1st December 1986
Kane is a man with problems. As sheriff he must make peace with the Indians and pump the town's bandits full of lead.
Stage one involves Kane shooting birds with a bow and arrow. You fire the bow by moving the cursor to the desired impact point and press RETURN. The skill lies in judging how far in front of the bird to fire, which depends on the bird's altitude, distance and velocity. A direct hit results in the bird plummeting earthwards.
You begin with ten arrows, and every time you kill a bird you get your arrow back. You also receive an extra life for every three birds shot. The carnage takes place against a pretty mountain scene. Sound effects are very good - the arrows fly with a nice thwap and dead birds hit the deck with a realistic thud.
The instructions say that the next stage involves a race across the desert on horseback, jumping over the bushes. Not in my version it doesn't - the program went straight to scene three.
Standing at one end of the main street you stare at the buildings, scrutinising every doorway for tell-tale signs of movement. A hand appears at the saloon door, you run across the street, move your cursor into position, and Black Jake bites the dust. Before you know what's happening the buildings are buzzing with bandits.
Kane is very difficult to control. I had to press a key three times on numerous occasions just to get him to change direction. Whatever you do, you must keep moving. If you stand still for too long you'll end up an ex-sheriff. You can re-load your pistol by running off the right hand side of the screen, but you must choose your time to return carefully. Everybody knows where you are going to appear, so you need to wait until there are only a few baddies on the screen before returning.
Having shot ten bad guys you can proceed to scene four. What?! No scene four?! Come on, Mastertronic, what are you playing at? The instructions say scene four consists of racing to stop a hijacked train. It's a pity the programmer didn't read them.
The game may only cost £1.99 but I can't help feeling Mastertronic will receive a few letters of complaint about this one.
Screenshots
