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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Keza MacDonald

Pushing Buttons: UFO 50 is an anthology of pure nostalgia – and the games are good, too

Pushing Buttons UFO Derek Yu
An image from UFO 50.
An image from UFO 50. Photograph: Mossmouth

I filed this issue of Pushing Buttons late, because I have become obsessed with a 1985 strategy game about armies of warring dinosaurs. It’s called Avianos, and it’s part of an anthology of 50 games made in the 1980s by a little-known but influential developer, UFO Soft.

One minor detail: UFO Soft is fictional. All the games in this collection were made by a small group of modern developers. This anthology, UFO 50 (out today), is at once a tribute to imaginary 1980s game history and real 1980s game history. It impeccably imitates the look, feel and experimental creativity of the era, without the technical limitations.

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