Previous Next

When Theatre Europe first came out, it was considered rather controversial due to its up-to-date topic. A year or so after its release, the situation remains the same though the hue and cry has died down.

The Amstrad conversion of this game is as good as you would expect with plenty of hi-res colour and sound. The game remains the same through all of its versions.

The idea behind the game is that you are commander of either the Warsaw Pact forces, and either one of you must defend West Germany from the other.

The method of commanding your forces is in a similar manner to Battle of Britain - another game by the same people. The screen is occupied by a map of Europe, with strategic sites and cities highlighted. Your forces and your enemy's forces are also shown. You then begin to allocate these forces to move to various places, whether to attack or not and what to attack, and then you slug it out.

If the action section is selected at the start of the game then the attacks are presented on-screen as a picture of some buildings with some tanks crawling all over the place along with a jet plane and a helicopter flying above. You must then move your sights around and blast them with your gun. This adds a slight interlude between staring at the map and consulting the tables that crop up.

After all the fighting you then get a chance to re-equip and supply your forces.

And so you drive on - desperately trying to force back the red hordes, or trying to force your way into another country (at the legitimate government's request of course!).

Two of the options are strategic - nuclear or chemical strikes. The chemical can be quite effective, though the nuclear strike tends to wipe out the entire world!

A fast-moving and hard-thinking game, I thoroughly enjoyed my invasion of Germany.