COVER FEATURE: GATES OF DAWN
We explore this frequently overlooked arcade adventure from Virgin Games that dared to do something a little different from the norm. Developed by the great Charles Goodwin – one of Virgin Games’ original team members – and published in 1985, Gates of Dawn wasn’t your typical arcade adventure – this game had something a little different about it, which you’ll find out as you make your way through the feature.
HIDDEN HARMONIES
Warren ‘WAZ’ Pilkington begins a new regular series looking at lesser-known C64 game tunes that may have past you by, but are worthy of a mention. This issue features audible delights from Kettle, Falcon Patrol 2, Yogi’s Great Escape, The Big KO, and Theatre Europe. We’ll even have a few words from the Editor about these classy SID-tunes.
JULIAN RIGNALL’S CCRAPBACK!
Our Julian continues his retrospective on the CCRAPiest games to appear in ZZAP!64 magazine, with this instalment looking at games from the September 1986 issue no. 17. On the trash heap for this issue is: Night Walker, Necromancer, Wing Commander, Danger Mouse in Double Trouble, Beer Belly Burt’s Brew Biz, Ninja Master, and Freak Factory. It was definitely *not* a good month for C64 budget games!
SECRET SQUIRREL INVESTIGATES
Our cutesy rodent grabs another batch of secret case files, which includes: Shadow Warrior and Infeztation. You’re gonna love these!
THE DEVELOPERS’ DEN: CHARLES GOODWIN
Staying true to FREEZE64 tradition, we’ve managed to snag an exclusive interview with the developer of GATES OF DAWN, Charles Goodwin. It’s worth noting that Charles created this game an impressive 40 years ago – at the age of 30! Understandably, revisiting such a distant chapter in his life proved a bit of a challenge. Honestly, I can’t blame him – I often struggle to remember what I had for breakfast this morning!
FREE-LOADERS: HALLAX
We have another fresh instalment of our FREE-LOADERS feature, which this time around looks at HALLAX, which is a Breakout style Public Domain game released back in 1988, but only started making an impact on the Commodore 64 scene in the early nineties.
WE DON’T DO REVIEWS!
Exciting news for Commodore 64 fans! We have yet another Space Invaders-inspired game to add to our collection. This time, the creative force behind it is none other than our good friend and FREEZE64 Subscriber, Chris Page – an indie developer renowned for his charming C64 titles, EWE WOZ ‘ERE and FREAKY FISH. Now, Chris – teaming up with his brother Brent – has dived into the arcade-shooter realm with their latest offering: INVASION ANARCHY. Find out what we thought of the game in our WE DON’T DO REVIEWS feature.
THE HACKERSOFT PADS
For those of you who have been with FREEZE64 since its very first issue, you may remember that we originally launched it to showcase Vinny’s infamous HACKERSOFT PADS – brimming with exclusive POKES ‘n’ CODES that he has been crafting and archiving since 2011. Well — they’re back! More new and exclusive cheats for you to enter and enjoy, which include Miami Vice, Space Firehawk, and Night Knight. You won’t find new and exclusive cheats like this in any other Commodore 64 zine.
OUT OF THE ‘MOULDY CUPBOARD’
We take another journey into Vinny’s dark, dank Mouldy Cupboard to pluck out a long-forgotten C64 game from yesteryear. This time around it’s an incredibly weird game from The Games Machine by the name of AAARGH! CONDOR. Is it any good, or is it going straight back into the cupboard?
DIARY OF A GAME – OPERATION VOSTOKA
It’s time for part 5 of Chris Stanley’s Operation Vostoka game development diary as he starts working on the character sprite movement. It’s all very interesting and incredibly exciting stuff!
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