You have returned from a long holiday to your job in a custard pie factory, only to find that all production has stopped – and as the repairman, you must fix and restart all of the machinery, otherwise you will be sacked! This is a platform game in which you must explore rooms in the search for the objects that will activate the machinery, and each object is often to be found a long way from where it is to be used. There is also a range of enemies to be found in most rooms, which will sap your energy if you touch them. Both the graphics and sound effects are basic, although a lot of colour is used, but the main problem is that movement of your character is slow, and it takes a long time to go from one place to another, which makes a potentially good game boring instead.

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Times are tough on Hardscrabble Island, and you dream of getting away from the island – so when someone invites you on a diving expedition to hunt for treasure, it's an offer you can't refuse. However, many of the characters on Hardscrabble Island are dodgy, and you'll be working with some of the dodgiest characters of them all – and one of them is a traitor... There are two variations of the game, but I'll leave it to you to discover them. This is a great text adventure from Infocom with enough mystery and excitement to captivate you for some time.

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American football has become robotic in the 21st century, and it's more violent than ever. Fourteen armoured robots tackle and clash with each other, attempting to get a touchdown before the ball explodes – it's actually a bomb! It sounds great, but the game is poorly executed. Rather than being a straightforward arcade game, the game constantly stops for you to choose your tactics, and there are dozens of strategies. It interrupts the flow of the game and becomes its major downfall. The robots also move very slowly, which again ruins things. The graphics are good and the tune on the menu is nice, but I can't understand why the CPC magazines liked this game so much!

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Cyber Chicken is the final version of Cyber Huhn, an entrant in CPCWiki's 16KB ROM game development competition held in 2013. This version has many differences compared to the original one. To begin with, the game displays a magnificent overscan image. As the game begins, the player can now see the cannons that fire shots at the cyber chickens. The scrolling is smooth and fast, while the graphics, although lacking a background, are detailed. The chickens zoom in as they approach you. The sound effects are reasonable and the gunshot sounds increase and decrease in pitch, and the game also includes several tunes. The gameplay is fast-paced and entertaining; because of the high score table, you can attempt to beat the best scores. Overall, a highly entertaining and original idea placed in the type of game that is rarely seen on the CPC.

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The Massive Federation Intergalactic storage depots have been raided by pirates, so the Federation has hired Cybernoid to evade the defence systems that lurk in the depot and capture the pirates. Cybernoid has a large array of weapons at its disposal – missiles, mines, bouncing bombs, and heat-seeking missiles, as well as a temporary invincibility shield. The graphics are a feast of colour and the music is quite cool as well, but the game is far too hard, even with five lives – if you can get as far as the tenth screen without cheating, you deserve an award.

See also: Cybernoid II.

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Cybernoid II
(Hewson, 1988)

The sequel is so similar to the original that it's not true. There's the same array of weaponry, the same enemies and obstacles, and exactly the same screen layout. In fact, about the only things that have changed are the levels themselves, and the ship you control; it looks as though it's been upgraded. You've still got the same colourful graphics and excellent music, but lessons clearly weren't learnt from the original – you guessed it, it's just as difficult. This game isn't what I'd call a true sequel; it's more like a set of extra levels.

See also: Cybernoid.

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Cybor JMT61 has been assigned the mission of destroying the Ordirebel computer, housed within a large complex. Many other Cybors have attempted this mission and failed. You must locate the computer while avoiding other robots and floating objects which will cause you to lose one of your nine lives if you bump into them. There are also batteries and bottles of oil and anti-rust lying about, to help you survive. This is an unoriginal game with relatively poor graphics and sound effects, made worse by having to wait several seconds while moving between rooms; the scrolling is very slow and jerky. If that's not enough, the game crashes after just a few minutes of play.

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The Cycles
(Accolade, 1990)

Compete in the motorcycle championship circuit around eight tracks with nine other riders. You have the option of riding a 125cc, 250cc or 500cc motorbike, although you'll have to qualify for each race first. This is supposed to be a realistic simulation of motorcycle racing, but it's practically impossible to get your 'bike to stay on the track! Despite this problem, it's also too easy, even though there are five difficulty levels, and there's no impression of speed either. The graphics are quite good, and the "Accolade presents..." speech sample is actually rather funny, but the engine noises are grating, and unless you're a serious motorbike fan, it's not much fun.

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Cylu the Otsan has been chosen as a future leader, but must prove his worthiness by collecting 24 objects hidden in a maze on the planet Vole. These have to deposited at the computer where you started the game. Other objects in the maze include fuel canisters, CPUs to disable forcefields, and teleport keys (which bear the names of 80s pop stars and groups!). The graphics are extremely garish with some of the most hideous colour schemes ever seen, and the sound effects – well! The game itself is tricky, with awkward controls, a fuel supply that decreases too fast, and an ability to see only a very tiny part of the maze at a time.

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Of the many chess games on the CPC, this definitely gets my award for the best-looking one – that blue colour scheme is so nice, and the pieces look really good as well. Mind you, it still makes for a tough opponent, although this is because I'm no good at chess and never have been. There are twelve difficulty levels, but it doesn't seem to make any difference to the computer's moves. Nonetheless, the game features a useful array of options to set up the board and save, load and print out games, and if you don't like the 3D view, you can always change to a 2D view (with horrible colours thrown in).

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