Your Sinclair


The Ultimate Collection

Author: Rich Pelley
Publisher: Ubisoft
Machine: Spectrum 48K/128K/+2

 
Published in Your Sinclair #72

The Ultimate Collection

No prizes for guessing what's in store for you on this compilation (cos I'm just about to tell you). Skate Wars, Zombi, AMC, Stunt Car Racer, After The War, Pro Tennis Tour and A Large Banana are all to be found within its lovely crafted box. One of these is a red herring.

Skate Wars

A spooky ice-hockey-cum-football-cum-beat-'em-up released twice previously under different pseudonyms, which just goes to show what a weird bunch Ubisoft are. But then, they are French! "Pretty good fun for a while, pretty original, but not quite there," was our conclusion then. It still rings true today. 62%

Zombi

It's an icon-driven arcade adventure, it's a trifle bizarre, it's decidedly monochrome and it's disturbingly lacking in sound. Yet, inexplicably, it's one of the most addictive and playable games in the pack. Strange but true. Spook! 73%

Astro Marine Corps

Equally strange was the fact that although it was printed with blue ink on pink paper (which made your eyes go funny when you read it), it seemed that we almost keeled over with sheer bliss at this scrolling beat-'em-up back in issue 55. But 17 issues on, its flaws are far more conspicuous. Basically, it's too graphicy and not gamey enough for my liking. 60%

Stunt Car Racer

Ah, this is more like it. A perfectly, to coin a word, 'brilliant' 3D driving game held over a roller-coaster track. The graphics really have to be seen to be believed, and the playability's so great it'll be literally oozing out of the side of your Speccy and all over the table. [That's nice. - Ed] 85%

Pro Tennis Tour

And what did we say about this one back in February 1990? "The best tennis sim on the market with dead accurate (if a tad hard) gameplay." That remark still stands firm today, although (being slightly picky) the game is far from perfect. 79%

After The War

And number six on the pack is this two sectioner, a combination of beat-'em-up and shoot-'em-up. Both sections have top-notch chunky animated graphics and there's plenty of opportunities for the player to interact, although it is perhaps a little too hard for its own good. 70%

A Large Banana

This is in fact the red herring, as no items of fruit are included in the compilation (due to packaging restrictions). 0, 'cos it doesn't exist!

In summary, three good games and three alright (but still worth having) games. And there's not really much more I can say than that. (You could say that the coherence theory states that a proposition is true if it fits into a network of propositions, often held by idealists. Much like YS really. Ed) No I couldn't.

Rich Pelley

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