Robert Small has reviewed two games:


Fumigator is a really mysterious game – so mysterious that no one seems to know what its correct name is! It was originally uploaded to the NVG FTP archive under the name The Polluting Bacteria, after a message that appears on the attract mode screen. Somewhere along the line, it also became known as Fumiga, after a filename on the disc. A few years later, a cassette version was found with an Amsoft title screen naming it Fumigator – although it’s uncertain if this was a genuine Amsoft release, as no one had seen a physical copy of the game. Finally, in 2016, the ZX Spectrum version, released by Microbyte and known as Exterminator, was recovered.

The search for a physical copy of the Amstrad CPC version of this game continues, but in the meantime, CPC Game Reviews will use Fumigator as its name – mainly because calling it Exterminator could cause confusion with Audiogenic Software’s game of the same name.

I have reviewed Attentat, and I have also rewritten my review of Les Pyramides d’Atlantys. I had given it a rating of only 1 out of 10, but that was largely due to the fact that I didn’t understand how to play it. Someone – it may have been the game’s author, Luc Thibaud – posted a link to a walkthrough of the game many years ago on my guestbook (which is long gone now) but I never got round to playing it again. Now I have finally played it again and given it a rating that it deserves.

Robert Small has reviewed two games:

I have reviewed six games:


A note about CPC Soccer 22 – both CPC-POWER and CPCRulez combine it with CPC Soccer in their respective databases, but the author, VoxelTower, treats it as a separate game on his itch.io page, and I have done likewise and kept Missas’ review of the original game.

There’s been so much news about new and forthcoming games recently that it’s difficult to know where to begin!

Los Amores de Brunilda


Title screen of Los Amores de Brunilda
Title screen of Los Amores de Brunilda
Retroworks has released a new game called Los Amores de Brunilda. This graphic adventure was released for the ZX Spectrum in 2013 and the MSX2 in 2019. You control Fray Gonzalo, one of two monks who are making a pilgrimage. During their journey, they stop at a village to get some rest, but Fray Gonzalo’s companion falls victim to the curse of Brunilda – the ghost of a woman who committed suicide in the house where they are staying.

Like Retroworks’ most recent CPC release, The Sword of Ianna, Los Amores de Brunilda is designed to run only on the Dandanator hardware device, which enables the creation of games that use up to 512KB of ROM. Because of this, you can only play the game on a CPC that has this device, or on an emulator that supports the device, such as CPCEC or Retro Virtual Machine. It is an excellent game with cute and beautiful graphics and very atmospheric music, and you should definitely try it out if you haven’t done so already. There’s even a choice of seven languages, including Basque and Galician; I don’t recall ever seeing any other Amstrad CPC games that support these languages! You can download Los Amores de Brunilda from Retroworks’ site, or watch their trailer for the CPC version on YouTube.

Bug’s Quest for Tapes


It was announced on one of Novabug’s livestreams very recently that Yellow Belly’s game Bug’s Quest for Tapes is now available to download from CPC-POWER! As you may know if you visit CPC Game Reviews regularly, the original plan was that it wouldn’t be made available to download for free until after Play Expo Blackpool, which is taking place on the 23rd and 24th October 2021. However, CPC-POWER accidentally made the cassette and disc images available for downloading – oops! Yellow Belly has said that he doesn’t mind, though, so go ahead, download it and enjoy!

Bubble Quest


Édouard Bergé (Roudoudou) recently released a YouTube video of a game he has been working on for the GX4000 and Plus machines called Bubble Quest. The footage dates from 2020 and development of the game has been delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but it looks amazing; it’s hard to believe it’s running on a GX4000! The gameplay is very similar to Bubble Ghost; you have to guide a bubble around the screen while avoiding any contact with walls and other hazards. Let’s hope that Roudoudou can find the time to finish developing the game. In the meantime, you can watch the footage below, or watch it on YouTube.

Video of beta version of Bubble Quest on YouTube (footage from 2020)

Puzzle Bobble


Crazy Piri has nearly finished their unofficial CPC conversion of Puzzle Bobble, and it is scheduled for release on 24th October 2021 (there’s a countdown on their web site). You can watch a replay of a livestream of the game being played on YouTube.

Arctic Moves


Retrobytes Productions has released a short trailer on YouTube for Arctic Moves. After the release of Navy Moves, Arctic Moves was planned as a sequel, and while it eventually saw a release on the PC in 1995, a CPC version never happened – but it looks like Retrobytes Productions want to right that wrong! There’s no gameplay footage in the trailer, but it looks like they aim to release a CPC version of Arctic Moves some time in 2022.

Octopus


The Amstrad Eterno festival took place in Barcelona on the 25th September 2021 after being cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the games that was previewed at the event was Octopus by Cyrille Gouret. Octopus is a game for the GX4000 and Plus machines that is based on Nintendo’s Game & Watch handheld game of the same name. As far as I can tell, it can emulate the LCD look of the original Game & Watch handheld, but there will also be a deluxe version with much better graphics. You can watch a preview of Octopus for the CPC on YouTube.

New reviews


As well as all that exciting news, there are also some new reviews to read. Robert Small has reviewed two games:

CPC Soccer 22


Screenshot of CPC Soccer 22
Screenshot of CPC Soccer 22
Last year, VoxelTower released CPC Soccer to much acclaim (including a 10 out of 10 rating on this site) and comparisons to Sensible Soccer, which is widely regarded as an excellent football game for 16-bit machines. Now he has released an updated version called CPC Soccer 22 with many improvements. The most obvious of these is that the action is now presented in the CPC’s 16-colour Mode 0 instead of the four-colour, but higher resolution, Mode 1, so teams and players now have more appropriate colours of shirts. Other additions include five different types of pitch that affect the behaviour of the ball, cutscenes where the referee approaches a player to give him a yellow or red card, and a cursor to show where you’re aiming when you’re taking, for example, a goal kick or a corner. Even with all of these new features, the game still fits into 64KB of memory.

You can download CPC Soccer 22 from itch.io and offer an optional donation. A review should be coming fairly soon.

New reviews


Robert Small has reviewed two games:

Robert Small has reviewed two games:

Cover of Siemb Chronicles: Arkos the Traitor
Cover of Siemb Chronicles: Arkos the Traitor
ESP Soft has released a new game called Siemb Chronicles: Arkos the Traitor. It’s based on events from two previously released games – Dinamic’s Game Over, and Galactic Tomb – another game from ESP Soft.

In Game Over, Arkos faithfully served the evil ruler Gremla until he decided to revolt against her increasing lust for power. Now that she has been defeated, you, the hero of Galactic Tomb, have travelled to the planet of Hypsis, where Arkos is based, in a mission to overthrow him.

Siemb Chronicles features the same excellent style of graphics and music as Galactic Tomb and is well worth downloading and playing. You can download the game from ESP Soft’s site, and you can also buy a physical cassette release from Hobbyretro for €8.75 excluding shipping costs.

Video of Siemb Chronicles: Arkos the Traitor on YouTube

Robert Small has reviewed two games:

Bug’s Quest for Macmillan


As previously mentioned on this site, Novabug held his second charity fundraising stream for Macmillan Cancer Support on YouTube, auctioning 20 copies of Yellow Belly’s new platform game Bug’s Quest for Tapes, with every penny going to the charity. The target was £664, but it was easily smashed, with a total of £2,500 raised! One bidder even donated an utterly astonishing £464!

Once again, congratulations to Novabug and Yellow Belly for raising so much for a very good cause. You can watch a replay of the YouTube stream below, and you can still make a donation via JustGiving.

Novabug's Bug's Quest for Macmillan fundraiser on YouTube

Amtix! magazine relaunched


Cover of issue 1 of AmtixCPC Micro Action
Cover of issue 1 of AmtixCPC Micro Action
Chris Wilkins of Fusion Retro Books has relaunched the Amstrad CPC magazine Amtix! Originally published by Newsfield Publications from 1985 to 1987, Amtix! focused on games, but it was less successful than its ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 counterparts, Crash and Zzap!64, and it only lasted for 18 issues before merging with Computing with the Amstrad. Now Chris is planning to relaunch Amtix! as a quarterly publication called AmtixCPC Micro Action, with each issue containing 60 A5-size pages.

The first issue should be available from Fusion Retro Books now, priced at £3.99 excluding shipping costs. You can also subscribe to AmtixCPC Micro Action via Patreon to show your support.

New reviews


Robert Small has reviewed two games:


I have reviewed Dr Roland.