Red LED
(Starlight, 1987)

Three ZMX battle-droids must explore dozens of isometric landscapes which are arranged on a grid in the form of a hexagon. Your aim is to create a link from the left side of the hexagon to the right, by collecting all of the energy pods on certain landscapes. You can choose which battle-droid to send into action on each landscape; each is supposed to have its own characteristics, but in practice, they all behave fairly similarly. There are lots of enemies to battle against, and you must be careful not to fall off the edge of the landscapes, otherwise you'll lose precious time – and with only 60 minutes to create the link, you'll need every second! This is a highly challenging and quite engrossing game with colourful graphics. It's easy to learn but tough to master.

More information on CPCSOFTS

8

You have been sent by the Terran Confederation Star Commandos on a mission to the Bombyx Moons to defeat the evil Necrons, who are mining the moons to obtain the valuable mineral Talanite. Your Death Scorpion is equipped with several types of weapon and has four different visual modes, each of which allows you to see certain objects that would otherwise be hidden. You must also be careful not to shoot civilian Bombyx targets, otherwise you will be charged with war crimes! What could have been a fairly straightforward 3D shoot-'em-up is instead a slow and overly complex affair. There are lots of keypresses to be memorised, and the system for destroying incoming Necron missiles (where you must find the correct wave pattern in order to destroy them) is very cumbersome and detracts from the action.

More information on CPCSOFTS

4

A Breakout clone with 50 zones but a difficulty level that's so high that it's more than likely that you will only see the first three. Become a Reflex Rider and destroy all the bricks (or 'grid components' as the game calls them) in each zone. Alternatively, you can collect the exit bonus if it appears, and there are other bonus icons which can be collected. Your reflex capsule (otherwise known as the bat) has a limited amount of power which also acts as the number of lives you have; using the turbo on your capsule, or the laser, if you've collected the appropriate bonus icon, decreases your power. The graphics are colourful and the music on the menu is nice, but the gameplay is just too difficult.

More information on CPCSOFTS

6

Relentless was the winner of CPCWiki's 16KB ROM game development competition held in 2013. As its name implies, get ready for the most relentless 16 kilobytes of action you will ever get. The game begins with a great tune. Straight away, you are plunged into relentless, non-stop shoot-'em-up action with smooth 50fps scrolling. The graphics are very detailed with a great colour selection that does not tire out the eyes. The sprites are creatively designed. The sound is as good as it could be for a 16K game, with numerous effects. The gameplay is really good but sometimes it gets very difficult. Thankfully, you can adjust the difficulty level if you like. The grab factor is strong until you complete it – something that will not take a lot of time since this game is not lengthy. Overall, this is a good shoot-'em-up, but the other entries in the competition are, in my opinion, just as good.

More information on CPCSOFTS

8

Relief Action
(Loriciels, 1987)

A laboratory assistant on the NMI spaceship accidentally created a monster which has massacred the entire crew. You are the only survivor, having entered one of the cryogenic chambers before it was too late. Now you must find the shuttle and escape. The ship consists of about 50 rooms and corridors, and you'll find objects which will allow you to access some parts of the ship. Fans of the Freescape games will feel right at home with this game (provided you can understand French); everything takes place in a full 3D environment, and if you can find a pair of 3D glasses, you can use them to enhance the 3D effect even further – quite a nice innovation! There's no sound, but it only increases the tension as you walk the empty corridors of the spaceship, hoping that the monster isn't around the next corner...

More information on CPCSOFTS

9

A Remote Excavation Module has been sent into some underground caverns, to collect radioactive deposits – the sort of task which is certainly not recommended for humans. However, the caverns contain lots of boulders which are lying on unstable soil, so be careful where you move the robot. You've guessed it; this is a Boulder Dash clone, but it's not very good, really. I suppose it would be OK if the graphics were better and the scrolling wasn't jerky. At least there are passwords to allow you to skip levels you've already completed.

More information on CPCSOFTS

4

Renegade
(Imagine, 1987)
Reviewed by John Beckett

By far one of the greatest, if not the greatest scrolling beat-'em-up on the CPC, Renegade has you playing a vigilante who must go and meet his girlfriend on the other side of town. But instead of catching the tube (the first level is set in a tube station, for crying out loud!), he decides to walk there, disposing of various gangs and their leaders on the way. The difficulty level is just right, the graphics are great – detailed, fluid and colourful – and the game has some of the catchiest tunes to come out of the CPC's speakers. The levels are all suitably different, each populated by its own gang (the junkyard's motorbike gang is a particular favourite of mine), and the Renegade himself has an impressive arsenal of moves available to him – punches, back kicks, headbutts, flying kicks etc. To be honest, I can't find fault with this game; it's a classic!

See also: Renegade III: The Final Chapter, Target Renegade.

More information on CPCSOFTS

10

Renegade III: The Final Chapter
(Imagine, 1989)
Reviewed by John Beckett

When I first played this game, I had to double-check that it was actually a Renegade game! It's totally different from its classic predecessors, Renegade and Target Renegade! Where the first two were humourless, gritty and ultra-violent beat-'em-ups, this game's more like an episode of Dr. Who! Anyway, you play as Renegade, as you wander through different time zones (prehistoric, Egyptian, mediaeval and the future) in search of your girlfriend (some things never change!), who's been kidnapped by bad guys from the future. Why? Dunno! And instead of fighting chain-wielding street thugs, you must take on cavemen, mummies, dragons and aliens, to name a few! Overall, good cartoony graphics, decent sound, but it's also very, very tough. Not a patch on the original, but worth a blast nonetheless. Oh, and how strict is that time limit?!

See also: Renegade, Target Renegade.

More information on CPCSOFTS

7

Iraqi terrorists have hijacked a jumbo jet full of passengers and are threatening to blow it up. One of those passengers happens to be our hero Ricky's girlfriend – so can Ricky single-handedly fight off all of the terrorists and rescue the hostages on the 'plane? It may or may not have been a coincidence that this game was released during the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991, when Iraq invaded its neighbour Kuwait. The game is a beat-'em-up divided into two sections. Unusually, the graphics in the first section are in the high-colour, low-resolution mode, but in the second section, everything is drawn in the four-colour, higher-resolution mode. This is a fairly good game overall, although the end-of-level opponent in the first section is far too hard – and if you're wondering how to use the motorbike, open one of the doors to the 'plane and grab the key!

More information on CPCSOFTS

7

Aliens have set up a base in the depths of Earth's oceans, and you have to locate their base in the lost city of Atlantis and destroy their leader, Korx. The entrance is hidden in an old wreck, and you'll need to make a hole in the wreck to find it. You've also got to explore the vast labyrinth of caves and make gold bars using the mould you're supplied with – but you'll need to find a heat source first. The underwater creatures make life difficult for you, too. The graphics and animation are good and the music is excellent, but like most Dinamic games, it's too difficult, and far too big as well – it's easy to get lost. It's a departure from Dinamic's usual style of game, and it's not one of their better moments.

More information on CPCSOFTS

6