Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior
(Palace, 1987)

Princess Mariana has been captured by the evil Drax, and to rescue her, he has challenged you to a series of fights against his toughest warriors. You may remember that the advertisements for this game were a bit controversial, featuring an almost naked Maria Whittaker as the princess, and Michael van Wijk (Wolf out of the TV programme Gladiators) as the barbarian. You can also practice your skills, or play against a friend. This is a great game with some really good animation and beautiful scenery, and some excellent atmospheric music. It's also fun because you can chop your opponent's head off with the right move, as shown in the screenshot!

See also: Barbarian II.

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Having thought you'd dispatched the bald-headed evil wizard in the first adventure, you find that you must fight your way again to defeat Drax. This time you have the choice of the Barbarian or the curvaceous Princess to chop and slash your way through a plethora of various monsters – not humans this time – which are each defeated differently, against a wide selection of pretty backdrops which connect to form a labyrinth our heroes have to travel through to confront your enemy in the final showdown. Essentially, apart from the same look and feel (which is welcome), this is a different type of game from its predecessor; there's no two player action (as in no head chops) and it thereby suffers for it. Incidentally, the cartridge version is exactly the same as the normal CPC version!

See also: Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior.

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Skara Brae has been taken over and ruined; only fear resides here now. Your band of adventurers must find the Evil Mage's lair and defeat him. The world of The Bard's Tale is full of temples, taverns, inns, sewers, castles, monsters and treasure. With these ingredients, you end up with a classic and addictive RPG. The graphics may look primitive at first, but in the long term they grow on you with their distinct style. You soon become engrossed in this game. As you develop, it is a real joy to slay that beast that once ate you for breakfast!

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You have been sent down into the Great Barrier Reef in a submarine to collect lots of cash, although I don't know how it got there. The reef is really a large maze, and you'll find some sections cut off – but there are bombs lying around which will enable you to reach other sections of the reef. Watch your oxygen levels as well, and don't touch the fish, or you'll lose one of your nine lives. This is just a bog-standard exploration game with poor graphics and sound effects, and little variety in the gameplay. Avoid it!

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Barry McGuigan's World Championship Boxing
(Activision, 1985)
Reviewed by Guillaume Chalard

Here's another boxing game, based upon the legendary Irish featherweight champion. The first interesting feature is that you begin the game before the fight. You have ten weeks to practice and you can choose between several activities to improve your strength and stamina (e.g. roadwork, heavy bag, sparring). You can also choose your opponent, which brings a little 'simulation' touch to the game. The fights are rather realistic; knockouts are really well rendered. Unlike many other games, you can block the punches of your opponents, and an uppercut doesn't look like a right hook. The sound of the crowd, which increases when the fight toughens, is great too. Though it shows its age, it is still a good game.

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The evil rodent criminal, Professor Ratigan, has kidnapped Basil's friend, Dr. Dawson. Using his detective skills, Basil must hunt for clues as to Ratigan's whereabouts. On each of the three levels are five clues hidden inside tins or bags, which Basil must search. However, the devious Ratigan has also left behind eight false clues. Fortunately, by pressing a particular key when you are carrying five clues, you can find out how many of them are the clues you're looking for. You can also find mousetraps to trap enemies with, and cheese to restore your energy. The graphics are very colourful indeed and are really appealing, but the game is very difficult as it's often impossible to avoid losing energy in some situations, and it's depleted too quickly.

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Dinamic are famous for creating good-looking games which are cursed with a difficulty level that makes them hardly playable. Unfortunately, this basketball game (known as Fernando Martin Basket Master in its native Spain) is not an exception to the rule. Playing against the former Spanish player who gave his name to the game, or against a friend, you must prove your skills in a one-on-one game. You can dribble, shoot from every position, dunk, defend and make fouls – and you will, because it's hard to retain possession of the ball for more than a few seconds, even on the easiest level. The controls aren't suited to a sports game, and scoring feels like a miracle. After every basket, a replay scene reminds you how badly you play and how easy it is for your opponent to score. This is the kind of game that requires a lot of self-control.

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Batman
(Ocean, 1986)

Robin has been kidnapped, and to rescue him, Batman has to find seven pieces of the Batmobile which have gone missing in his lair, which is very big indeed. First, though, you're going to need to find four other items which improve your agility; when you find them, you can then explore other parts of the lair. Each room is viewed from an isometric perspective, and the graphics are very detailed, although some rooms have awful colour schemes! The sound isn't particularly good, though, but the game is quite a challenge, and you're going to need all of the eight lives you start with. Thankfully, you can collect icons which let you save your current status and location to memory (although unfortunately not to cassette or disc).

See also: Batman the Caped Crusader, Batman: The Movie.

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Batman the Caped Crusader
(Ocean, 1988)

The Joker and the Penguin have kidnapped poor Robin again, and Batman has to complete two missions, entitled 'A Bird in the Hand' and 'A Fete Worse Than Death' – so you really get two games for your money! The playing area is viewed in the style of a comic strip, showing one frame at a time, and it's quite smart. Some frames have captions as well, giving you obvious clues as to which object you should use. The icon system is wonderful to work with. Batman is very well animated and the graphics, while a little dull, are still detailed – and one of the tunes is incredibly groovy!

See also: Batman, Batman: The Movie.

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Batman: The Movie
(Ocean, 1989)

Batman's nemesis, the Joker, is up to his evil tricks again. You must chase the Joker through Gotham City, in five levels of platforming and driving action. The game starts with you chasing Jack Napier through a chemical factory and cornering him so that he falls into a vat and becomes the Joker. You must then escape in the Batmobile to the Batcave and discover which objects contain the Joker's deadly chemical, Smilex. Once that's done, you go back on to the streets, and finally, pursue the Joker to Gotham Cathedral. The graphics and music are both up to Ocean's high standards, although the second level is infuriatingly difficult; I've never been able to pass it without cheating. With regard to the cartridge version, the choice of colours is a lot better, but nothing else is different.

See also: Batman, Batman the Caped Crusader.

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