Tag Archives: aph technological consulting

Intellivision, Reviews

Space Armada [Intellivision] – Review

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Space, the most common frontier for video games in the late 70s and early 80s.

An armada of bomb-dropping aliens will wreak havoc on Earth’s defenses unless players take them out effectively. The bunkers can withstand a formidable amount of damage but they won’t last forever. The fleets are never-ending and they’ll require more skill as time flies by. This is Space Armada, a blatant clone of Space Invaders. It was released for the Mattel Intellivision in 1981 and developed by John Brooks and Chris Hawley, programmers at APh Technological Consulting.

Space Invaders, er, Armada as seen in XBLA’s Game Room.

John: Wow, this is unashamedly a clone of Space Invaders; a hard one to boot. I like that the game is very colorful and it plays well, but it’ll take a lot of practice to make progress.

Jeff:  This was a clone of Space Invaders; very simple and somewhat responsive. I just didn’t like how the first stage appears to be impossible to pass. I know it is possible, but just not worth the effort. The arcade industry didn’t have much reason to worry about home consoles at this point in time and I can see why.

Intellivision, Reviews

ABPA Backgammon [Intellivision] – Review

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Retro box art!

ABPA Backgammon takes one of the oldest board games and translates it into a video game. Developed in conjunction with the American Backgammon Players Association, players are in for an authentic experience. The game is playable against another person or the computer and was released in 1979, one of the platforms four launch titles. The game was developed by Kevin Miller of APh Technological Consulting. He developed four other INTV games.

Enthralling!

John: I’ve actually played a lot of backgammon, but it’s been so long since I have, I’d forgotten the rules. I also didn’t have a manual or the controller overlays for the game so this turned out to be a rather tough game. It didn’t look great, nor did it sound good, but it was functional. I can’t imagine opting to play this against another person if I had an actual backgammon set, but I suppose playing against the computer is a valuable feature. Not a recommendable game though.

Jeff: I know nothing about backgammon and playing this game didn’t enlighten me on the game’s rule set. I would not recommend this game.