For the past two years, Neil Reive, an administrator of Facebook group, Amstrad CPC CLASSIC GAMING & DEMO's, has researched every Amstrad CPC / Plus game that has ever been reviewed in magazines from back in the day and come up with an aggregated rating of those games. With this data, he compiled a TOP 100 list of Amstrad CPC games and every week (bar being busy with work and family life) he would count down the games from 100 to number 1. Just before Xmas of 2018, the number one game was finally revealed (and i am sure you have figured it out by now from the image as to what that game is). To quote Neil's post to the group, he stated "This may be a surprise to many as the game is rarely in anyone's top ten list, but then this is not anyone's top list, but an aggregate of magazine reviews from back in the day. With 93%, 94%, 935/1000, 95%, and 5/5, the game is clearly the best aggregate rated CPC game on the list."
I can agree, it was a surprise to myself and would be a surprise to many other gamers as well. While there is no argument from me, Nebulus is a worthy and well respected game and possibly very deserving to have received the highest distinction as the top 100 aggregated game, the question remains is it the best Amstrad CPC game ? Most Likely not, very likely not, but everyone has theor own opinions of what would be their own number 1 game. Yet, Nebulus, is without question, an exceptionally colourful , engrossing and a highly addictive platformer, from Hewson Software, released in 1988, coded by Chris Wood with music by Dave Rogers, that to say it is not a top game would be foolish.
For anyone wondering, this is the worldwide number one aggregate rated CPC game, not just a U.K. thing at all. it is based on Magazine ratings from all over the world (UK, France, Spain, Germany, Australia, Greece, Italy, Denmark, and Turkey) were taken into account when compiling the top 100. This is not my favourite game of all time, nor is it Neil's, but Nebulus came out top on aggregate ratings from all those magazines.
The top 100 games list did highlight a number of aspects from games reviewed from back in the day, most notable about the full list is the range of game genre's. There is a widespread selection, no one game genre dominates and all game genre's are represented. One thing that gamers of today may not realize and that gamers from back in the day may have forgotten is that 3D isometric games as well as text adventures were some of the biggest game releases from the early to mid 1980's with games such as Spindizzy (ranked 97th), Knight Lore (ranked 31st), Head Over Heels (ranked 16th) and Lord's Of Midnight (ranked 2nd).
The other aspect highly notable from the Top 100 list is that it may only have taken one bad review of a game to send its rating sliding. One of the most notable omissions from the Top 100, is axe wielding, gruesome head decapitating, action game, Barbarian The Ultimate Warrior from Palace Software, 1987. Widely considered a fan favourite, myself included, and it didn't make the top 100 because it received poor ratings in The Amstrad Computer User (ACU) magazine. Unjustified poor ratings in my opinion, but that's how the cookie crumbles in the world of game reviews. To view the full top 100 games list i have supplied the image that Neil Reive has created.
