Previous Next

Hot of off the presses comes the latest game from two thirds of the programming team who bought you Cerius (Issue 53, 70%).

Haven't you ever watched a cowboy movie and wished that you could be like John Wayne or Clint Eastwood: riding around, shooting all the bad guys with your Colt Peacemaker. Well, clean-cut, square-jawed hero that you are, that's exactly the sort of role you play in Gunfighter. Various nasty outlaw types have ridden into your town, whooping and hollering and generally being very offensive. More seriously they've also stolen the deeds to the townsfolk's properties and kicked them out. So naturally you pin on your badge, buckle on your guns and go out to recover the deeds and kick some bandit butt.

You start the game with three lives and six bullets, but more ammunition can be found in your office and extra lives can be bought for five hundred dollars from the' Doc'. As each baddie arrives in town a wanted poster appears in the top left corner of the screen, with the reward for their capture or killing (a reward is also given for any deeds that are found). When either the sheriff or a baddie dies, a tombstone rises from the ground (shades of the ancient Ultimate game Atic Atac, perhaps?).

Unfortunately the sheriff's tombstone crops up far too much for my liking. Still, the game looks bright and cheerful enough, thanks mainly to the multi-coloured buildings with surprisingly little colour clash. The character sprites are all monochromatic, fat little chaps who almost look too cute to kill.

To take a rest from the killing you can enter some of the buildings. These include the jail, the hotel, the store, and the casino In which you are able to gamble some of your hard-earned loot (although I rarely win anything). But watch out for the Indians, who aren't too friendly, and at all costs avoid the pot holes as some of them are very deep.

Gunfighter is a pleasant little game that won't overly tax your intellect, but will provide a fair challenge for the meagre price tag.

MARK … 74%

Joysticks Kempston, Sinclair
SOUND some clever effects

'It makes a refreshing change to play a simple arcade adventure with attractive graphics and sound effects where the programmers haven't gone OTT! The wild west town has colourful houses and shops which you can enter, as well as other places such as the KO Coral and the Gold Mine. Killing villains with such comical names as Hugo Yorway and Silty The Goat is quite difficult at first, but once you've got the hang of it you can have great fun. Gunfighter is a good fun game, worth £1.99 of anyone's money.'