Developed by Art and Magic and published by Psygnosis in 1992. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Al82_Retro Add me on Google+: http://bit.ly/1tPwL1u Foreword: Re-upload to take advantage of YouTube 60 FPS support! Throughout the lifespan of the classic Amiga there is what I consider the triumvirate of games that could make people stop what they were doing and stare in wonder at what was playing on the screen; those games were Shadow of the Beast, First Samurai and Agony. Psygnosis built a reputation for games that looked and sounded amazing even if the gameplay failed to match the same standards. Agony is an audio-visual treat and, despite a difficulty curve that increases sharply in the final level, it's actually a fun shooter to play. The game is set over 6 horizontally scrolling level in which you must shoot or avoid oncoming enemies. Enemies will appear from top and bottom of the screen, as well as from the far left and you will have your work cut out trying to make it to the end in one piece. Each level culminates in a boss fight; these aren't that difficult, but the sprites look great! Perhaps the best decision the developers made was to enable automatic fire so the player can just hold the fire button down instead of repeated clicking; this prevent breaking of joysticks and sore fingers. You can upgrade your owl's main shot power by collecting potions. This increases the blast width, as well as the maximum damage done per shot. A pair of floating swords can also be collected and these offer protection from enemies that might drop in the from the top or bottom of the screen. Collecting scrolls gives you access to a number of spells to further enhance your offensive and defensive capabilities. Undoubtedly the most useful of these is invulnerability; activating this makes boss fights trivial (and looks great as well!) The title and loading screens by Franck Sauer are gorgeous and really showcased what the Amiga was capable of. Of course, the thing that really steals the show is the main owl sprite. Not only is it beautifully drawn, but the animation is amazing; sprites with this level of animation and fluidity had never been seen in games before. In fact, you'll probably die a few times because you were too busy marvelling at the animation. The level graphics and enemy sprites are well drawn, but use a much more subtle colour palette. In many cases, this adds to the overall difficulty of the game as enemies and their projectiles blend with the background and can be remarkably difficult to spot. Surprisingly, some of the best names in game music each contributed audio to the final game. Tim Wright produced the fantastic opening piano piece, while Jeroen Tel created the rousing in-game music. Other contributions included Martin Iveson, Allister Brimble and colleagues in the form of loader tunes between each level. Agony will always be synonymous with the Amiga and will always remain one of it's most memorable games. Update: found a great article by Franck Sauer regarding the development of the game - http://francksauer.com/index.php/games/test/15-games/published-games/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10:agony&catid=15:published-games