Zzap
1st May 1992
Unless your name is Onassis or Getty, it's impossible to collect every single C64 game that's released. You're bound to miss quite a few great games due to fiscal restraints (i.e. paltry pocket money). The good news is that compilations are getting better all the time, with more and more newer games, or even four games for under four quid!
4 Most Fight And Fright
A ghost with a 9mm Uzi? Looks like it's time to hide behind the sofa!
Who Dares Wins II
Released at the time when 'Commando-type' games were all the rage, Who Dares Wins II drops the player right in the proverbial excrement. The powers that be have decided against sending a large strike force into the enemy held territory - one way will, they reckon, stand a better chance. So, with a gun and five grenades in hand, the player has to save his pals from the enemy firing squad.
When Who Dares Wins II was first reviewed way back in issue eight, it earned a natty 90%. But 76 issues later it's back to haunt us. Don't get me wrong, it isn't dire, it just hasn't weathered the years too well. The sprites are small and blocky, but very colourful.
Blast-'em-up freaks will no doubt have a field day, 'coz it's still very playable.
Aliens
In space, no-one can hear you play your Des O'Connor records (thank gawd). But out in space (he waves finger vaguely skywards) also lives a band of acid-blooded, human-hating, chest-bursting aliens.
In the movie Alien, one such nightmare creature ripped the doggy-doos out of the spaceship Nostromo, and killed all but one member of the crew. Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley survived, and now 57 years after the awful event she's back on LV-426.
But the planet is now known as Acheron and the colony that settled there hasn't been heard from. So a squad of hard-ass colonial Marines are sent in, with Ripley as "technical adviser". And up against them are the Aliens, merciless killers who'll tear the crap out of anything.
Even though this game is graphically very good (especially the briefing screens), it's too darn tough. I deny anyone to complete the dropship scene in their first few goes. Frustration is a swift and deadly opponent. A pity 'coz this game could have been a winner.
Fallen Angel
No, this game isn't anything to do with the crusty old TV show Highway To Heaven, but is your common or garden beat-'em-up.
You play a vigilante out for revenge on the drug pushers who caused your brother's death. Known only as the 'Fallen Angel', our hero has discovered that the international drugs ring is using the subway systems of major cities as distribution points. So with your martial arts skills, you set about avenging your brother's demise.
The game starts on the London Underground, although the thugs waiting on the platform ain't there to welcome you. If you get through that, you board a train and carry on the fight for survival. Until you reach the ringleader, and with his death you move to the next station.
Beat-'em-up games have been around for donkey's years. Frankly, I'm teed off with this game type, and Fallen Angel isn't a very good example. It's programmed well enough, but the content is soooo boring.
Frightmare
And finally we have Frightmare, a jolly little jaunt into the land of dreams [Don't you mean nightmares? - Ed]. You enter the mind of a tormented soul who must escape back to the real world before 8.12am.
This is achieved by exploration: six minutes are added to the clock with each new location. But there's a secondary objective; as you kill evil creatures and pick up and use objects your dream state increases.
Even though the graphics are good, Frightmare is a bit of a turkey. Its simple collecting theme and frustrating gameplay let it down very badly. No wonder it only got 33% when first reviewed.
Recommendation
Nothing brilliant on offer here, but reasonable value for the four quid price tag.
