Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (PC)

Geoffrey Wright | July 26, 2024 | Review | No Comments

When thinking about it, Llamasoft have been in the business for around 40 years but are still releasing games today. Digital Eclipse, fresh off the successful Atari 50, have decided to apply that format to this storied UK studio, but not just to the studio itself, instead the man behind it all these years will offer stories and insights to delight fans. Ready to enter the beastly world of Jeff Minter? Lets go!

As with the recent Atari 50, this new collection offers a comprehensive history lesson, but instead of being for a manufacturer etc the focus is on one man in particular – Jeff Minter. In a similar vein to previous collections there’s a tonne of interviews and extra bonuses to view as you make your way through the timeline, starting all the way back to the very late 70’s with releases on the Commodore Pet. It also makes a great insight into the UK games industry back then, from development to the industry as a whole with our insistence on home computers instead of consoles meant there wasn’t really a crash like in the US.

The journey through Lllamasofts history is spilt into 4 chapters, with the opening chapter of most interest for me as it details Jeff’s earliest work which was before my time. To go with the games there’s plenty of covers, posters and cassette models, but the most surprising addition ended up being the detailed design notes. These scans of handwritten notes by the man himself offer an insight into planning these works in the early days and make for a good read alongside the llamasoft newsletter he regular penned for fans.

With systems ranging from the 1977 Commodore PET, all the way up to 93’s Atari Jaguar, there’s certainly a vast scope to the visuals and a clear progression in flair as each new, more powerful, system is released over the years. Games are generally played on a bordered window and can have a few different filters to suit your taste. The border is generally the surrounding screen bezel of the system you are playing, so the CRT filter ends up working well here. The monochromatic early games make way for some colour gradually, and while the beasties are there early enough, it takes some time for the psychedelic look to catch up. The various Grid Runner versions through the years make a perfect showcase for this, as each new system adds some graphical flourish and the occasional added gameplay complexity.

If there’s one thing I’ve always liked about these old systems when it comes to presentation, its the audio. The beeps and boops of the programmed audio almost sounds as if the machine is trying to talk to you, or at least conveying audio feedback in clear and concise way. Systems today using samples and recordings doesn’t quite have the same effect. I’d usually also mention performance here, but everything emulated fine and it doesn’t really seem to use much, if anything, of my overkill PC system to mention.

Given the breadth of time this covers, there’s plenty of different experiences to play. Starting out with Jeff at college trying some programming on a Commodore PET, the basic premises and simple Defender & Centipede knock-offs make way for some original stuff once Lllamasoft is formed. Works keep going on the Commodores for several years until the Light Synth drops, after this most games in the third chapter are either crazy experimental or crazy difficult. There’s an arcade core to most of the experiences, which is indicative of Llamasoft even today, and that’s still very much present even in the more archaic releases here.

Unfortunately that’s about where things end for this collection. I was hoping it would go a little further, to the likes of Space Giraffe and its ilk released around that time, but Tempest on Jaguar is where our journey finishes – outside of a new revamped version of Grid Runner. There are some niggles too, some Atari ST versions aren’t always what they appear to be (Reportedly some are Jaguar fan conversions instead of emulated ST) and there’s some ports of games missing. You’re not always getting the definitive version of each game it seems.

As much a history lesson for the man, the myth, the legend himself, as opposed to a game collection. Llamasofties will get the most out of this, ones like me likely too young to appreciate the early stuff can get a proper look now, while older fans can revisit Jeff Minters early works like they did all those decades ago and may even find something new still. It’s not a perfect release to be fair, but its £25 price, and added bonus of a peek into the UK games industry of the 80’s, should help entice users beyond Llamasofts pastures.