Anyone who's played the travesty that is Count Duckula II will wince in fear at the prospect of another Count Duckula game. But thankfully, its predecessor is not quite as awful! Based on an episode of the dire cartoon series, the aim is to wander around a huge pyramid, find keys to unlock doors, solve basic puzzles and get the magical saxophone at the pyramid's peak, which can transport Duckula back to his castle – all within a pretty tight time limit. I said this wasn't as bad as Count Duckula II, but it's still pretty bad – the graphics, though detailed, are boring and bland, and the sound... well, the hilariously bad rendition of the show's theme tune says it all! Too 'mazey' and too dull; avoid.

See also: Count Duckula II.

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How could something like this could ever have been released as late as 1992? To say this game is rubbish is scratching the surface. It's an absolute insult to my intelligence; I thought it was written in BASIC! It's a slow and crushingly boring platform game with awful graphics and animation, poor collision detection and ping-ping sound effects, and the tomato gun that Count Duckula is armed with is useless. The tune is the only thing that's worth talking about. If you want to see an even funnier review of this game, you should look at Amstrad Action's review, where they gave it 3%.

See also: Count Duckula.

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0

A consignment of gold is being delivered across the desert and you have to follow the train on your horse, and grab some of it when it reaches the next station. However, there are other cowboys who are out to get you! The music sets the scene nicely and the graphics are quite colourful, too, with some impressive animations. However, the game is a little difficult and it is really beneficial if you remember the layout of each level exactly – the timing is crucial!

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7

The evil Dr. K is planning to take over the world with a race of biogenetic humanoids. Enter Andy Attacker and Ben Breaker, two guys on a mission to fight their way through sixteen levels of mayhem in Dr. K's fortress. Don't you just love original plots? Anyway, this is a reasonably good game. You (and another player if you can find one) must explore each level and plant some detonators at specific points, and find the exit quickly before they explode. Fortunately, there's a map which shows you where to plant them. There's a lot of shooting involved as well, and the humanoids are rather nasty as well. The graphics are pretty good and the sound effects are OK, but it's a bit too difficult (although you get plenty of credits) and the collision detection could be better.

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7

Breakout has been around since 1976, and this version of it is probably deliberately based on the versions from the early days to give it that retro feel; all the bricks are blocks of one colour, and the ball is simply a square. The sound effects are few and far between as well. OK, so the presentation might be minimal, but the levels are rather badly designed, and it's very difficult to clear all the bricks from each level; often you rely on collecting a power-up which sends you to the next level. At least you can choose which level you want to start on.

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4

It's another of those races where you're driving along roads and have to reach the next checkpoint before your time runs out. Here, each level is divided into stages, and your car metamorphoses into a better and faster one when you reach the next level – nice. However, there are hardly any other cars on the track, which is mysterious; most of the time, you're driving down empty roads, and boredom sets in quickly as a result. There isn't even any scenery to make things a bit more interesting! The sound isn't up to much as well, and this is quite a lousy game.

See also: Crazy Cars II, Crazy Cars 3.

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Crazy Cars II
(Titus, 1989)

You're in a Ferrari F40 and are trying to smash a racket which is being run by some corrupt policemen. You have to race your car around four American states – Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico – and reach several destinations within the time limit. The police are on the loose, though! This game is much better than the original Crazy Cars, with excellent graphics and great Doppler effects when you're approaching police cars. There's also some really groovy digitised music to listen to on the title screen! The noise of your engine is OK, too, and it's a nice game with a lot of map-reading required. As for the cartridge version, the only differences in the graphics are that the sky looks nicer, and the instrument panel is brown instead of grey – although the map is built into the game and can be accessed at any time.

See also: Crazy Cars, Crazy Cars 3.

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8

In this episode of the Crazy Cars series, you race in your Lamborghini aiming to reach the top of the first division. The routes you race along are Memphis, Denver, Miami, Boston, Houston and Mojave. There is an entry fee for each race, and you can also gamble on who will win. Cash is needed to repair your car and buy upgrades. Graphically, this game is very attractive with well drawn screens, good use of colour, and character portraits. The only problem lies in the frame rate which results in a visually jumpy race. It's still playable, though, and deserves a few goes.

See also: Crazy Cars, Crazy Cars II.

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7

I loved playing crazy golf when I was young, but this version of the game is staggeringly bad. It's written in BASIC for a start, and each of the 18 holes is drawn entirely using lines. It looks extremely ugly and amateurish, and even more so thanks to the horrible colour schemes that are used. Aiming the ball is a bit difficult, and achieving par or under will take a lot of practice – and no doubt a lot of frustration as well. However, the game is so awful that most players will play one round and switch off. The fact that it was released very early in the CPC's life is no excuse for such an abysmal game.

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0

Do you remember those funfair stalls where you have to shoot at various targets and win prizes depending on how many points you score? This offering consists of five target shooting games – Jungle Adventure, Junior Hunter, Magic Balloons, Smoker Nightmare, and Special Police. Each game has its own slightly different set of rules, and if you run out of time or bullets, the game is over. Although you can play the game with a joystick, it is more fun if you use Loriciel's Westphaser lightgun, for which the game is designed. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous, but if you only have a joystick, it's a little bit too easy and becomes uninteresting in the long term.

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