Army Moves and its sequel Navy Moves form the backbone of Dinamic's - and Spain's - reputation for rock hard Speccy gaming.
I'd never played either game and so tonight I must have been feeling especially sharp as I gave Army Moves a spin in the emulator.
An hour or two later, and with judicious end of level savestates and I have ploughed through to near the end. To get there I have driven by jeep through a hail of bullets, aircraft and armoured cars jumping holes in the route in the left right scrolling of phase 1. I have then flown three phases in a helicopter over land and sea scrolling smoothly right to left. Then I have run at the enemy Green Beret Style in two more phases, now flick screen though, and then stormed into the building itself, the final phase moving through doors to both left and right.
I'm emulating the game in 128K so there is just one load.
It sounds a big game, with all these phases and so it is, but it is designed to be played at speed. It is an intense beguiling experience requiring the player to learn the rhythm of each phase.
And after doing so I understand Dinamic's difficulty curve better. If it were easy it would all be over too quickly. I have enjoyed it all the more for setting a hard challenge.
Army Moves was criticised for bad collision detection but I don't agree. The collision detection simply favours death rather more than life. It feels unfair but at least it is consistent. In the scrolling phases you get sent back to the beginning which is a bit mean - but the game still has oodles of playability. I found phase one especially addictive.
I have really enjoyed discovering Army Moves. The run and gun phase is too messy for my liking so its a 4 rather than a 5 from me, but do give this one a run for its money. I nearly missed it out on reputation alone and found a much better and more accessible game than I'd anticipated.
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