Brainstorm
(Firebird, 1987)
The name suggests that this game is going to seriously hurt your brain, and it will! There are 26 screens, each containing areas of different colours. A ball bounces around the screen, and you must manoeuvre three coloured lines using a cursor so that the ball is trapped in a red area of the screen, where you will score points. If the ball enters a purple area, however, you will lose points, and if it enters a green area, it will warp to another area of the screen. To go to the next screen, you must have more points than when you started the screen. It’s frustrating at first, but if you’re smart, you can easily find ways to trap the ball. I don’t know what other people will think, but I love this game to bits!
Based on the awesome 80s cartoon show of the same name, Bravestarr is a truly awesome game. The story goes that your master, Shaman, has been captured by the evil Tex Hex, and you must get him back. Apart from flying around on your hover-jet shooting bad guys, you can visit various locales, grill the regulars, learn clues to Tex Hex’s whereabouts, and so on. The graphics are very colourful and detailed, the sound is excellent (there’s even an attempt at the show’s theme tune!), and the game is hugely fun, mixing several genres successfully. My only gripe is the game’s length – it’s very short (I finished it in around ten minutes!), but that doesn’t matter because you’ll play it again and again!
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
ChinnyVision.
Braxx Bluff
(Amsoft, 1985)
Three explorers went to the planet of Prolon, but their rover vehicle has run out of power and is stranded in Braxx Bluff, and its life support systems are failing slowly. Your mission is to find and rescue them. The gameplay consists of several stages, all of which are presented in 3D, with fairly crude graphics to represent the landscape. On some stages, you will hear a signal which indicates if you are heading in the right direction. Some stages also see you fending off Krittas, who will attack you or drain the rover of power. The sound effects are very basic and the graphics are very crudely drawn, yet in spite of this, the 3D effect works rather well. However, the major annoyances with this game are that if you make a mistake, the game usually ends instantly instead of giving you another chance, and the final stage is also extremely difficult to complete.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
Xyphoe.
You’re on a mission – drive like mad through enemy territory and reclaim technology that has fallen into the wrong hands. What you get is a small game area that block-scrolls, with plain-looking visuals. This coin-op conversion is a rushed effort of dodging, shooting or jumping over whatever approaches, combined with grubby-looking graphics. Collision detection is also in question at times which results in a very frustrating game experience and a lot of “game overs”. Not US Gold’s finest hour.
Brian Bloodaxe
(The Edge, 1985)
Brian Bloodaxe is a Viking who one day decided he would invade Britain. Having landed on its shores, you now have to guide Brian around 127 screens in his search for the Crown Jewels. Once you have found them, you must then find the Throne, and Brian will have conquered Britain! Unfortunately, this is an extremely difficult task. The collision detection is very unforgiving, and even a moderate fall from a platform can cost you one of your four lives. The layout of the rooms is quite confusing as well; several rooms have exits that don’t take you back to the place from where you entered the room! Although there is a weird and wonderful variety of enemies, the graphics are poor and the gameplay is so frustrating that most people will quickly give up.
The Brick
(Delta Software, 1989)
Of the many Breakout clones I have played, this ranks as one of the worst. Twenty levels are there to be played, but after a few minutes of playing the second level, you’ll switch off and play something else. It’s that old favourite, the indestructible brick, and on the second level, the other bricks are enclosed inside three walls of them so that it’s very difficult to reach them. In addition, the ball moves too slowly and the aliens that move about the screen get in the way. It would probably take hours to complete the second level! The graphics are terrible, too, and your bat is very difficult to see.
Another Breakout clone for the CPC. This offering is a very crude effort with nothing to hold your attention for very long. Single-coloured, bland-looking visuals mixed with the jerky movement of the bat and ball soon ruin all hope for this one. Collision detection is another issue, not to mention poor presentation and only one sound effect. Even the few power-ups on offer can’t save this one. It does have a high score table, though, but I doubt you’ll want to add your name to it.
Brick Rick
(Juan José Martínez, 2020)
Brick Rick thought it would be another normal day at work on the construction site, but instead it’s been invaded by aliens! Rick must stun all the aliens on each of the 50 stages, either by throwing bricks at them, or by pushing an alien that has already been stunned into them. There are several different types of alien; the walkers you’ll meet on the first few levels are fairly harmless, but you’ll soon encounter shooters, who are armed with laser blasters, and aliens flying around the screen in UFOs. You’re also up against the clock, and if you run out of time, a monster will appear and follow you around! This is a really nice little platform game with cute, colourful graphics and some very jolly tunes and jingles, and it’s great fun to play as well.
Watch YouTube videos of this game by:
Amstrad CPC World,
Saberman,
XeNoMoRPH.
It’s obvious at first glance who was behind this game – Viz Design, creators of the identical-looking Werewolves of London. In this similarly-themed game (which was later re-released by Code Masters as Frankenstein Jnr.), you play as Frankie’s fiancée and must search around the castle and its grounds, looking for your future husband’s brain, lungs and other organs which have somehow become scattered. Unlike the enjoyable Werewolves of London, you have no form of attack and must simply flee from the ghosts and skeletons which pursue you. And if they catch you, you’re screwed; you often can’t escape until you’re dead. Basically, the game is a boring maze, where you’re either fleeing or swapping keys around to open doors – yawn. Nice, colourful, cartoony graphics, though.
Bridge-It
(Amsoft, 1984)
Once you’ve seen this game, you’ll reckon it is one of the worst CPC games ever – it certainly isn’t anywhere close to being the best! There’s a walkway connecting two houses together, and you have to get as many of the little men as you can to walk from one house to the other by linking the walkways together at the right time. It is an extremely slow and boring game which is made all the worse by the terrible, irritating music (which mercifully can be switched off) and the horrible graphics.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
Novabug.