Classic Replay

#Bigtrak gave us a glimpse into the future, it felt like cutting edge entertainment, and late seventies kids were the first to own their very own robot. At the time, TV advertisements showed it effortlessly, but very slowly delivering apples and other items to parents. You'd see it carefully navigating around a dog or cat, narrowly avoiding a flight of stairs, firing a laser, before dropping off its payload to an unsuspecting parent. What made Bigtrak really cool, is that you pre-coded it with a set of instructions, up to sixteen commands and three laser blasts, and it obeyed. You watched in awe as it cleverly followed your preset path. I tried all sorts of manoeuvres that would potentially scupper Bigtrak in its tracks, going up ramps, driving along steep ledges, but mostly used it to terrorise our dog. If you were lucky enough, Bigtrak came with an optional trailer, allowing you to impress friends by...

On patrol... Amstrad, Speccy, Arcade and C64 Robocop the movie is stunning, the prime directives still resonate in my head even today. I recall from one scene good old Murphy getting blown to smithereens and in another ED-209 powering up with the immortal words - 'Please put down your weapon. You have 20 seconds to comply'. The game is every bit as enjoyable as the movie and in some ways just as memorable. I'd already experienced Operation Wolf, Chase HQ, Gryzor and Combat School, but nothing prepared me for what I was about to receive. Delta city had never looked so good, it was littered with dark alleyways, ruined building and crime infested streets. Scenes from the movie were cleverly replicated, including the hostage and drug factory encounter. You could never walk more than a few feet without all hell breaking lose. You start out all guns blazing... ultra violence a plenty. The weapons were as devastating as seen in the movie. In between the horizontal scroll...