CRAY-5
(Topo Soft, 1987)
An asteroid colony has been struck by a meteor, and the CRAY-5 supercomputer which controls the colony’s atmosphere has been damaged. The only way to save the colony is to activate thirteen interrupters scattered around nine zones of the complex within a time limit. You will need to collect keys in order to unlock doors within the complex; however, there are three types of door, and only the correct type of key will unlock them. Other hazards include magnets, spikes and walls marked with a skull and crossbones symbol, all of which drain your energy if you touch them. The graphics and music are both rather basic, but everything is recognisable. The main problem is that you will often have to fly through some very narrow passages, and it’s almost impossible to avoid contact with aliens or the aforementioned energy-sapping walls, which makes it extremely difficult to make much progress in the game.
Crazy Blaster
(The Future Was 8 Bit, 2019)
The Tech Wise Astro Team has assigned you to rescue a group of cosmonauts who have gone missing. You control a spaceship and you must rescue the cosmonauts and shoot the aliens on each level. You can only use the thrusters on your spaceship for a very limited time before they need to be replenished, which is what makes this game so challenging to play. The ship is very manoeuvrable, but you can easily run out of thrust and your ship will fall to its doom. In addition, you must avoid the aliens’ bullets, and if you’re too slow, another group of aliens will appear and home in on your ship! The graphics are colourful but basic, and the sound effects suit the game well. The game becomes very difficult indeed from the fourth screen onwards, but nonetheless it has that elusive “one more go” factor.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
Saberman.
Crazy Cars
(Titus, 1987)
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.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
ChinnyVision.
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 if you’re playing the disc version of the game! 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.
Watch YouTube videos of this game by:
ChinnyVision,
ZEUSDAZ.
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.
Crazy Golf
(Amsoft, 1984)
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.
Crazy Shot
(Loriciel, 1989)
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 gorgeous, but if you only have a joystick, it’s a little bit too easy and becomes uninteresting in the long term.
Cred Breaks Out
(TSB Magic Micro Club, 1986)
Cred has been given the task of rescuing Interrestials that are being held captive in the Ontick prison. Each level is a single-screen maze containing five prisoners and two wandering Ontick aliens. Cred has to open the prison door and guide the Interrestials to the safety of his spaceship while avoiding the Onticks. This game was offered as a promotion by TSB Bank in the UK to encourage young people to join, and it’s really not a bad game at all, despite the very basic graphics. The gameplay may be simple and slightly too easy, but it’s fun if you’re looking for something that will only take a few minutes to play, and the music on the title screen is rather nice.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
XeNoMoRPH.
Le Crépuscule du Naja
(Chip, 1987)
Secret agent Karl Adrix, also known as KA, has been sent by his government to explore the Asian jungle, in order to find the lair of a beast that poses a great threat to that continent. This is the first in a series of six games starring Karl Adrix. You can pick up weapons to kill various flying creatures, shields to prevent them from sapping your energy, and backpacks that enable you to fly around and reach otherwise inaccessible platforms and exits. However, you can only carry one object at a time. Some locations also contain idols that will replenish your energy if you stand next to them. The jungle is large and there are lots of locations to explore, and the graphics are colourful and the music is quite jolly. It can take a while to get used to the controls, but once you get the hang of them, it becomes fun to play, and as the jungle is large, you’ll be exploring it for a while.
See also: 20000 Avant JC, Le Maléfice des Atlantes, Le Talisman d’Osiris.
Cricket Crazy
(Alternative Software, 1988)
The English cricket team are on their way to a Caribbean island to play a cricket match against the island’s team. However, although the players don’t know it, there is another important reason why the match is being played. The island is rich in a natural resource called guano, and the British government wants to grab some of it. But the problems for the team begin when their plane is hijacked, and things only get worse... This is a text adventure in two parts. In the first part, you must find the team’s hotel and prepare for the match, while in the second part, you play the match – which is quite a strange experience considering it’s all done in the style of a text adventure! The game has been written using GAC, but the parser’s limited abilities once again make this a frustrating adventure to play.