Classic Replay

The Amstrad CPC was never really catered for when it came to the beloved shoot-em-up genre. I know, I know... there was X-out, P-47 and R-Type, but the majority were crappy ports of otherwise good Speccy games. In 2009, everything took a change for the better, and the trend is set to continue well into 2011. I’m talking Star Sabre, Dead on Time and the imminent R-Type remake. Imagine my surprise then, when I heard Sub Hunter was scheduled for a release on the CPC. Sub Hunter really brings it home for the CPC. It's considered a Commodore 64 classic. It’s loved within it’s community, and now the Amstrad CPC has its very own shiny special version. As for the story, just think government cover up, chemicals, and undesired effects. Basically the government have gone and dumped all sorts of shizzle in the ocean, and now the fish have increased massively in size and all turned a bit radio rental, mental. Never fear... the bigger they are the h...

I'm amazed at how many games were previewed or reviewed back in the day, only to later find out they'd never actually seen a release. It's simply shocking, as some of the games mentioned below were actually finished and ready for the shop shelf. For instance, games such as Mega Twins, Spiderman, Judge Dredd, Rim Runner and Chase HQ 2 all featured reviews but somehow escaped release. List of cancelled games - CPC Cyberun  (Ultimate)  Robin Of The Wood (Odin)  Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday (CPC) The Champ (CPC version) Judge Dredd (CPC version) Judge Death (CPC version) Q8 Team Ford Rally (CPC version) Vampires (CPC Version) Dalek Attack (CPC version) Mega Twins (CPC version) The Never Ending Story 2 (CPC version) Project: Stealth Fighter (CPC version) Rimrunner (CPC version) Robocop 3 (CPC version) Street Fighter II (CPC version) The Amazing Spiderman (CPC version) The Punisher (CPC version) Tilt (CPC version) Toki (CPC version) Where ...

Lance Gryzor is rock hard... and bloody dangerous to boot. He’s also very large... and a mean son of a gun. His mission, raise all kinds of hell, and take on the full brunt of an imminent alien invasion. Lance will need every weapon available to him, in order to prevail, and clean up the vile scum. You’ll need to smash through all sorts of alien infested areas before a final confrontation with hell on Earth itself. Lance isn’t alone though, and the nice people of Earth will at regular intervals send in pods containing all sorts of goodness, including extra weaponry and the much needed heavy body armour. Weapons include 3-way fire, laser cannons and rapid fire. You’ll most likely need ‘em too... because at the end of each level, you’ll need to traverse through a network of tunnels, packed to the rafters with alien soldiers, ever determined not to let you pass. Lance is quite the athlete too, and wouldn’t look outta place dressed in a gymnasts leotard. He gracefully somersault...

Ninja warriors are lightening fast, frighteningly furious, and laff in the face of danger. They don’t wear skirts or go crying to mummy if things turn a bit ruff. Real Ninjas feast on nails, fight Bears and drink flammable liquids. Ninjas can scale tall buildings faster than Spider-man, leap from unbelievable heights, and fly if the mood takes them. However; the only way to meet all the above requirements, and become a proper hard Ninja for yourself, is to play Shinobi. Basically, Shinobi has to stop a massive criminal organization called "Zeed" who thought it might be a real good idea to kidnap the children of the Oboro clan. Chop your way through five levels of mayhem, and make your way to Zeed's headquarters, in order to free all the hostages, and kick all sorts of crap outta him. Shinobi is Ninja artistry at its finest. And Virgin did a fantastic job in converting the arcade original onto the home computers. The graphics across all the computer and consol...

Does anyone remember the 8-bit Michael Jackson game, Moonwalker? Shocking wasn't it, but lo and behold, SEGA also released the game as a coin-op machine. Quick, run for it? Hold on a sec, there's good news... it's a completely different experience to the home version, and is essentially a beat-em-up. Moonwalker the coin-op is better, ten times better... in fact, it's bloody awesome. SEGA were a bit more savvy with this release, and seemed to focus heavily on what Michael did best? Music! They've included sampled speech... who's bad! and incorporated synthesized versions of hits, such as " Beat It ", "Bad" and " Smooth Criminal ". The graphics look really cool, and give off a much needed moody atmosphere. Moonwalker reminds me of Escape From the Planet of Robot Monsters in appearance, as it shares a very similar isometric view, but with much greater detail, and faster gameplay. M...

Taken from 'AA' May 1992 There's no question about it... Amstrad games looked awesome set in 'MODE-0' with 16 colours, when done right. I was never a fan of the other modes, although Switchblade and Stryker & The Crypts Of Trogan did look awesome, especially on the Amstrad Plus models. For instance, just look at Prince of Persia on the left... the graphics are amazing for an 8-bit computer, and the animation is out of this world. Turrican II and Titus the Fox really pushed the boundaries of the Amstrad, and although a good game, Titus the Fox does buckle under the preasure for displaying such fine art. There are plenty more games I'll be featuring in the coming months, and the likes of Robocop, Operation Wolf, D-Day Chase HQ, Trantor all prove the CPC could output some of the most beautiful images when compared to the other 8-bits. Hopefully these screenshots will make you wanna go track down these games and play 'em on a real to life CPC... un...

Game: Predator Publisher: Activision Year: 1987 It sees the heat from your body, smells your fear. And hunts for pleasure, it's the Predator. It's time to shout loud, and look mean,  in one of the biggest movie / arcade conversions of the 80's. If you weren't feeling old already, how's this for a nudge to the pipe and slippers: Predator is now over twenty four years old. It seems a long time ago now, but in June 12 1987 Predator became the first film to give the Rambo franchise a run for its money. I hardly need to explain that Predator involves shooting the bejesus out of stuff while dressed in your best camouflage. But anyway, the hunt starts similar to the film, with your team inserted deep within the jungle by helicopter. If you don't like creepy crawlies then be afraid! As this game is harbouring even more dangerous forces than tiny insects. It's time to risk life, limb and chance losing your breakfast, in a fight to the finish (If...

Game: Renegade Publisher: Taito / Ocean - Imagine Everyone loves a bit of side scrolling action... and Renegade from Taito is one of finest beat 'em ups to ever appear on an 8-bit computer. Who needs Streets of Rage eh? Just when you thought it was safe to pick up a joystick, here comes a game that will kick you in the goolies, smash you in the jaw, and stab out your innards. Yep, the people behind Renegade, Imagine, are out to give you a few more bruises than expected.. Renegade is set in the gangland suburbs of New York, Your girlfriend Lucy is waiting on the other side of town, but to get to her, you must fight it out with countless gang members, out to stop you dead in your tracks. There are five levels in total, first the tube station, where you'll meet a gang of muggers. Then the pier area, a bikers paradise. The third area is set in a sleezy lesbian quarter of town, with the exit leading upto your meeting place, where vicious razor wielding thugs wait...

Released: 1990 Company: Amstrad Is it any good? Owning the Amstrad GX4000 was a bizarre experience. For starters, the GX4000 adverts showed images of games that were impossible to get hold of. I was only ever able to purchase two games through the High St, and despite the GX4000 selling 150,000 units in the first couple of weeks, Amstrad screwed over any chance of the machines success, by making the ill fated decision to handle distribution of games on behalf of the publishers. The GX4000's price was good, and to be frank, it looked the business. However; the price for a game, and the horrid game cases didn't help to impress. Worse still, most of the games that did trickle out were already available on the CPC, and much cheaper. Unsurprisingly, the GX4000 didn't reach anywhere near Sugars predicted sales... and within three months the system was brown bread. Should I still get one? Although powered by 8-bit tech, the ill fated console featur...

We all know how difficult 8-bit games were, but the Spanish developer D i namic really t ook the biscuit . They produced games guaranteed to make your hair turn grey , and send  smiles into vicious frowns . D i namic games were bordering on brilliant, painful and stress ful as opposed to fun.  Y ou’d typically have to traverse a bewildering and formidable fixed set of objects and enemies, in a fixed time frame with limited energy,  resource or worst still... one flipping life . Extremely challenging; yes! B ut rock-like from the word go . I’ll be the first to admit that a game should measure the player's skill. T here’s little point committing to a game unless it ’ s gonna be a challenge, and the best gaming experiences are those created through adversary . That said; there are some games that really upset the balance.  Dinamic games were massively unapologetic, and consistently demanded the near impossible from the player . I can unde...

It's time to get messy, and misbehave... and I'm not talking about trashing your office or throwing a fax machine out the nearest window. I'm talking 'bloodiest' games from the 80's computers, will you survive??? Relax, we won't be stoving any-one's head in just yet... instead, we'll just be taking a closer look at the games that have apparently caused parents of yest-er-year to raise all kinds of hell, beginning with Barbarian on the Amstrad CPC , Speccy , C64, and Amiga. One of the things that bizarrely got people very worked up about Barbarian , and its sequel was of course the decapitation. Perhaps the most potentially frightening was when the goblin entered the screen, and kicked a blood soaked decapitated head with sheer delight, he's then seen savagely dragging the carcass away. Back then, it was probably considered one of the most gruesome things you'd ever see on an 8-bit. I dunno… maybe some parents led a shelte...