Freddy Hardest
(Dinamic, 1987)
Freddy Hardest, the intergalactic playboy, was flying home from another party when he crashed his spaceship on the planet of Ternat – remember, never drink and drive! The ship is damaged beyond repair, so he must enter the alien base on the planet and steal one of their four spaceships. Once inside the base, he has to collect a nuclear fuel cell for the ship and log on to the computer terminals scattered around the base to find out how to launch the four ships. The graphics are stupendous, particularly inside the base, which is quite big; you’ll need to make a map to find your way around it. Although the first part of the game seems difficult initially, practice makes perfect, and once you complete it, you can always go straight to the second part.
See also: Guardian Angel.
Watch YouTube videos of this game by:
Amstrad CPC World,
jgonza (part 1),
jgonza (part 2),
Metr81 (part 1),
Metr81 (part 2),
Retro Danuart.
Freedom Fighter
(The Power House, 1987)
The aliens are invading your home planet. Can you fly in the Freedom Fighter and destroy them all? Yes, this is yet another space shoot-’em-up, and it’s not very good at all. The aliens appear at the top of the screen and move steadily downwards, firing bullets and releasing concussion bombs. If a bullet hits you, or a bomb hits the bottom of the screen, you lose a life. Fortunately the bombs can be defused by picking them up (!). The graphics may be cute and colourful, but they are also very flickery indeed. The programmer may only have been 14 years old when he developed this game, but a poor game is a poor game. At least the digitised speech that says, “Get ready!” before each level is fairly clear.
Fres Fighter II Turbo, as its name implies, is a Street Fighter II-style fighting game and perhaps the most advanced of its kind on the CPC. It is a huge game spanning four disc sides, with very detailed Mode 1 graphics and a nice soundtrack along with nice special effects. The colours used change from stage to stage, and because of the ultra-detailed graphics, they look great! The game intro is one of the best I have witnessed on the CPC. The gameplay speed can be adjusted and the controls are easy to learn. There are also special moves for each of the six selectable contestants. Moreover, there are several game modes, including one for 16 players! On the whole, this is by all means a masterpiece for the CPC, from start to finish.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
Xyphoe.
Based on the movie of the same name, this is a graphic adventure game. The loading screen is quite gory for the time and you hear a bellowing scream which I thought was quite well adapted. You play the role of one of the movie characters and you must find Jason before he kills off your friends. The grounds of the playing area are graphically quite basic-looking but do the job in its own sort of way. You do get the feeling it’s a bad place, especially with the atmospheric type of tunes that play throughout and change with the screen, as well as the bellowing screams you hear as Jason attacks your friends. To stop Jason and save your friends from a gruesome death you must find objects and then find Jason, who is identified by being dressed in black, and kill him before he kills you.
Watch YouTube videos of this game by:
Amstrad CPC World,
Xyphoe.
Frogalot is a great platform game that resembles the always remembered Nebulus. In Frogalot, you control a frog and you have to make your way up to the top of a round tower to meet your mate. The graphics are cute and colourful but what is really impressive are the animation and the atmosphere. The tune is also great. The sprites are lively and stirring while the difficulty level is just right. The game won an award for technical achievement in the 2015 #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest, but if you ask me, I would rate it as the overall winner. A truly remarkable creation, Frogalot is another gem for the CPC.
Another classic game for the Plus machines only, Frogger puts us in the position of a frog that must cross an avenue full of traffic and a dangerous river! This very enjoyable game is from the early 1980s era – a time when gameplay was the alpha and the omega of gaming. The graphics are colourful, and faithful to the original coin-op game, while the sound is equally good. One problem regarding the gameplay is that you cannot move Frogger diagonally, thus making progress through each level more difficult and sometimes frustrating. Nevertheless, this game provides strong grab factor and can give the player much entertainment.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
Xyphoe.
Froggy
(R&B Software Marketing, 1985)
Guide the frogs across the busy road without being squished, then jump across the river using the turtles and logs and put five frogs in the holes on the other side of the river. Yes, it’s Frogger time again. This version has colourful graphics and several merry little melodies which play in the background while you’re guiding the frogs home. At first it’s not too difficult, but the traffic becomes so heavy by the third level that crossing the road seems to be almost impossible and you won’t really want to play any further.
Frontline
(Zeppelin Games, 1988)
A squad of troops has been sent to infiltrate enemy bases. Each troop member takes it in turn to enter and explore each base, firing bullets from his automatic MK gun, and lobbing grenades at turrets, guns and soldiers in trenches. While you’re doing all of this, your real aim is to find a bag containing sensitive documents which has been carelessly placed somewhere in the base, and then go to the laboratory to complete the level. Extra grenades and upgrades to your gun are readily available, and there is a bottle of elixir which restores your strength. The graphics are fairly good, although the sound effects could be better, and despite the game being slightly slow, it’s still nice to play.
Frost Byte
(Mikro-Gen, 1986)
The planet of Cosmia has been taken over by monsters, who are capturing and imprisoning the inhabitants, who are known as Kreezers. You play the part of a Kreezer called Hickey, who has just escaped from his cage and must venture through caverns filled with monsters and other hazards, rescuing five other Kreezers along the way. Hickey and the other Kreezers look and behave much like a slinky toy, and the controls take a lot of getting used to. It’s very difficult to position yourself to jump or shoot at a monster when it’s about to collide with you, and it can be frustrating to play at first as you lose life after life. However, if you stick with it, you will progress and hopefully find this game to be an enjoyable one, with the added bonus of colourful graphics.
Fruit Machine
(Amsoft, 1984)
This is not one of the better fruit machine games, I can tell you! OK, there’s the three reels that you find on any fruit machine, with badly drawn cherries, strawberries, lemons, bells, bar symbols and £1 signs; but the screen looks so bare while you’re spinning the reels. Neither do the reels actually scroll properly as they do in real life; some coloured blobs appear instead. There are a few extras which allow you to gamble some cash, such as ‘winner spinners’, and nudges are also available, but I wouldn’t bother playing this game.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by:
Novabug.