Amstrad Action
1st November 1991
Publisher: Erbe Software S.A.
Machine: Amstrad CPC464
Published in Amstrad Action #74
Our pick of the budget games that are last year's golden games given a new, cheaper, lease of life...
Shinobi
There's corking shruiken-tossing ninja beat-'em-up action in this excellent coin-op conversions. The plot's a bit daft - something to do with a kindergarten class being kidnapped by an evil mob - but the action is hard to fault. You have to wander round battling gun and fist-toting bad guys and rescuing the sprogs. Excellent.
Overall 94%
The Untouchables
When we first reviewed this, we called it "an Oscar-winning film licence". Two years on, it's lost none of its original appeal. It might look pretty naff from the screenshots (it's all in blue!) but behind that uni-colour facade lies an excellent and varied game, with shades of Switchblade, Operation Wolf and Green Beret in the different levels. One for the 'must buy' list.
Overall 90%
Renegade III
The final chapter in the Renegade series of beat-'em-ups is an over-difficult jaunt through history. From prehistoric times, battling dinosaurs and neanderthals, to Egyptian times, fighting mummies and stuff, to a punch-up with medieval knights, to... well, that's about as far as we got. There's less fighting moves than in the firt two games, and the whole is not bad. But also not brilliant.
Overall 75%
Bubble Bobble
Naff graphics, bordering on The New Zealand Story, slightly mar a reasonable but not brilliant game. It's very old (first appearing three years ago) and it shows. Blow bubbles at the baddies then burst them to bump the rotters off. They turn into food (?). Collect the food, along with various power-ups and bonus thingies, and battle your way through loads of platformy single screen levels.
Overall 71%
Batman: The Movie
A truly fab licence, and one of the best platform games around. Jump from level to level, using ladders or your bar rope, throw your bat-boomerangs, kill the bat-baddies, do loads of bat-things. It's bat-brilliant, so batting well get down to your bat-software shop and bat-buy it now. Bat-great.
Overall 94%
Moonwalker
Michael Jackson, half man, half mannequin, stars in this licence from the naff film of the same name. Level one is crap, but the other three are okay. You get twenty lives and your aim is to turn into a rabbit. Er, yes, well it is a bit of a daft game actually. But still a lorra lorra fun, as Auntie Cilla would say.
Overall 70%
Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
Another filmie, with naff Speccy graphics and four arcade adventures to battle through. The whole thing is remarkably similar to Rick Dangerous (the first). There's large sprites, good animation and some very oppressive time limits. Apart from that, it's your standard cavey platform game.
Overall 79%
Toobin
An original arcade game, a limited colour Speccy port, controls that are instantly hard to get to grips with, a course that can be finished on the first day, and a lot of fun to be had by all... that's Toobin. You're sitting in an inner tube, floating down the Amazon (as you do!) trying to avoid things that'll burst the tube. Quite jolly.
Overall 73%
Screenshots
