Robert Small has reviewed two games:

Robert Small has reviewed two games:


I have reviewed seven games:

Retrobloc


Screenshot of Retrobloc
Screenshot of Retrobloc
Krappygamez has released Retrobloc for the Amstrad CPC. It’s a puzzle game based on an old MS-DOS and arcade game called Blockout, which is like a 3D version of Tetris. Retrobloc was originally released for the ZX Spectrum in late 2020 and it has now been converted to the CPC. If you’ve played Welltris on the CPC or another machine, the presentation will probably look very familiar to you, and the gameplay is also quite similar, although not identical. You can download Retrobloc from itch.io.

New reviews


Robert Small has reviewed two games:


I have rewritten my review of Hacker II: The Doomsday Papers and given it a higher rating. When I first reviewed it, I didn’t have a clue what I was supposed to be doing, but I revisited it recently, and after watching a couple of YouTube videos, I now understand what to do.

Toki


GGP continue to tease the Amstrad CPC community with the release on YouTube of another trailer of their forthcoming conversion of Toki. The group has stated that this is the final trailer, and it looks like it is scheduled for release in October. They didn’t state which year, though... The video premiere was on the 1st of April, so I hope it isn’t a poisson d’avril.

We’ve been waiting for nearly four years now, and I’m sure we can wait for another six months (hopefully). It’s looking amazing, and if you haven’t tried the beta preview version yet (which admittedly is from Christmas 2019), download it now and get a taste of what to expect!

Trailer of Toki on YouTube

New reviews


Robert Small has reviewed two games:


I have reviewed two games:


Dokoban


Screenshot of Dokoban
Screenshot of Dokoban
Back in the 1990s, I was obsessed with the type-in listings that were published in Amstrad Action and Amstrad Computer User magazines. Amstrad Computer User ran a regular feature each month where they published listings that were written in just ten lines of BASIC, known as ‘10-Liners’. I was amazed by the ways in which some programmers managed to cram so much into ten lines – but one such 10-Liner that I came across recently is on another level.

Dokoban is a clone of the puzzle game Sokoban, in which you move blocks around the screen so they are positioned over some markers, while trying to avoid getting them, or yourself, stuck. Normally I wouldn’t write an article about tiny games like this, but Dokoban has to be seen to be believed. This game includes 13 highly challenging levels and multi-coloured graphics, all in ten lines of BASIC, and with no machine code routines at all! Now, it does cheat a bit, since it’s impossible to type it in manually (it contains lots of characters that aren’t available on the keyboard, so you have to run a separate program that sets it up for use), but even so, it’s just utterly astounding.

Dokoban is an entrant in the 11th BASIC 10 Liner Contest, which has plenty of entrants for a wide variety of 8-bit computers. You can download Dokoban from itch.io.

Screenshot of Black Sea
Screenshot of Black Sea
It seems that Mananuk just can’t stop converting games from the ZX Spectrum to the Amstrad CPC, as he’s released his third CPC game in less than two months! His latest game is Black Sea – an underwater exploration game in which you, as Captain Robinson, explore the depths of the Black Sea in your bathyscaphe in a search for treasure.

Black Sea features a beautiful animated title screen by Éric Cubizolle (aka Titan) and colourful graphics by Radastan. In my opinion, the graphics are better than in Mananuk’s previous two games for the CPC, The Mandarin and Paleto Jones. You can download Black Sea from itch.io.

New reviews


Robert Small has reviewed two games:


I have reviewed two games:


Puzzle Bobble updated again


Crazy Piri has updated Puzzle Bobble again. Version 1.2 features faster launching of bubbles. You can download it from itch.io.

Robert Small has reviewed two games:

Puzzle Bobble v1.1 menu screen
Puzzle Bobble v1.1 menu screen
Crazy Piri has released version 1.1 of Puzzle Bobble. Among the improvements are:

  • New graphics and animations for the bubbles
  • The addition of a hard difficulty mode that doesn’t show you where the next bubble will go after it is fired
  • Cartridge and Dandanator formats that are compatible with 64K CPCs

You can download version 1.1 of Puzzle Bobble from itch.io, and version 1.0 is still available from the same link.

Screenshot of Paleto Jones
Screenshot of Paleto Jones
Mananuk has converted another of his ZX Spectrum games, Paleto Jones, to the Amstrad CPC. Like his previous game, The Mandarin, which was released last month, Paleto Jones is a platform game in which you must collect gold coins and explore a tomb where your uncle is being held.

You can download Paleto Jones from itch.io. All donations made when downloading the game will be donated to the UNHCR (the United Nations refugee agency), which is to be welcomed given the current crisis in Ukraine following the Russian invasion of that country.

Robert Small has reviewed two games:


I have reviewed Wordle CPC.