital copy of Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story for PlayStation 5 provided by Digital Eclipse. This game is now available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
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