CRL Feature Extras: Interview with Jeff Lee - Part 1

For my CRL From the Archives feature in Retro Gamer issue 97, I conducted an unusually high amount of interviews. Alas most of the material from many of the interviews could never fit in the article itself so already I've published the full interviews with Paul "Andy" Stoddart, Richard Taylor and Jay Derrett and now we have Jeff Lee, the self-proclaimed "production factotum", who nevertheless had several key roles in the development of CRL and proved very helpful in filling in the blanks on a lot of questions I had.   Jeff began work at CRL in 1984 and he had this to tell me about the company and the people that worked there.

At the time of writing, Issue 97 of Retro Gamer is still available at the Imagine Publishing shop
https://www.imagineshop.co.uk/retro-gamer-issue-97.html

Clem Chambers (CRL founder and boss)
"The production team didn't always appreciate how smart Clem was at the time. We approached games as if they were artworks, often at the expense of any commercial sensibilities. He was also dogged, staying around during the programming marathons when projects threatened to jeopardise the company with their over-runs. As a former engineer he would keep coders going by patiently going through every routine and questioning how they worked. My lasting memory of him is his constant demands for printouts strewn over tables - "This was how Zilog made theZ80" he would say."


Ian Ellery (Production Manager)
"Ian Ellery showed the power of being economical. He would design games with a few gestures on scraps of paper. These would be enough for artists and programmers to develop their products and his understanding that "no idea=no game" earned him a new motorbike within a few months of joining."

Mike Hodges (General Manager)
"We used to call him "Codges - your Codges, my Codges" and he did much better for himself as a project co-ordinator than an production staff. He was very affable and would press rather than pressurise - sometimes wryly, but always unthreateningly - and this easy-going, yet focused, manner facilitated the good working relations necessary for Clem's ambitious expansion program in 1987."

Paul Stoddart (Programmer)
"Paul was the anchor man right up to the end production in 1988. Whenever projects were in trouble, he pulled them through, whether by taking on a conversion no-one else was available for or rescuing projects that were in trouble. It was this indefatigability coupled with no-one ever witnessing him eat or sleep that gave rise to his Kraft-werkian nickname of "Android"! His project list is long and impressive, including Blade Runner (Spectrum, plus one half of the C64 version), Rocky Horror Show and countless smaller contributions such as plumbing the digitised images to Rod Pike's text adventures.

Paul's final project was a beat-em-up called "I, Ludicrus" which was starting to show off Jon Law's graphics properly - alas, CRL folded, so we'll never know what could have been."

Jay Derrett (Programmer and music composer)
"Jay was responsible for most of the (mainly C64) music for CRL. His schedule was so crammed that we (including Jay himself!) would sometimes do impersonations that mocked the generic quality to his music. His commercial savvy marked him apart from the rest of us. Most coders at the time stayed in the build-it-from-the-ground-up generation whilst he moved on to the emerging vogue of not re-inventing the wheel every time. This approach fitted perfectly into the distribution arrangement we had with Electronic Arts, which had a contractual requirement on us to supply 10 SKU's (single title on a single format) per month. Jay took this pragmatic approach with him as he left to join a broker in the City as an engineer in the newly emerging world of LAN technologies."

Jdanddiet's Top 100 Movies: 70-61

70.Cross of Iron (1977)

Sam Peckinpah turned his hand to World War 2 and produced this stunning adaptation of Willi Heinrich's excellent book.  Slo-mo long before Mr. Woo.

 

69.Swimming with Sharks (1994)

Before he broke out with 1995's The Usual Suspects, Kevin Spacey dominated the screen (literally) as a horrible studio exec torturing poor underling Frank Whaley.  A great commentary on the process of films and film making.

 

68.Scream 2 (1997)

Amusing, thrilling and fast-paced, it's a a sequel I've always had time for, especially as it contains more Liev Schrieber as the maligned Cotton Weary, who delivers a fantastic final line.

 

67.Star Trek (2009)

I hate the terms "re-boot" and "re-imagining" but they're quite apt in Star Trek's case, a prequel that cleverly manipulates events to allow for an entirely fresh franchise.  Expect more.

 

66.Ravenous (1999)

Reviled as much as it is revered, I've always been a fan of this film for several reasons: Jeffrey Jones' brilliant turn as a world-weary Colonel, the amazing score by Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman and a bizarre plot that contrasts nicely with the 19th Century setting.

 

65.Dawn of the Dead (2004)

I have seen the original and whilst it's good, feel it has dated somewhat.  Zac Snyder's update is as frantic as it is terrifying.

 

64.True Romance (1993)
Is it Christian Slater's best film?  Likely, but the competition ain't great...

 

63.Spoorloos (The Vanishing) (1988)

I caught this for the first time on Channel 4 late one night.  Brought up on action movies where the good guys always win and get the girl, the ending was something of a surprise.  Shame about the dreadful Hollywood remake.

 

62.The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

Directed by John Huston from a Rudyard Kipling short story, and starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine, there's no doubting the talent on show in this sharp colonial metaphor.

 

61.48 Hours (1982)
You can't beat a bit of early 80's Eddie Murphy, and this is him at his wise-cracking best.

Retro Gamer 103

The latest issue of Retro Gamer is a must for fans of the Atari VCS (or 2600).

It features an excellent 14-page article dedicated to the famous console by Atari expert Marty Goldberg, tracing its conception to release and beyond, as well as detailed accounts of the best games and console variations.

Also in this issue I enjoyed the signature series piece on Diablo (even though I've never played the game) and the Bluffers guide to flight sims - a long overdue look at this neglected genre.

Other articles in this issue:-

Jack Tramiel Tribute
Making of Double Dragon
Making of Citadel
Desert Island disks  Andy O'Neil
The Self Preservation Society

Plus all the usuals, back to the 80's/90's, classic games, retro revivals, future classic etc etc.

Jdanddiet's Top 100 Movies: 80-71

80.Starship Troopers (1997)
Laughably different from the novel source material, Starship Troopers was (and indeed still is) such gory, sadistic, violent fun, that it's impossible not to like. Well, unless you don't like that sort of thing of course...

79.Fight Club
...

78.Southern Comfort
Is it a metaphor for Vietnam? Most probably, but the gloomy, oppressive atmosphere and tight script concerning a National Guard maneouvre in the deep south that goes violently wrong makes Southern Comfort compulsive viewing.

77.Saw
Looooong before the franchise formed and became the ridiculous behemoth it is today, the original Saw was released on an unsuspecting audience and is actually a taut and well-written thriller. I've successfully ignored most of the sequels for fear of tarnishing its memory.

76.Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Robert Downey Jr is one of my favourite actors and he lights the screen here as Harry Lockhart, a man framed for an attempted assassination of the President. A great little thriller directed by famous 80's scribe Shane Black.

75.Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
It may have been hugely unpopular with Gene Roddenberry (who greatly objected to the militaristic tone of the movie), but Wrath of Khan was a massive hit and remains my favourite Star Trek movie to this day, so don't bother waiting for the one with the whales in this list.

74.Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Kids movies, eh? Forced to endure 90 minutes of mindless sludge, with a colour pallet to make your eyes bleed and enough screaming characters and action to have you reaching for the paracetamol. Not this film. Cloudy is one of the best kids films out there, an intelligent mix of humour, fun, pathos and adventure.

73.Scream
Wes Craven may not have created a whole new genre, but you'd have thought he had, the way everyone banged on about Scream back in 1996. If you were going to pigeon-hole it, I'd say it's more thriller than horror movie, but from that famous opening scene onwards, it had me hooked...

72.Glengarry Glen Ross
Adopted from a stage play, Glengarry Glen Ross certainly has that stagey feel to it, yet the sharp script and sheer weight of talent in front of the camera clearly makes up for this, if it's a drawback at all.

71.The Prestige (2006)
Some films are just soaked in quality and 2006's The Prestige starring Christian Bale and Huge Action and directed by Christopher Nolan is certainly one such example. It's set in the late 19th Century as too rival magicians seek to out-do and compromise each other, and despite a twist towards the end that threatens to compromise the movie (some claim it ruined the plot), I would still watch it over and over again.

Due to ahem - technical reasons - my blog will have no pictures for the near future.  I shall continue to post and may get an occasional chance to post a picture.  Normal service will be resumed soon I hope!

Make Love and War: Mass Effect 2 XBOX 360 Review

WARNING: this review contains spoilers!

Having just completed the original Mass Effect, I wasted no time in jumping straight into its revered sequel, and whilst I was expecting some major changes, I wasn't quite expecting what I got.

After an incredible opening scene set aboard the Normandy, ME2 takes quite a u-turn in terms of plot with a resurrected John Shepherd hitching up (albeit reluctantly) with the supposed Human terrorist organisation from the first game, Cerberus.  With the mysterious Illusive man pulling the strings, and Shepherd in charge of a new crew and new Normandy, it's off to explore the galaxy once more and take on the nefarious Collectors.

But away from the plot (which is as excellent, though-provoking and interesting as the in ME), Bioware made a number of interesting changes to the games' mechanics.  Gone are the myriad of weapon and armour options that overwhelmed you in Mass Effect; now you have little choice in these items, which despite being initially disappointing, makes the game much more streamlined, leaving the player to concentrate on the game and storyline.  There is an upgrade system, but generally the inventory of old has been completely dropped.  Levelling up is also streamlined, with far fewer options making it obvious the developers had half an eye on making the Mass Effect universe much more accessible to newcomers.

Once off and running, Shepherd must recruit a team to take on the Collectors.  Here is the meat and bones of the game, jetting around locating team-members and solving their individual problems in order to make them "loyal" you and the Cerberus cause (although the irony of having so many alien species on a Cerberus ship seems lost on everyone).  This is an excellent device for getting to know the characters;  they're not just gun-toting mercenaries, they are alive and all have back-stories that provide valuable clues as to their psyche and reliability.  This connection is emphasised in the final stages of the mission when you WILL lose party members.  I felt genuinely sad when the swarm carried away hit-man Thane.

ME2 also almost complete erases ME's graphical glitches and boasts another superb score thanks to composer Sam Hulick.  If it has any flaws I'd say it's the mineral collection sub-"game" which quickly becomes very tiresome (yet essential) and there are no vehicle sections to break up the running and gunning.

These are minor points however;  Mass Effect 2 is a slick and engaging game that promises - and delivers - many hours of entertainment.  I personally can't wait to play the next game.

One final point: make sure you play the original game first.  Many of your decisions from Mass Effect will be carried over and make for a much more intriguing adventure.

Speccy Years - 1986 Part 2 - Shoot 'em ups

If there was one genre more popular than platformers during the Spectrum's lifetime, it was shoot 'em ups.  From the very early days of Space Invader clones to the laughably ambitious coin-op conversions of the early 90's, the Spectrum boasted a huge range of brilliant (and not-so-brilliant) shooters.  Here's my picks from the Speccy's legendary year of 1986.

Battle of the Planets - Mikro-Gen
A space-based shooter was always going to be the easy option for Mikro-Gen but they made a pretty decent fist of it with this (admittedly generic) game.  Crash magazine labelled it as an Elite clone without the thinking and strategy which is either a great or terrible idea depending on your view of the Firebird classic.
 
Forbidden Planet - Design Design
Despite being essentially an updated version of Design Design's earlier Dark Star, Simon Brattel turned in a fast-paced shooter of such simplistic pleasure, it was impossible not to like.

I.C.U.P.S. - Thor
OK, it's only part shooter, but nevertheless I found ICUPS to be a smart little game, despite its slagging in the press of the time.

Light Force - Faster Than Light
This was the biggie.  Released Christmas 1986,  Light Force stunned reviewers and gamers alike with its impressive colourful - and colour clash-free - graphics.  It was a touch overrated, of course, but still a fun vertically-scrolling shmup.

Starstrike 2 - Realtime Games
18 months earlier, the 3D shooter Starstrike had impressed Speccy owners, and the sequel incredibly improved even further the action shooting template.  And the amazing solid 3D graphics didn't result in any sacrifice either - the game was pretty swift too.

Terra Cresta - Imagine
Whilst not legendary Speccy programmer Joffa Smith's finest hour, he had such high standards that made Terra Cresta still a smooth and entertaining blaster.
 

Uridium - Hewson
They said it couldn't be done.  It was.  And the graphics were more detailed.  If a little monochromatic.