Amstrad Computer User


The Story So Far Volume 4
By Elite
Amstrad CPC464

 
Published in Amstrad Computer User #61

Another Elite compilation of six games including Ghostbusters, Aliens and Back To The Future.

The Story So Far Volume 4

The Story So Far Volume 3 never made it to the CPC format but Volume 4 has. It contains two of my all-time favourite games - Ghostbusters and The Eidolon, which for me make the whole package worthwhile. The four other games which complete this package are Wonder Boy, Quartet, Back To The Future and Aliens.

It is not your everyday variety of alien roaming an isolated planet on the edge of reality. This seven-foot, man (and woman) eating, acid-spitting hard guy with an attitude problem is really mean; there are also lots of him and they are after you.

You take control of six troopers (including the memorable Ripley), and you must explore the abandoned colony seeking out and destroying the alien queen.

The gameplay consists of scanning corridors, blasting doors and wasting aliens. Not an award-winning game but worth playing if you like losing yourself in endless identical two-colour corridors.

Wonder Boy (not related to the sidekick of the caped crusader) describes the sickly sweet exploits of a young hero on a quest for his princess. Run along a horizontally scrolling landscape throwing rocks at giant snails, jumping for fruit and daring precipices. If you are into cute characters and soppy-looking hostiles you will love this one.

When the going gets tough four heroes set forth to crack some skulls. Terrorists have taken over a space station and the only hope of liberation comes from a group of youngsters known as Quartet. Unlike the arcade machine you can only control two of the characters simultaneously. As the characters jump around the screen, they pick up many unexplained objects and blast away at end-level monsters before hitting the exit and going for it one more time. Not the best program in the package and quite possibly the worst, Back To The Future is arcade adventure with some spectacularly bad graphics.

The plot follows the exploits of the young hero trying to get his parents together. Not an outstanding game but worth straining a few brain cells over, if you happen to wake up chained to your bed.

The Eidolon and Ghostbusters come next because I could not resist saving the best until last. Ghostbusters sees our heroes tearing around the city in a customised ghostmobile sucking up ghosts and guiding them into traps with proton beams. If you do really well you get to go one-on-one with the marshmallow monster. The discovery of a time machine leads to high adventure in the Eidolon.

Exploring a long-forgotten cave system, you must seek out the guardians of the crystals. When you have both the crystals and the courage you confront the dragon, a fearsome beast that guards the exit to the next level and untold adventure there. A mixture of style and quality which will keep you occupied for hours... and that is just loading the games.

Adrian Pumphrey

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