This pinball game offers more than most, in that you can design your own tables; something lacking in every other CPC pinball game, as far as I know. It's a little bit on the simple side and not at all user-friendly, but it's there, and you can change the colours. If that wasn't enough, all sorts of other attributes can be reconfigured, although I think this is getting anorak-like. The actual game itself? It's a shame there is only one table supplied with the game, but it plays reasonably well, although the ball slows down dramatically when you're using the flippers. The picture of the the girl on the left is lovely as well – and not a lot of people seem to know this, but a French version of the game also exists where the girl is nude!

More information on CPCSOFTS

6

The evil sorcerer Sfax has a cast a harmful spell over the beautiful princess Gwendoline, and the only way to remove the spell is to find Sfax and destroy him. Beyond the derivative background story is a very fast 3D space shoot-'em-up. Your spacecraft skims close to a planetary surface as formations of enemy spacecraft and meteor showers swarm towards you. You can also fly through arches to gain bonus points. After a while, you will reach a heavily mined underground entrance where you can confront and shoot Sfax's face. The graphics are very detailed and the scrolling is very fast, but there is little variety in the formations and types of enemy spacecraft, and the order in which enemies appear is randomly determined. It's worth a few goes if you're looking for a quick game of something.

More information on CPCSOFTS

7

Madballs
(Ocean, 1988)

Madballs were a sets of rubber balls shaped into hideous, grotesque faces, and were very popular with children in the mid-1980s. A computer game was released to capitalise on this craze, but it's pretty poor. The Madballs live on the planet of Orb, but Dust Brain wants to take over and become leader of Orb by convincing the other Madballs to join your gang – and the way to do this is by knocking them off the platforms that make up Orb. Meanwhile, the other Madballs are trying to knock you off the platforms as well! This is not easy to do, as you are constantly bouncing up and down. In fact, controlling the Madballs is extremely difficult, and you'll soon be shouting in sheer frustration. The graphics are nothing special either.

More information on CPCSOFTS

4

Our hungry yellow blob-shaped hero is back. This time, he's in a castle filled with with ghosts, skulls, mummies, and other monsters – and it's in isometric 3D as well. The first two levels aren't too much of a problem, although watch out; you can jump over the ghosts and skulls, but you can't do that with the mummies – and don't step on the booby traps! Occasionally you'll find power-ups allowing you to move very swiftly, and there may be an extra life somewhere. Although it's not as easy as the first game, the graphics and music are both much better. However, you can only see a tiny amount of the maze at a time, and finding that last pill is often frustrating.

See also: The Pepsi Challenge Mad Mix Game.

More information on CPCSOFTS

7

Magical Drop finally arrives on the CPC thanks to Oscar Sanchez. In this fast-paced puzzle game, a mass of coloured bubbles descend from the top and the player is defeated when they hit the bottom. However if colours are matched, bubbles disappear, thus gaining some time to continue playing. The graphics are cute and brightly coloured, although they are not very detailed. A catchy tune plays in the options menu, but there are only some sound effects in the game. The gameplay is great; Magical Drop is a game that a player can become addicted to. The two-player mode is a mega bonus, since the progress that one player achieves causes trouble for the other! Thus, the grab factor is very high. In summary, a great puzzle game that every CPC fan should try at least once.

More information on CPCSOFTS

9

The evil wizard Zaks is back and has done some strange things to the Yolkfolk – Denzil is trapped in a block of ice, Dylan is in a slumber, Dora has been turned into a frog, Daisy has turned into a giant, and Grand Dizzy is stuck behind a mirror! Dizzy managed to defeat Zaks before, so can he sort him out another time? This is the fourth of Dizzy's adventures, so you know the score by now. As well as rescuing the Yolkfolk, you must also collect 30 diamonds. Unlike the first three adventures, Dizzy now has an energy bar as well as three lives. Nice graphics, nice tune, nice game – what more can I say?

See also: Bubble Dizzy, Crystal Kingdom Dizzy, Dizzy, Dizzy Down the Rapids, Dizzy: Prince of the Yolkfolk, Fantasy World Dizzy, Fast Food, Kwik Snax, Panic Dizzy, Spellbound Dizzy, Treasure Island Dizzy.

More information on CPCSOFTS

8

Mag Max
(Imagine, 1987)
Reviewed by Pug

A conversion from the arcade original. A sideways shoot-'em-up in which power-ups change the shape of your fighter into that of a powerful robot. Sadly, this game looks like it was rushed out in my opinion. The gameplay is just too difficult. The projectiles aimed at you move too quickly, and this, mixed with the structures that must be avoided, results in loss of life. Sure, you can time your position to take out these turrets, but if you don't destroy one in time you soon run into trouble as the next one aims at you. It's a real shame, as the graphics start off looking interesting with a few bleeps and bangs audio-wise. To survive more than ten seconds is a world record!

More information on CPCSOFTS

2

La Malédiction
(Lankhor, 1991)

A long time ago, the sorcerer Xarton cast a curse on the family of a man who had witnessed him using his book of spells. Now only one descendant of that family remains – a man called Tom. While exploring a cave, you stumbled upon Xarton's diary, and read that he wanted to create a machine which would allow him to meet a race of aliens. Your task is to build this machine, but first you must heal Tom, who has become ill, and then find seven keys which will open the stone coffin where the book of spells is stored. If you've played French text adventures, you will know that while the graphics are often well drawn, there is not much actual text to read, leaving you to guess what objects might be in the rooms you visit. This game takes this concept to extremes, and getting anywhere is frustrating. For me, this is probably the worst game that Lankhor released.

More information on CPCSOFTS

5

The mysterious Cosmic Sisters have sent Mambo to a military base deep within the Amazon jungle where he must disarm some nuclear missiles that are ready to be launched. You can't help laughing at such a daft plot, but you won't get a great deal of fun from playing this game. As Mambo, you must find and beat up four captains who hold the target codes for the missiles, and there are also two switches which need to be activated before you can disarm the missiles. You must also watch out for mines; if you step on one, you'll become stuck and must use some precise timing to deactivate it, or you'll lose energy – and you can't jump over them! The game is an obvious Spectrum port and it looks unappealing, and while the sound effects are OK, the tune at the beginning of the game is terrible.

More information on CPCSOFTS

5

Here's a football game based on one of the most famous football clubs in the world. The game is noteworthy for mixing both arcade and strategy; you play matches like any other arcade-based football game, but you can also buy and sell players on the transfer market, and train them in certain techniques and increase their fitness. Some people might like this, but I felt that this is rather technical and adds an unnecessary level of complexity. But even if this was omitted from the game, I still wouldn't like it. The action during the match is fast and there's nothing wrong with the graphics or scrolling, but controlling the players is really difficult – they seem to have a mind of their own – and getting hold of the ball while it's in the air also seems to be impossible.

More information on CPCSOFTS

5