Amstrad Action
1st April 1991
10 Pack
These games are a varied bunch, both in quality and style, and every type of gameplay bar adventuring is provided. You can't complain at the value! Most are good, if not excellent, and this compilation represents extraordinarily good value. Shame about the odd couple of turkeys, but you can live with that, can't you?
Skate Crazy
Viewed from above, this is a kind of obstacle course on roller skates and very tricky it is too. Your skater glides along with grace and poise - or at least he does once you get the hang of the controls. Simple obstacles, like traffic cones and tyres, hinder your progress, and there is scope for bonus points by performing various manouveres, such as jumping over ramps, carrying out somersaults and twisting in mid-air.
All very difficult, but practice reaps its own rewards, and once you get the hang of it, this game is really quite neat. Graphics are nice and colourful, and sound too is well catered for. A bonus is the second part, this time a horizontal scroller along the same lines.
Butcher Hill
Butcher Hill will appeal to 'Nam fans. There are three sections, the first of which is a Pole Position-type race, only you drive an inflatable dinghy down a river, as opposed to a formula 1 racer. You can blow up incoming planes and obstacles, but the aim is to collect vital equipment for the next two sections. You can land at any of three jetties, and from here on the action is shoot-'em-up frenzy.
The game as a whole is not terribly well executed. The graphics are colourful, but very jerky, and the limited appeal of each section makes this look more like a budget title.
Road Runner
Based on the Atari coin-op of the same name, Road Runner follows the insane antics of Wile E. Coyote and his nemesis the Road Runner. The original arcade machine followed the basic structure of the cartoon very well, and this conversion does pretty well too.
In the cartoon, as most of you will remember, Wile E. tried every way he could to bring the Road Runner's time on earth to an untimely end. Most of the equipment he uses comes from the infamous ACME booby trap and household goods retail corporation.
The game is a simple race. You have to avoid Wile E., fill your face full of seed, and make sure you don't run into any of the fiendish traps he has laid for you. Nice graphics on this horizontal scroller, and playing the game is total laugh-o-rama. If you liked the cartoons, or even the coin-op, then you are going to love this game, but you'll soon learn to hate Acme Co.
Dark Fusion
Shooty, bumpy, jumpy time! Space, where no-one can hear you boing. Move your space hero through three levels of platform-cum-shoot-'em-up action, collect various weapons, and visit photon death upon any hapless alien foolish enough to mess with your happy thoughts. A bit dull, but the graphics are nice, and sonics reasonable. Good fun in the short term, but nothing much to keep you coming back for more.
H.A.T.E.
H.A.T.E. stands for Hostile All-Terrain Encounter, and is viewed in isometric 3D - it looks and plays a little like the old Sega arcade game Zaxxon.
One of the game's novel features is the choice of vehicles you can use - either a space fighter or a stonking great tank - swapping over at the end of each level gives this game an added thrill. Not too bad at all.
Side Arms
Kill, maim, destroy!! Fly your jet-packin' hero into deepest darkest space, and if anything moves when you get there, open up with a volley of incredible photon death. Collect the very numerous power-ups, and turn yourself into the most awesome destructive force this side of the universe.
There's horizontal and vertical scrolling in this blaster, end-of-level guardians-a-plenty, lovely colourful graphics, reasonable sounds, and more extra weapons than you can shake a plutonium death ray at. Turn off your brain, switch on your autofire and teach those twisted alien space frogs a thing or two about laser death. A good blast, but nothing special. Works well on the Amstrad.
Footballer Of The Year 2
Standard football management laughs in this one, and if football management is your scene, then this one contains plenty of "action". It does have the novel added feature of a screen which allows you to gamble any funds or resources that you presently have at your command. The computer will ask you questions - basically football trivia - which, if answered correctly, will double your allotted stake. Simply progress through the season as a striker, working as part of a team, and basically being a cool hombre. Strictly for fans of the genre - other people may find this terminally boring...
Street Fighter
Ryu is the name of the Street Fighter in this game, the object of which is to travel round the globe and kick seven shades of sunlight out of any fool who challenges you. There are five countries to visit, and two representatives in each country.
Converted from the Capcom coin-op, this game loses the thrill of the big rubber pressure-sensitive pads that gave its arcade parent such a big name. Basically, it's a one-on-one beat-'em-up with reasonable graphics and sound, and decidedly dodgy gameplay.
Super Scramble Simulator
Vroom, vroom!! A bit of a confession, this one. Way back in issue 47, we gave this game a proper slagging. However, in view of the fact that it is now part of a compilation, and that we have had months to get used to the outrageously tricky control method, we have been forced to eat our words. This is really quite spiffy, and once you get used to the gears and stuff, it becomes very addictive indeed.
Scrolling sideways across rough terrain, your nicely-animated motorbike must negotiate any obstacles in its path. Good involved fun, and long term appeal.
Gary Lineker's Hot Shot
Good - a proper football game. Viewed from above, it scrolls in eight directions, although you can only see a small portion of the action at any one time. As usual control, you simply control the player closest to the ball. A rising bar determines the power of your shot, and control automatically switches to the goalie if the opposition looks like they are about to score.
The graphics are actually quite nice, and the scrolling works well, even if it is a little jerky. Music is by veteran Ben Dalglish, and is reasonably boppy. Not a bad footie sim, and a good bit more exciting than player management.
Footie fans couldn't really ask for much more, and even ardent football-phobics might be won over by the smooth play and fast action of this excellent game. A good addition to a very good compilation. Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land...!
