Previous Next

Konami is famous for its arcade games, which until now have been licensed by other software houses when being converted onto home computers. Now it's producing its own conversions. The first is a prison breakout in which you play a cop trying to get rid of all the escaped prisoners.

You won't have any trouble recognising what sort of game this is: it bears strong resemblances to Green Beret and Ghosts 'N Goblins. You have to make your way through a right-to-left scrolling landscape, trying to complete gradually more hazardous stages. To start with you are armed with just a gun but can get two more sophisticated weapons by rescuing hostages along the way.

There are three types of hostage who will give you either a weapon or bonus points. Care is needed because you can shoot them as well. The prisoners come in several varieties who can shoot bullets, throw things and pop out of manholes. You have to avoid the missiles and running into them. Most can be wiped out with any of the three weapons but some require a specific weapon before they can be disposed of.

The gameplay isn't very original in the wake of Green Beret and Ghosts 'N Goblins and, in terms of graphics, it isn't very special either. It does have some digitized speech and good title music but this isn't much compensation when actually playing. It's certainly worth a look, but I hope Konami has better games to come.

Have you played it in the arcade? If so, continue doing just that. The Amstrad version is boring: you die too easily, and it's infuriating. In fact the only thing going for it is the opening speech and music.

No problem spotting the bad guys.

10,000

P. Reasonable scrolling graphics.
P. Those convicts are very tough.
P. Addictive and demanding gameplay.

N. Too unoriginal.
N. Too tough for my liking.