Crash


T-Wrecks

Author: Phil King
Publisher: Gremlin
Machine: Spectrum 128K

 
Published in Crash #56

Stomp tanks and barbecue soldiers!

T-Wrecks

The humans are aware of your presence! They send out their armed forces to intercept you. Tanks? - you stomp on them. Helicopters and jets? - you swat them from the skies. Soldiers? - frazzle them with your fiery breath and eat them for breakfast. Oh, what a rotten swine you are!

But what are you? Nothing less than a nightmare Godzilla escaped from a Japanese science fiction movie in this stompingly good-fun bash-'em-up from Gremlin. A bunch of meddling explorers have nicked some of your eggs without asking, and my, my, are you angry. A quick rampage through a variety of Japanese locations is needed to recover them and teach those meddling humans a lesson they won't forget.

Unfortunately, these revolting humans have guns which do a lot of damage to your delicate hide. A hit meter registers the amount of times the enemy manages to shoot you but, to regain strength, try eating a few of your attackers - serves 'em right anyway.

The Muncher Eats Chewits

Don't just take it out on the humans, though - kick the heck out of their buildings as well (whoops, sorry, was that your house I just sat on?). Apart from your outsize food chompers and claws, barbecue breath also comes as standard equipment, though it's important to keep a reptilian eye on the meter at the screen's top-right to see whether you have a full charge. If empty, you'll need a refill fast.

When the stolen eggs are recovered, finding a handy dandy nuclear waste dump is just the ticket. Not only are these dumps very, very tasty, but bury the eggs in them and they hatch into baby monsters to carry on the good work should you fail (okay, it means extra lives). And you're not alone. Fellow monsters are also keen to join in the human bashing. To complete your mission you have to defeat three of them in combat.

The most amazing thing about T-Wrecks is the amount of colour used without much attribute clash. The massive green reptile smashes her way through levels of tanks and helicopters with great style - she's well-drawn and the animation's not bad considering her large size. Even more astounding is the way she breathes fire, burning buildings to a frazzle.

The 128K soundtrack contains some catchy little tunes and the effects are just as good. The little soldiers squeak in pain when they're eaten or jumped on - and why not? - while the dinosaur makes a great stomping sound as she walks. This technical excellence is matched by the gameplay; it's great fun smashing the buildings and breathing fire on the tanks and cars. The various levels get progressively harder and should provide plenty of challenge for even the best of game players.

Climbing and smashing buildings is reminiscent of Rampage, but the scrolling landscape and more varied enemies give T-Wrecks extra lastability. It deserves to be a gigantic hit!

PHIL ... 90%

The Essentials

Joysticks: Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: large and surprisingly well animated
Sound: monster-sized chomping and mangling effects

Mark ... 80%

T-Wrecks is g-r-r-rreat stomping, frazzling, crushing fun! It may remind you of Rampage, but it's graphically impressive, with a very mean and moody looking monster ready to mangle and be generally offensive. I loved every minute of the computerised carnage. Long-term interest may be stunted by the repetitive rip, mangle, and maim content, but there's no denying that it should have all Godzilla fans cheering on the monster, and booing the (?) baddies.

Nick ... 72%

T-Wrecks's strong point is its graphics. The size of the main sprite is astounding and all the other graphics in the game are of a high standard. The atmospheric sound effects when you walk and smash things all add up to a fun game. Get poking for the Christmas Special, lads!

Phil KingMark CaswellNick Roberts

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