A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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Page 1: Kaiser - Kettle Page 2: The Key Factor - Knight Force |
Page 3: Knight Ghosts - Kwik Snax |
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The Key Factor
(Amsoft, 1985) This is an interesting combination of Space Invaders and a typing tutor to help you learn where the keys on the keyboard are. Along the bottom of the screen are eight keys which change all the time. Hitting one of the keys fires a bullet which will kill any alien that is in its way. The first wave of aliens is easy to deal with, but things become frantic in later levels, where there are more aliens, and the keys along the bottom change more frequently. There's no excitement at all and it's too easy, although certain keys will cause problems on emulators. 3 |
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Play a single game against the computer or another player, or take part in a tournament with eight teams. You can also practice your dribbling and passing skills, and take and save some penalties. If you're playing a single game against the computer, you can also choose its skill level, from 'Sunday league' to 'international'. Whatever skill level you choose, the computer tends to be very unresponsive to your commands. It selects the player to control entirely at random - even when you pass the ball to another player. Dribbling the ball is annoyingly difficult as well. And then there are the graphics; they're absolutely appalling, with flickery sprites. I've played football games which are much worse than this, but I've played better ones as well. 6 |
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Killapede
(Players, 1986) As you might have guessed, this is a clone of the classic game Centipede, where you have to shoot all the segments of a centipede that travels left and right across the screen. This version is no different, although there is more than just the centipede to contend with - you have to avoid spiders and other nasty insects that also flit about the screen, and if you take too long, the ghost will get you! I think this game has dated a lot, and the digitised speech that has been added isn't enough to impress me. 6 |
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Killerball
(Microïds, 1991) Killerball is a futuristic sport where two teams consisting of five players skate around a circular ice rink and try to score goals by pushing the ball into a small hole in the wall. It's a rather violent game, as the only way to get the ball is to knock the player holding it to the ground. You can play either a computer or a friend and take part in any of three leagues. The graphics and animation are marvellous, as is the tune, but playing against the computer is very frustrating indeed as it's rather difficult to score goals, and of course the computer gets it right every time. 6 |
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Killer Cobra
(Mastertronic, 1987) This is based on the classic arcade game Scramble, in which you flew a spacecraft through mountains and caverns while shooting missiles and bombing targets on the ground. Here, though, the spacecraft is replaced by a helicopter. The action is fast and furious, and the game scrolls very fast indeed; there's no time at all to relax! By the time you get to the third section, things become really tough indeed. There are three difficulty levels which range from difficult to impossible, but with practice, you should be able to master the first two sections. The graphics are fairly basic, but it is meant to stay faithful to the original, and the sound effects aren't too bad. 6 |
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Killer Gorilla
(Micropower, 1984) The lovely princess has been captured by the nasty gorilla and you have to rescue her by climbing ladders, walking along platforms, and avoiding the barrels that the gorilla throws at you. Er, this is Donkey Kong, isn't it? That's absolutely correct, although it's not particularly good. There are only four levels, and when you've completed them, you go back to the first one. The fireballs that roam each level are more unpredictable than the barrels and tend to get in your way a lot. The graphics are really basic and so are the sound effects, although the music that is played on the "how high can you try?" sequence is delightful! 5 |
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Killer Ring
(Reaktör, 1987) I'm sure I've seen this one before... oh, I know! It's a Galaxians clone, isn't it? The only new thing that has been added are that if you play on the difficult mode, there's a force field that scrolls vertically and prevents you from shooting through it. There are only six waves of aliens before you face the Supreme Starfighter, who you must kill by first blasting through his spaceship, and then aiming at his heart. After that, the game restarts. The graphics do their job and the music is pretty good, but it's too easy. 6 |
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Here's a most unusual game in which you explore a landscape of more than 40 screens in your spherical ship, trying to find three different objects. The reason why it's unusual is that there are all sorts of strange gravitational effects which make your ship very tricky to control; each screen has a different effect and you'll need to work out how to battle against the effect. When you have collected the three objects in the right order, normal gravity will be restored. The graphics are rather Spectrum-like, although some clever tricks allow more than the usual number of colours on the screen at the same time. However, I found that controlling the ship was just too frustrating to make the game enjoyable. 6 |
Screenshot taken from cartridge version |
Klax
(Domark/Tengen, 1990) Here's a great puzzle game which is a cross between Tetris and Connect 4. Coloured tiles come down a conveyor belt into a hole where you must create rows or columns of the same colour, which are called Klaxes. On each level, you'll be given a certain number of Klaxes or diagonals to make in order to complete the level. This is a stunning and original game with excellent graphics and two nice (but short) tunes, although it's pretty difficult. By the way, the cartridge version is exactly the same as the normal one, and makes hardly any use of the Plus' extra facilities. 9 |
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If there was ever a game that demonstrated the phrase "gameplay is more important than graphics", this would be it. The sorceror Red Sabbath has cloned himself over four time zones, and as the knight Fair Storm, you have to destroy all of the clones. Each of these zones only has four screens, which isn't very much at all. Correspondingly, the game is made very difficult indeed - you have to kill the enemies in each zone in exactly the right way before they die, and there are other traps which can kill you instantly. It is worth looking at just for the loading screens and the graphics (which are some of the best ever seen on a CPC), but there's not much of an actual game in there. 5 |
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