Shmup without music?! Feels boring and barren without a thumping soundtrack, which is a shame as it definitely has potential.
If an update is released that replaces the crappy sound effects with a quality soundtrack then I would be very interested in taking another look. Until then, there are too many great shmups with great soundtracks on the C64 already to waste any time on this.
Several other people have posted comments that the sound effects are indeed of a low quality, or "crappy" if you prefer. The laser sound effect has been mentioned several times as being particularly poor.
However I was not referring to the QUALITY of the sound effects, but to the fact that sound effects in GENERAL are a poor substitute for a rocking soundtrack in a shmup. A shmup without music is just not a complete shmup in my book - is it just a half finished game that is waiting for someone to finish it properly by adding a soundtrack.
In fact, in shmups with really great soundtracks (which many have) I often turn the volume of the sound effects right down in order for them to not spoil the soundtrack.... never heard of anyone ever turning the MUSIC down in order to hear a few crappy sound effects though..
Maybe they got bad speakers. At least on real hardware with good speakers the sfx sound fantastic.
A shmup without sfx is a very bad idea. There are several C64 games where you can choose sfx or music. To play without sfx is to me hopeless in this type of games.
As you know C64 got 3-channels. It is amazing what people can get out of them but in this game often 2-channels are used for sfx.
It is a designers choice. To me this game is very much in the spirit of classic space shooters. A lot of them had no music.
I respect your opinion and I'm not saying that music is a bad idea, but the quality of the sfx we do not agree about.
Maybe, but maybe they just don't like the sound effects and wished there was music? ;) I notice there are several comments on the Youtube video for this game complaining there is no music.... ;)
However, as I said before, the quality of the sound effects is not the issue for me personally - I would NEVER play a shmup that does not have music - to me, music in a shmup is the same as shooting, power ups and boss fights - a necessary and important part of the experience.
Almost all C64 shmups have music - certainly all the best ones - and the soundtracks in a good shmup are celebrated as much or more than any other part of the game. To have a shmup without music, to me, is to have a half finished game that is not worth playing.
I have never come across a C64 game with music that overrides TWO channels to sound effects - ONE yes, many do this - you lose a single track of music playback when a sound effect plays (R-Type, Katakis, Warhawk etc), which I do not like personally and if the option is there I will always switch off the sound effects altogether to prevent disruption to the soundtrack.
Of course it is the designers choice to make any game any way they want, and that's fine. However if the designer is making the game for their own benefit then it doesn't matter, but if the designer wants people to support his product he needs to make a game THEY want to play and support. I have purchased literally hundreds of games on Itch, Protovision, Psytronik, Double Sided Games etc - in fact, I try and purchase almost every C64, ZX Spectrum, Vic 20, Atari 8 bit etc game that is released to support further releases. I purchase shmups, platformers, puzzlers, text adventures etc. However, I draw the line at a half finished shmup with no soundtrack. But again, that's just my opinion - if you like a barren stark sounding shmup with no soundtrack then enjoy.
As for many C64 sshmups not having music - I DEFINITELY disagree. If you made a list of either ALL the C64 scrolling shmups, or even a list of the top 20 shmups on the C64 I can guarantee you that the vast majority of them have a soundtrack. Armalyte is one of the few that comes to mind that doesn't, and I always thought it was a boring bland shmup because of it - but again, that's just my opinion.
I just think it is a shame as the game looks quite decent..... it just doesn't SOUND decent, but could have done. Still, don't let me stop you from enjoying it.
I can promise you that your comment will not stop me for enjoying the game!
We play this game now in the C64 Hiscore challenge.
For June we played Starforce. If you select sfx there is no in game music.
In Mai we played "Xerons" No in game music.
2 great games!!
Others
Zybex, Scramble, Bulldog, Parallax, Gladiators, Sanixion, Subterenia, Zaxxon, Delta, Slayer, Uridium, Zynaps, Armalyte
A lot of the games I mention here even got crap sfx.
Armalyte as many consider the best C64 shmup got nice sfx and with music it could not been that good sfx. I would not change it for music and 1 channel sfx.
R-type got great music but the sfx is crap. Hard to play that way. I get almost no feeling playing the game. Much better on Amiga but there you got 4-channels.
Not saying it is impossible with sfx and music.
Sarah Jane have done it great on C64.
Soul Force, Zeta wing comes to mind.
Nice that you buy and enjoy retro games :)
I buy most C64, Spectrum and Amiga games.
:) Well, that's good to hear - no one else's opinion should ever over shadow your personal enjoyment of any particular game.
I am glad you enjoy those other games, and I am happy you consider them "great". They don't have music? I consider them not worth playing, but I guess that just shows we have different tastes and values in games (or at least shmups).
Zybex, Scramble, Bulldog, Parallax, Gladiators, Sanixion, Subterenia, Zaxxon, Delta, Slayer, Uridium, Zynaps, Armalyte - I do not class a SINGLE ONE of these as a good shmup. ;) Again, I am happy you enjoy them, but I am thinking I probably don't like them for the same reasons you DO like them.
I class games like Katakis, Salamander, R-Type, St Dragon, Zetawing, Soul Force, Hades Nebula (remix version), Enforcer etc as great C64 shmups. (I purchased Zetawing and Soul Force as soon as they were released ;) )
A lot of those games don't even have sound effects at all, but they all have pumping soundtracks. The sfx in R-Type sound perfectly fine to me, not great, but not crap.... but the music is wonderful, so who cares about the sound effects? Well, erm.... you obviously do, which is odd, but hey, everyone is different.
All of this shmup talk has got me itching for a good C64 shmup..... with a good soundtrack of course. ;)
I just named some shmups without and you are very right that some of them are not very good.
Soul Force is probably the best shmup of all time on C64.
I purchased all games from Sarah. Nautron was the first reason I came back to C64. I think that game is better than Zeta Wing.
If there is no music just put on a CD, mp3 through a mixer. Then at least you have sfx :P
Soul Force is very nice, but I think I actually prefer Zeta Wing for some reason.
Neutron was good, has a bit of a Warhawk feel. Have you tried Kobo 64? It would make a PERFECT game for score attack competitions (plus you can select music or sound effects in the options ; ) ).
CD audio is not the same as chip generated tunes.... plus if the CD was any good I would want to turn off the sound effects so they didn't spoil it. :)
