#17: Nebulus (Hewson, Amiga, 1988) 

Like I said, though, progress tends not to happen in big leaps. Different people take steps up, and down, and in different directions. Arcades had got to the same kind of graphics some time before. Plenty of people were still making and playing games on older technology. And Nebulus is an 8-bit game, spiritually and literally. There’s a C64 version of it which lacks the JMP-88 badge, the reflections, and most of the colours, but is functionally the same game, 3D effect and all. And despite its veneer, it plays like an older game in whatever format. Your character moves in awkward ways, slipping backwards for no reason, with a pathetic jump that requires a tricky combination of directional and button inputs to carry off. Almost the first thing you’re likely to encounter on the first tower is the floor dropping away with no reason, dumping you in the sea to drown. Every so often a flying enemy sweeps invincibly across the screen, leaving no escape if you haven’t timed things right, as if navigating the traps and other enemies wasn’t difficult enough. The game does at least ameliorate this difficulty somewhat by not making its traps and enemies kill you outright; instead they drop you a way down the tower, leaving you free to dust yourself down and try again. Unfortunately, this is rather counteracted by the brutal time limits, which means that more than a couple of slip-ups amounts to a fail state anyway. For all the work its visuals do, as a platformer and explorer Nebulus often feels constrictive and frustrating.

Still, there’s something awfully compelling about it. It may be a case of two step forward, one step back, but nonetheless, progress is made. Be it technological progress or social progress, it never comes easily, but that doesn’t mean it never comes