Am Madness

If you are a fan of either old school platform games (like me - I grew up alongside Manic Miner and Miner 2049er), or just enjoy getting your butt handed to you on a plate, you will appreciate this gem of a game. The developer was obviously aware that it's hard (no harder than the old-school platformers were, though), so has thankfully a) provided an 'easy' mode where the you get an extra life each level (up to a certain point in the game) and b) dispensed with the falling damage that made the old games so frustrating. Without these two concessions to modernity, I doubt I would have been able to get very far! However, don't let that lull you into a false sense of security...the moment your attention starts wandering and you start thinking about what you are having for dinner, is the moment that you lose a life. Then, you will invariably lose ANOTHER life because you are annoyed at having lost concentration. This game requires both dexterity and patience to overcome! About halfway through the game, something happens that I won't spoil here, which led me to shout WHAT THE HELL, IS THIS GUY A COMPLETE SADIST? But, with skillz (excuse the extra 'z'!) you will succeed.... Unless you are a better gamer than me, that is. Maybe you will breeze through it! (LOL!) I also have to mention the fantastic moody soundtrack; I hope he releases this separately for people to enjoy. I think you will enjoy this game; I certainly did!

Am Madness is a somewhat difficult game for me to review. It’s released as a retro revival type game, taking it’s inspiration from ZX Spectrum classics like Jet Set Willy and Manic Miner, intending to capture the spirit of those titles but bring it into the modern age. The reason that I find it difficult to review, is that I am not of that era of gaming. I don’t have any fond memories of that computer, so when I play a game that is intending to capture the essence of that period of gaming, it doesn’t click with me, I just don’t have the nostalgia. There is perhaps one benefit though, I have no rose-tinted glasses, and I can approach these games as a true neutral. On the surface, Am Madness is a standard platformer game, in which the approach is to gather up all the keys on a screen, which opens up a portal to the next screen. Slightly underneath the surface, you’ll realise that this is an extremely tough game, it takes no prisoners. Each screen is jam packed with enemies, with the keys placed in extremely awkward situations, making it very hard to grab them without being touched by an enemy, which is an immediate kill. Some levels have other hazards, like fire on the ground, which also kills you. The one saving grace, is that the developer patched out an earlier feature which also had falling from too great a height kill you too. Whilst I understand that did happen in game of that era, it made some levels too difficult, the not fun kind of difficult. Luckily, with the aforementioned change, I think this game falls just on the right side of difficult. Yes, it’s extremely hard, and yes, it can be extremely frustrating but the game still remains fun. It manages to pull you in, and make you want to get through each screen, learning the patterns until ultimately you can get through, and get that little rush of endorphins from doing so. From a visual perspective, I like how it looks. The graphics are nice and clean, and there’s it’s always obvious where you need to go and what you need to do. The one caveat to this is the text graphics, they look really out of place and could do with being ‘retrofied’ to fit the rest of the games design. Additionally, I’m not a huge fan of the music. It’s relaxing to an extent, but it just didn’t click with me. Am Madness additionally features a bit of an unnerving story underneath, each level hints at you being chased by some kind of devil, and things ramp up accordingly. It’s a nice addition, and I’m glad the developer didn’t just stick with the bare minimum of game design. Ultimately, I quite like Am Madness. It may be extremely difficult and at times outright frustrating, but it has a certain charm and earnestness to it that I really enjoy. I would recommend this to anyone that wants to spend an hour swearing at their screen and smashing their controller, and support a small developer whilst their at it. Full review - https://www.voletic.com/reviews/am-madness-review/

Thank you massively to the developer for this game. I love it so much. This is definitely a good game. It is a bit hard but that is the whole point of the game. I hope everyone gives this game a chance it has you on the edge of your seat.

Cool this game Is Difficult but it also fun 8/10

Mathew Smith woz ere. great game and the music is suiting my temperament tonight!,i spent many hours as a kid on games like this, manic miner,technician ted,jet set willy!.thanks for this:) POKE 35899,0

Great game...brings back good memories from Manic Miner/JSW

Willy Lives! 40 years ago.....40 years ago....40 years ago....40 years ago....40 YEARS AGO...... this work of genius (or abomination depending on your perspective) crawled out of the twisted imagination of Mathew Smith. While what he was smoking at the time remains classified Jet Set willy - part platform game part cult initiation - was immensely popular, although to this day nobody knows why, an managed to win the highest praise and acclaim for - em - reasons. Well, Jet Set Willy has risen from that toilet he crawled down to access the secret areas and has be faithfully reproduced in this little gem. It's all here - the toilets still want to eat you. Maria still wags her fingers in contempt. Moonlight Sonata still echoes through the Death Trap Mansion you decided to live in. The controls are just as buggy and unresponsive when you need them most (ahhh now THERE is authenticity for you!). They even included that annoying ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ anti piracy code which you would always lose then wait weeks for Software Projects to send you a new one. As it was 40 years ago Jet Set Willy was and remains one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of gaming history...