As a ranger in a national park in America, you have to patrol your area of the park in your canoe and clear it of litter. You must avoid the local wildlife and dodge the logs and swimmers while paddling your canoe. You can also return to your hut to replenish your energy - that is, if the ants haven't taken your food away! There are five levels, and unusually, you can customise the difficulty of each level - nice. The graphics are nothing special, and some of the tunes are irritating, but I think it's an enjoyable little game despite these faults.

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7

Les Passagers du Vent
(Infogrames, 1986)
Reviewed by Guillaume Chalard

This game is the faithful adaptation of the (great) cartoon strip of the same name by François Bourgeon. The story takes place in France, England and Africa during the 18th century. You guide Isabeau, her lover and many other characters through the dangers of the colonial era. The main interest of the game is M. Bourgeon's gorgeous hand drawn graphics, and the style of the original cartoons is perfectly retained. The soundtrack is really good, and underlines the dramatic (and sometimes nearly sensual) atmosphere of the game. The game itself is divided into ten chapters. Every time a character has a choice to make, you must say the right thing in order to progress to the next chapter. However, the game is rather linear; I finished it in five hours (including two hours of loading...)

See also: Les Passagers du Vent 2.

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5

Les Passagers du Vent 2
(Infogrames, 1987)

Isabeau's lover Hoel has been poisoned by Estienne de Viaroux - one of her companions - and she goes to meet King Kpëngla in Dahomey to see if he can do anything. This game follows the adventures of Isabeau and a group of other people travelling with her, as they try to earn the trust of the king and return to Fort Saint-Louis where Hoel is lying, seriously ill. The format of the game is exactly the same as its predecessor - clicking on character's faces and choosing the correct responses to allow you to progress. However, later on in the game, there are no clues as to whether you have made the right choices. The graphics and music are just as marvellous as those in the original game, and it's more difficult as well.

See also: Les Passagers du Vent.

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7

Nasty Norville and his workers have mixed up all of Pat's posters, so he has to put them back together again by sliding the paper along. Watch out for all of the things that Norville throws at you, or you'll be knocked off your ladder! There are twelve difficulty levels to keep you going, from starters to impossible, and there are several posters that you can use - all of them advertising other Firebird games (although some of them weren't released on the CPC). If you're stuck, try going to the toilets... It's an average sort of game, really, and although the music is good, the graphics and the colour clash show that it's a blatant Spectrum port.

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6

It was just another normal day for you, coming back from the supermarket, when you suddenly end up in the fantasy land of Kerovnia, with a wristband on your forearm which you cannot remove. Then you encounter a magician called Kronos, who asks you to deliver a note to King Erik. Maybe you could ask him about this wristband that you're wearing? Despite the interesting book that comes with the game, which describes the recent history of Kerovnia, the game itself doesn't bear much relation to the events in the book, and the puzzles to be solved seem rather incoherent and unconnected with each other. However, this is reckoned to be one of the best text adventures ever, combining a traditional fantasy adventure with a sense of humour, and the pictures are stunning.

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Paws
(Artic, 1985)

You play a female cat whose ten kittens are missing. Your aim is to search the city, the alleyways and the forests to find them and return them to your home in the city centre, before Bulldog Billy and his pack come to your home for their nightly fight. Unfortunately, you can only pick up one kitten at a time. However, you can kill the dogs by firing fluff balls at them (!), and if you kill enough of them, you can prevent them from forming a pack. There is also lots of food and other objects, allowing you to maintain your stamina and strength. The graphics are OK, but what is so off-putting about the game is that it is really slow and therefore rather boring, especially with all the walking that you have to do. What's more, there are no sound effects at all!

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4

You must rescue your maiden and find a time machine to escape from a Middle Age hell. Well, that’s easy to say... The action is seen from above, from a bird's eye view. You must fight a bunch of soldiers, and bushes that fire at you (!). Once you’ve found your beloved, rush outside the castle and try to stay alive. Well, neither the graphics nor the overall realisation of this game are very appealing. However, it is a lot of fun to play because the difficulty level isn’t too high and it’s one of the very few games that you can complete without cheating!

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7

Releasing a game which is devoted entirely to saving penalties is, in my opinion, ridiculous. And if you really want to release such a game, at least make it a bit challenging. That's not the case here, as you may have guessed. You can choose to start on any one of eight difficulty levels (which are represented by eight different footballers), and on each level, you must save ten penalties before the footballer you are facing scores ten penalties. It's really easy to complete, and I managed to do so on my first go. The graphics are OK, but there are no sound effects other than a whistle at the start of the game. Avoid this game totally!

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Take control of Penggy as he tries to push the three diamonds in each level together while avoiding the green monsters that roam around the screen pursuing him. Penggy can push the ice cubes on the screen towards the monsters, which kills them, but some of the ice cubes contain eggs which allow more monsters to be generated. If you do kill all the monsters, you will go to the next level, but to score extra points, you'll have to push the three diamonds into a horizontal or vertical row. This is a Pingo clone which is rather mediocre. The graphics are colourful, albeit simple and flickery at times, and the game is easy to get into. However, it is quite slow, and the music can soon become very irritating.

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5

Pépé Béquilles
(Softhawk, 1987)

Marcel Dugland, also known as Pépé Béquilles, is a very old man who has had his crutches stolen by some of the patients in the hospital where he has been residing for over a year. However, the patients are a crazy bunch, and you will need to perform some favours for them in order to gain access to restricted areas of the hospital and make your wheelchair go faster, but finding your hearing aid, and a trolley to carry things in, is your first priority, and you need to be injected every two hours. This is a humorous French text adventure with some lovely graphics. Commands are selected using a menu system, and although most of the puzzles are not difficult to solve, timing is crucial to success, as some rooms in the hospital are only open at certain times, and you must be careful where you go at night...

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