Domark's Tengen conversions have had their ups and downs, with the diabolical Hard Drivin' and Dragon Spirit being very much in the latter category. Thankfully, this latest compilation is heavily biased to the bright spots and with five games is good value.
One particular gem is Klax, one of the best arcade puzzle games and since these never sell brilliantly on their own, this could well be the first time most people play it. The game is simple in principle but tough to master; you have to catch the different coloured 'tiles' on your paddle and drop them into one of five bins. A klax is formed when three or more tiles of the same colour are stacked horizontally, vertically or diagonally. The early levels are easy enough but as time goes on it becomes very difficult to keep up with the flow of tiles. Graphics are simple, but nice for a puzzle game and it's all a single load (92%, Issue 64). Great fun!
Another Sizzler came from the Walking Circles programming team, namely the hilarious APB. This puts you in the size ten boots of Officer Bob, the friendly copper who must fill his daily quota of arrests. Failure to do so earns Bob demerit points and will eventually result in him being slung out of the force. Also he crashes his car or injures innocent bystanders the demerit points mount up, so be sure to sound the siren when making an arrest. There's a fair bit of multi-loading but this oddball game is really enjoyable.
Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters is an even wackier coin-op. Planet X has been invaded by evil Reptilons and all the citizens have been put in chains. Gameplay isn't that original but the coin-op was distinguished by bikini-clad hostages, and lots of other cartoony effects. A pity then that the C64 game is mostly monochromatic, a Spectrumesque effort with the colourful baddies shaped like Weetabix! A one- or two-player game, with a single load and some goodish end-level baddies, this isn't too bad on a compilation (68%, Issue 62).
Rather more interesting are two games which were previously only available on cartridge, an odd format for single load games! (In fact the whole compilation fits on a single disk.)
Vindicators is undoubtedly the worst of the bunch (35%, Issue 70), an endlessly reptitive overhead view blast-'em-up.
Apparently in 2525 the Tangent Empire are the main villains and it's up to you and a friend to fight through their space stations in SR-88 Battle Tanks. A reasonable conversion of a dull coin-op.
An altogether more interesting game is Cyberball, set in the 22nd century where huge robots play a game very similar to today's gridiron football. One or two human players can play (co-operatively, not competitively), the aim of the game being to score as many touchdowns as possible in the six three-minute quarters. There's lots of plays or moves to choose from, but executing them is tougher than it looks (78%, Issue 70). An interesting variation on American football and now available with four other games for less than the original cartridge!
1st July 1991