Commodore User
1st June 1989
Published in Commodore User #70
Knight Games (Ricochet)
A re-release of the old English Software game that made CU's front cover way back and rightly so. Seven knightly activities, most of which involved clubbing opponents around the cranial and torsoid regions with lumps of variously shaped iron made this package entertaining stuff to play.
Good clanking sounds and varied, pretty graphics make it a worthy addition to any courtly software collection.
Daley Thompson's Decathlon (The Hit Squad)
What you got for the Daley endorsement in this age-old release was a pretty competent version of the old Track And Field coin-op in the days when you could get away with that kind of cloning.
Six arm-breaking, wrist-busting, joystick-waggling events including sprinting, high jump and long jump should remind you what sports sims used to be like quick enough. Still fun for armchair fitness freaks.
Ninja Commando (Zeppelin Games)
It's charitable to suggest the miniscule figure in this game could be a ninja. He could be a bit of bluetac with limbs, for all the difference it makes.
This horizontal scroller has about as must taste of the Orient as a pot noodle. Considering you're supposed to be this deadly assassin, how come you have to jump on the nasties to kill them. Death by squashing? Whatever happened to a swift kick to the temple or a fist in the solar plexus?
Colourful backdrops. Colourless game.
Enduro Racer (The Hit Squad)
Activision's conversion of the coin-op was disappointing to say the least, but the original was never in the same league as the likes of Hang-On and Super Hang-On.
The basic idea is to ride around on your scramble bike completing the courses, jumping obstacles and avoiding hazards. Buggy Boy on two wheels really. Give it a miss.
Encounter (Novagen)
Mercenary programmer Paul Woakes' first game for Novagen and fans of the Amiga game Battlezone, released early last year may see the similarity. In fact, it's pretty limited stuff as you defend yourself from a fixed position as alien vessels close in.
There's eight levels, but don't expect too much variety.
Arcade Flight Simulator (Codemasters)
That's more like it! You know where you stand with Codemasters games if they have the word 'simulator'. Simulator Simulator! Budget Game Simulator!
This is an airborne shoot-'em-up with three levels: First World War, Second and, er, Third. Sadly though it's a bitch to play with difficult steering and an altitude element which means your plane has to be the right height before it can shoot down anything. It didn't do much for us.
Jack The Nipper (Kixx)
Could've sworn this had been released before, but if it hasn't then it damn well should have been. Gremlin's archetypal arcade adventure concerns the naughty activities of Jack, a wee scamp bent on causing mischief.
Well worth having if this is your kind of thing.
Rambo (The Hit Squad)
Ocean's new budget range starts with a bang. Rambo was a Christmas number one a few years back and one of the first games programmed by Dave Collier there.
It's an arcade adventure with the emphasis on the arcade as you run amok with Sly swopping your peashooter for some heavy armoury, freeing some prisoners and locating the helicopter to make good your escape. And don't forget that cheat whereby you plug another joystick in the other port to make the chopper fly faster. Whoops! What a giveaway!
Re-release of the month, we reckon.
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