Cover of issue 4 of AmtixCPC Micro Action
After some delays, issue 4 of AmtixCPC Micro Action is now available from Fusion Retro Books at a price of £3.99 excluding shipping costs. The main feature I want to highlight is an interview with me, in which I recall my own history with the Amstrad CPC and how CPC Game Reviews started, and discuss how I choose which games to review next, and my current and past favourite games for the Amstrad CPC.
Issue 4 also contains the usual selection of game reviews, a look at some game covers from 1987, an article by Zoë Kirk-Robinson about the CPC’s floppy disc drive, and a guide by Novabug to the best shoot-’em-ups for the CPC.
RIP Oliver Frey
There is also some sad news from Fusion Retro Books. Oliver Frey, the hugely talented artist whose many works graced the covers of Crash!, Zzap!64 and Amtix! (and have also been resurrected on the covers of AmtixCPC Micro Action), passed away on Sunday 21st August at the age of 74. For many fans of 8-bit computers, Oliver Frey’s artwork was one of the main reasons why they preferred Crash!, Zzap!64 and Amtix! over their rivals.
Screenshot of Astrocop
Mananuk has released another platform game for the Amstrad CPC. This one is called Astrocop. It’s slightly different from his previous platformers in that instead of a single large level, it’s divided into 15 small levels, and on each level, you must collect a floppy disk and rescue a kitten. You can download Astrocop from itch.io.
Screenshot of Lala Prologue 2022The Mojon Twins have reworked one of their earlier games for the Amstrad CPC, Lala Prologue, which was released back in 2010 (was it really twelve years ago?! How time flies...). The original game (which was rated 8 out of 10 on this site) featured four-colour Mode 1 graphics, but this new updated version uses the CPC’s 16-colour, low resolution Mode 0 to make the graphics brighter and more colourful. The movement of Lala and enemy sprites on the screen is now much smoother as well.
You can download Lala Prologue 2022 from itch.io. It seems to be the trend among developers of 8-bit games nowadays to use itch.io for downloading games, as it provides a convenient means for players to donate money to the developers for their efforts.
Screenshot of Red Planet
Playonretro has released Red Planet for the Amstrad CPC. The game was originally released for the ZX Spectrum in 2015, and in it, you control an astronaut who has to explore an old space station, find ten containers of explosive, place them in an area deep within the station, and then return to the room where you entered the station. Your supply of oxygen is limited, so you will need to find oxygen canisters to replenish it. You can also collect ammunition to kill enemies – pelusoids, arachnoviruses, and even your former companions who attempted this mission before you but have been infected by arachnoviruses! It’s a fairly small game – there are only 30 rooms and you are given so many opportunities to replenish your ammunition that you don’t really need to conserve it – but it has great graphics and is very enjoyable to play.
You can download Red Planet from itch.io, although at the moment it’s only available as a cassette image or a snapshot, and some people have reported problems getting both of them to work on emulators, as well as a real Amstrad CPC. The game is available in both English and Spanish.
Blinky’s Scary School
Screenshot of Blinky's Scary School
Zisquier (aka Amstariga) has released Blinky’s Scary School. I’ve played it and it plays very well and looks very nice, but from what I’ve seen so far, the puzzles and the layout of the castle have changed, so if you’ve played any of the original versions of the game, it probably won’t help you much! You can download Blinky’s Scary School using this link to Google Drive.
Goody, el Regreso
Iván Ávila has released Goody, el Regreso. Spanish readers may be familiar with Opera Soft’s 1987 release Goody, and this is an unofficial sequel. Following his previous bank-robbing capers, Goody made some poor financial investments and has had to don his mask once more and break info safes to recoup his losses. As with Iván’s previous games such as Llum, Goody, el Regreso has been programmed using the 8 Bits de Poder (8BP) RSX library, and you can download his latest game from itch.io.
Paco, el Hombre
Goody, el Regreso isn’t the only new release to be programmed using 8BP. Jose Javier García Aranda, the author of 8BP, has released Paco, el Hombre – a clone of Pac-Man that is designed to demonstrate that games developed using 8BP don’t have to be sluggish. There is only one level, and there are no power pills to collect, but the game can be played at four different speeds ranging from 15fps (frames per second) to 33fps. You can download Paco, el Hombre from the 8BP GitHub page; look in the ‘dsk’ and ‘tape’ folders for the disc and cassette images for use with emulators.
