| ★ AMSTRAD CPC ★ GAMESLIST ★ WHO DARES WINS II (c) ALLIGATA ★ |
| TILT | Amstrad Action |
Don't worry - you haven't missed Who dares wins I. The title is because the original game was withdrawn after a legal dispute due to its similarity to an arcade game called Commando. The official conversion of that game is due out soon so it will be interesting to see how they compare. The game really gets back to the arcade roots of killing everything in sight in a frantic battle of reflexes and speed. That would be enough for some, but WDW also has tremendous 3D graphics and backgrounds with a wide variety of screens and challenges. You control a man on a mission to capture enemy outposts and release captured prisoners. At first it seems like a variant on Robotron as you run around in circles zapping soldiers, but the more complicated nature of the game soon reveals itself.
There are eight enemy outposts and each one is reached by fighting through several other screens. These are all composed posed of many different landscape features including ruined buildings, trees, rivers, walls, foxholes, railway lines and fences. Whatever the features, you can bet there will be lots of soldiers and other things waiting to kill you. The man you control and the enemy soldiers have the same armament of an automatic rifle and a limited supply of grenades. Rifle fire can be sprayed around in true Rambo style trying to hit anything that moves , while grenades can be used against a partially concealed soldier or enemy vehicle All this killing will bump up the score and there are some nice bonuses to be had for blasting fast-moving soldiers at an outpost or rescuing prisoners The prisoner appears on some screens in front an executioner who after a few seconds will shoot him You have to let the executioner have it first and will be rewarded by The prisoner waving happily at you before he ungratefully runs off and leavees you to face the wrath of the enemy on your own. The intrepid, battle-hardened soldier can progress between screens at any time by walking off the top, but at the outpost every last one of the horde of enemy has to be wiped out to capture it Getting killed on any screen •Mil return you to the start of it with the enemy back to full strength. There are a number of things that will aid progress. Rifle bullets are limitless in supply and even though grenades can run out there are supply balloons that drop in replacements. Grenades also have the advantage of killing over a wider radius and even when thrown by the enemy they can still destroy their own men. The graphics are superb with 3D being used to great effect - you can use terrain features for cover against bullets and walk behind them as well. There is good use of colour and animation as well particularly when vehicles travel across screen The sound effects are suitably noisy and the title screen has a short version of the theme from The Great Escape. Although the blasting and killing may not suit everyone the game is a great little package of graphics, sound, demanding game play and a variety of features. This should be a real winner with some real mean crossfire in the later stages and if you do conquer eight outposts, guess what happens? That's right the same eight, only even harder. BW |
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