| ★ AMSTRAD CPC ★ GAMESLIST ★ COMPILATION: THE TOP 10 (c) ELITE/HITPAK ★ |
Computing with the Amstrad |
CAN you expect a package costing just under a tenner and containing 10 games to be anything more than a cheap gimmick? The answer to this question came as a pleasant surprise.
Saboteur follows the exploits of a highly skilled ninja who has been hired to infiltrate the rebel headquarters. Arriving by rubber dinghy, he must penetrate the underground complex and locate a computer disc. With this in his possession he can make his escape by helicopter. The well-animated character has to kick, punch and stab his way past rebel guards, leap over dogs, and avoid ceiling-mounted laser guns. This same format is used as the basis for Saboteur II where the ninja's sister is out to avenge the killing of her brother who was fatally wounded during the first mission. Soaring silently above the complex, a sleek feminine form hangs precariously beneath a high tech hang glider. Calculating her trajectory, she releases her grip and plummets Earthwards. Human opponents have now been replaced by robotic guards who are heavily armed and incredibly resilient. Excellent programming, and even more difficult than the original. Critical Mass is not particularly impressive. It is a two-colour high-resolution game based on frantic attempts to wrest a power station from the grip of alien invaders. Several of the animation sequences are well done, but the action is sluggish and soon becomes boring. Seated at the controls of the world's most powerful helicopter - Airwolf I - you must locate and rescue five kidnapped scientists. Unfortunately for you, they have been incarcerated in a labyrinth far beneath the Arizona desert. Not only is Airwolf visually pretty, it is one of the most testing games I have played. The vertical and horizontal corridors are often no wider than Airwolf itself. Only the most skilful pilots will penetrate more than a few screens into the hideout._ Sigma Seven is in three parts. The first is an alien shoot-'em-up set in deep space. Stage two involves guiding a robot around a Pacman-type maze. Somewhere within the maze is a pattern of permanent dots. Memorise this pattern, for in stage three you are required to recreate it on a control panel. Sigma is a good blend of traditional and original ideas. Deep Strike is a World War One air combat simulator. You have been assigned to escort a bomber as it flies over enemy territory on its way to take out a series of fuel dumps. Flying behind the other aircraft, you must pick off the fighters before they can do too much damage. Excellent 3D graphics and lots of action make this game a joy to play. Staying with the flying theme. Elite has included Combat Lynx , the popular helicopter warfare program. Skimming at high speed over mountainous countryside, you flit from base to base, fighting off enemy attacks. The ability to select from a choice of six different types of weapon makes you a formidable opponent. The graphics are pretty basic, but they don't detract too much from the action. The instructions that accompany do an excellent job of whetting your appetite. Here is an ideal opportunity to play Miami Vice for real, screaming through the city streets at up to 150mph, running drug smugglers off the road, or just gunning them down! Alas it was not to be. At full speed the car appears to be doing about 30mph, response to the controls is terrible, and I have never heard such puny sound effects. Ladders and levels are very much in evidence in the penultimate game. Bombjack II. The objective is very simple: Collect every item of treasure while avoiding or killing the resident monster population. You can only jump between platforms that are horizontally or vertically aligned, and this constraint was put to good use when the screens were being designed. Bombjack 2 is a strenuous test of both mental and physical agility. Finally we have the best game in the compilation, Thanatos a mystical tale of fire-breathing dragons, witches, knights and princesses. Flying for many a league, you dodge rockfalls, bomb soldiers, burn down castle gates, and finally rescue the beautiful princess - not bad for a chap with chronic halitosis! Even though the game is a straightforward conversion from the Spectrum, the graphics are still some of the most impressive I've seen on the Amstrad. A real sense of power has been programmed into the graceful wing beats of the mighty Thantos - a classic! The Top Ten Collection is a well-balanced - and mostly high quality - compilation of programs from the recent and distant past. Nev Astly, CWTA
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Page créée en 896 millisecondes et consultée 4489 fois L'Amstrad CPC est une machine 8 bits à base d'un Z80 à 4MHz. Le premier de la gamme fut le CPC 464 en 1984, équipé d'un lecteur de cassettes intégré il se plaçait en concurrent du Commodore C64 beaucoup plus compliqué à utiliser et plus cher. Ce fut un réel succès et sorti cette même années le CPC 664 équipé d'un lecteur de disquettes trois pouces intégré. Sa vie fut de courte durée puisqu'en 1985 il fut remplacé par le CPC 6128 qui était plus compact, plus soigné et surtout qui avait 128Ko de RAM au lieu de 64Ko. |
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