Sam Spillade is a private investigator working in 1930s New York – although he isn't particularly clever or successful. At the start of the game, Sam is given two cases to solve, and as Sam, you must travel around New York in your wreck of a car to find clues and follow up any leads. This three-part text adventure was created using The Quill and contains some very well-written text that sets the atmosphere nicely – although there are also some sexual innuendos that I didn't like much. You'll need to read the text carefully, as it reveals clues to where you need to go next. Some locations are also accompanied by pictures. However, there are a few problems with the parser, and the need to be at some locations at particular times in order to solve some puzzles makes this a rather difficult and sometimes frustrating adventure.

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Barney is a circus performer who needs your help to complete a series of events and please the public. Each level involves circus themes which require skill and timing. There are four levels – tightrope, unicycle, balloons and trampolines. Each has its own charm and hazards – some have more of the latter than others. The graphics are average and collision detection is tight. A pleasant tune plays and old-fashioned sound effects reign supreme. It's a blatant clone of the arcade game Circus Charlie, and done via a Commodore 64 conversion.

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5

Based on the fairly low-key film of the same name, this is a strange and unexciting little game where the aim is to walk through China's streets, sewers and temples, before taking out the mini-bosses (the 'Storms', for those who have seen the film) and finally the end boss, and rescue the kidnapped girl. There are three interchangeable characters – Jack Burton (an American trucker), some kung fu expert, and Egg Shen (a wizard on a floating cloud). Although the game is unbelievably short, it makes up for this in its difficulty – if one of your three characters dies, you can kiss goodbye to finishing the game. This is never more frustrating than in the sewers, where you just cannot avoid the sewer monsters! The graphics are awful, and the characters move like they're made of wood. Not a terrible game, just really boring.

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5

Billy is a streetwise suburban guy ("la banlieue" is French for "the suburbs", by the way), and this is a platform game in which Billy has to explore the suburbs, meet other people on the streets, and find the right objects to give to them. The graphics are superb, especially when you consider when this game was released. However, it is let down by the controls; getting Billy to jump over gaps is often very frustrating indeed, and you'll often need to position him precisely to climb walls and reach other platforms – and on that point, if you're going to play it, please note that you cannot walk past stairs!

See also: Billy 2.

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5

Are you a sharp shooter like Billy? This game has three parts to it – target practice where you shoot tin cans and bottles, an escape from a bank where you shoot all the enemies while avoiding the civilians, and a showdown at high noon which really tests your reflexes; shoot the enemy cowboy within a second or die. Each level consists of these three parts, so they all contain the same thing – not that you'll get past the second level, because the score you have to achieve is unreasonably large. The Spectrum-like graphics don't help either, but I suppose it's OK if you want a quick test of your agility.

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5

Billy is back and ready to beat up a few more of the thugs that wander the streets of the suburbs. By beating them up, he can earn some money to buy more energy. There are also some arcade machines where you can earn more money, although of course, you'll have to pay to use them. Unlike its predecessor, this is purely a beat-'em-up and doesn't involve much thinking. In fact, it seems that all there is to the game is beating up gang members, and the playing area seems to be much smaller. The graphics are still nice, but the gameplay must have gone missing somewhere.

See also: Billy la Banlieue.

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4

This game, when released, would have been an acceptable offering to your collection as the CPC was still relatively new. You play the part of Binky, who has to paint the floors of all 21 storeys of a hazardous building. Binky is the only one who can change this by simply moving along the floor and painting it as he goes. Very dated sound effects mix with basic-looking visuals. It's odd to see the nasties falling to their deaths as they move randomly, although there are homing beach balls on later levels.

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4

Some time ago, aliens laid waste to your planet, and now they've built a huge weapon to destroy all life on the planet. It's up to you to make your way to the missile silo and deactivate the weapon before it's too late. When you first play this game, you'll think you're using a Spectrum. The graphics are truly appalling – some of the worst ever seen on a CPC! In fact, the game comes in versions for colour and green screen monitors – not that there is much difference between the two. As for the sound, there's no tune and the effects are useless. Despite this, it's still OK to play, although the game is somewhat dull and uninspiring.

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5

The Icarus Earth base is under attack, and six ninjabots have been sent to the base to smash the aliens. Each ninjabot – an android with ninja fighting skills – is sent out one at a time, and you control them as you move through each of the levels, destroying the aliens using shurikens, your samurai sword, or your bare metal fists. In summary, it's a fairly average mixture of a platform game and a beat-'em-up. The graphics aren't all that good – actually, they're messy and garish – and there are very few sound effects. The gameplay isn't challenging enough to make it all that interesting.

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6

In a network of labyrinths, several bio-bombs have been planted, and it's your task to blow up the bio-bomb on each level. However, you must first find the six parts of the bio-shield before attempting to shoot it – shooting the bomb without the shield is not a good idea! Of course, there are lots of nasty creatures floating about the labyrinths, and they tend to drain your life force rather quickly. You can also collect accelerators (smart bombs) and use them to help you kill lots of nasties at once. I have to say that this is really rather good – the graphics are well drawn and there's some nice music to be heard in between levels, and it's a lot of fun to play as well.

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