C&VG


Cabal

Author: Paul Rand
Publisher: Ocean
Machine: Spectrum 48K/128K/+2/+3

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #98

Cabal

Ever felt the need for a spot of psychotic, no-holds-barred death and destruction on a grand scale? Well, Ocean's conversion of the fab Cabal coin-op has all that and more.

The scenario, if that's what you can call it, entails one or two crack commandos sneaking behind enemy lines with the objective of doing as much damage as is humanly possible. The enemy stronghold is made up of five war zones, each containing four areas. Packing a powerful sub-machine gun and nine anti-personnel grenades, the heroes simply have to destroy a set number of targets on each screen before moving onto the next.

There are loads of things to blast - foot patrols, tanks, military personnel carriers and helicopter gunships, each armed with devastating artillery which includes gatling guns, grenades and bombs. When some enemy targets are destroyed, bonus items such as supplies of grenades and mega-machine guns are left behind and can be picked up by the player and added to his armoury.

Cabal

After every four screens you confront a huge ammunition-spewing military vehicle which requires many direct hits before it explodes, clearing the path to the next zone.

Finding that the simultaneous two-player option of the arcade game has been dropped is a disappointment, but it's thankfully made up for by stonking gameplay which requires great hand-to-eye reflexes to get rid of the baddies while, at the same time, avoiding the frightening return fire being sent in your direction - the action is amazingly frantic!

Cabal is an addictive blast which is best likened to Operation Wolf but without the scrolling. Fans of the coin-op will be well chuffed with this conversion, as will arcade addicts who crave for a bit of meat in their games.

C64

A fab conversion of a playable, if socially unacceptable, arcade machine. Even with the lack of the original's simultaneous two-player action, Cabal is packed with gameplay which should more than satisfy the Rambo-esque blood lust within you.

Spectrum

Although C64 Cabal relies more on its frenetic gameplay that fancy graphics, lousy choice of colour and "invisible bullet syndrome" make for a poor Spectrum conversion. Recommended to arcade addicts with 20-20 vision only.

Paul Rand

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