NARC
(Ocean, 1990)
Reviewed by Ninja Wonderboy

In this very faithful version of the hit ultra-violent arcade game by Williams, you play as tough anti-drugs officer Max Force (with - in two-player mode - his buddy Hit Man... nice name) and, using your twin machine guns and rocket launchers, you set out to destroy the cities leading criminals and shut down the drugs empire KRAK once and for all. There are seven levels in the game, with you taking out a different criminal mastermind in each, culminating in a huge shoot-out with Mr. Big himself. I quite enjoyed this game. The graphics are good, the levels are varied (you can even hop into a Porsche on the third level to mow down the bad guys!), it's not too hard and it has a great two-player mode. On the down side, however, it plays rather slowly and there's absolutely no in-game sound at all, which is a great shame.

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7

An enemy submarine has been sighted off the coast, and you've been sent in alone to capture it. The game comes in two parts; the first one sees you in a dinghy, jumping over mines to reach the submarine, and the second one sees you in the submarine, on the lookout for four officers who hold the codes to the submarine's computer. You're armed with a gun and a flamethrower and have to shoot soldiers on sight, and then search them for extra ammo or lives. Sadly, this is a typical Dinamic game; it's well-presented, but the first part is impossible to play. Thankfully that's not the case for the second part.

See also: Army Moves.

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7

A helicopter crew of Navy SEALs, an élite American commando unit, has been kidnapped in Beirut by terrorists. A group of five of their comrades has been sent out to infiltrate the terrorists' headquarters, rescue the hostages and destroy their stockpile of Stinger missiles. This is a platform game which involves brains as well as brawn. The terrorists are heavily armed, and one shot from them will kill you - so you have to sneak up on them, make sure they haven't seen you, then shoot them before they do the same to you. This game was only released on cartridge, but it uses the Plus' extra facilities to good effect and is well worth playing, although be warned that it is very difficult; if it was a bit easier, I would give it a higher rating.

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8

Nebulus
(Hewson, 1988)

Several towers have popped up on the ocean planet Nebulus, and our hero has to reach the top of each one, starting from the bottom. Each tower is surrounded by staircases and lifts which you have to use. You also have to avoid the various monsters; running into one sees you tumbling to the bottom, usually into the ocean. The graphics are colourful and well animated, and there's a really nice tune to listen to as well. The game is a bit tough, but it's worth sticking with it.

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8

Orbiting above Earth is the Necris-Dome, a graveyard for the dead now that there is no room for them to be buried on Earth. It is ruled by the Arch-Mandroid and his servants who have taken it over. You have been sent in a coffin along with the latest batch of arrivals and have to destroy the Arch-Mandroid and the Dome itself. This is a text adventure created using GAC and the accompanying pictures are OK, especially the picture of the Mandroid, but there is hardly any description of the rooms and experienced adventure fans might find it a little bit easy.

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7

Le Nécromancien
(UBI Soft, 1987)

You are Kothar the mercenary, and your friend Balthar the Red has written a letter asking you for help. You decide to travel to the town of Stragla to find out what is going on - and it's very sinister indeed. A necromancer has brought terror to Stragla, and his hordes of lizard-men patrol the streets, bringing death and destruction to the town. This is one of those multiple choice text adventures, in which rather than entering commands and trying to guess the right ones, you choose one option from two or three. This makes it very easy to play (well, if you can read French), although the game is by no means easy to complete. The prose is well written and atmospheric, and it's one of those games in which you really want to explore further.

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8

NEIL
(Alternative, 1988)

The spaceship EPIC has been infected by an alien lifeform, and the crew have sent an android called NEIL to clean the ship of aliens. Each room contains ten green aliens to be destroyed. There are also robots which leave cells behind them when they are shot; collecting them allows you to replenish your air supply or ammunition, which you will need to do frequently, or use a smart bomb which kills all the aliens in the room. The graphics are very good, but there's very little sound and no music, and the game is quite slow and slightly too difficult.

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5

Nemesis
(Konami, 1987)
Reviewed by Chris Lennard

A shoot-'em-up that shares certain similarities with Salamander, you must save your planet from the evil Bacterions by piloting your spaceship at high velocity, shooting everything in its path. Wiping out groups of enemy fighters enables you to enhance your destructive capabilities by collecting the power-up icons left, which allow you to choose the type of upgrade from a menu. A visually simple looking game as befits the nature of it; your ship moves along at break-neck speed, which makes this somewhat of a challenge as enemy craft and defences frequently put you in a do or die situation. A competent conversion of a classic arcade game.

See also: Salamander.

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7

Based on a story from the cult comic 2000AD, this game sees you playing the heroic warlock, Nemesis. Tired of your land suffering under the tyrannical rule of the evil Torquemada, you set out on a journey to the heart of his evil empire to overthrow him once and for all. Using your trusty sword Excessus or - if there is ammunition lying around - your gun, you must destroy a set number of Torquemada's Terminators on each screen, sometimes using their dead bodies as platforms, then find the exit (which can be anywhere) before you progress to the next level, of which there are 24 in total. Despite it being mercilessly difficult, I liked this game. The graphics are good (though slightly jerky), the spooky music is absolutely brilliant, and most importantly it's very addictive - I often find myself going back for one more go.

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8

Based on the very well known book and film of the same name, this illustrated three-part text adventure sees you in the role of Atreyu, who must save the land of Fantasia from the Nothing that is destroying it. The screen layout is quite different from most other adventures; there's a graphical display in the top section of the screen showing a small picture and the objects you are carrying, with the text occupying the rest of the screen. It certainly looks very good, but the parser is very limited indeed, you can't examine any objects, and there is almost no character interaction! The scrolling and the speed at which the text is written to the screen is frustratingly slow as well, but despite all of these problems, it's actually not that bad, ableit not particularly challenging.

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