Screenshot of Zlalox
A fun little arcade game called Zlalox has just been released for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC by Latvian developer Snauts. You control a tiny sprite that consists of a pair of vertical lines, and you have to manoeuvre it through various obstacles in 15 vertically scrolling levels. It may have simplistic graphics and sound effects – and for some reason, the CPC version is named Xlaloc on the menu screen – but it’s addictive, if a little too easy to complete. You can download Zlalox from itch.io.
The Heart of Salamanderland
Screenshot of The Heart of Salamanderland
Juan José Martínez has released his latest game, The Heart of Salamanderland. It’s a platform game set in the 1870s, in which you are the great explorer Patton and you have to explore a hidden dungeon to find an ancient relic. You are equipped with a whip that you can use against the various denizens of the dungeon, and you must find the nine tears of the guardian and kill it before you can retrieve the coveted relic.
I haven’t been playing games much for the last few months due to studying for exams, but now that I’ve sat the exams and got them out of the way, I spent the weekend playing and writing reviews for some of the Amstrad CPC games that have been released this year:
(Actually, The Elves of Maroland was released last year in Spanish, but the English version was released in 2024.)
Galastrad
Screenshot of Galastrad
Ayor61 of GGP continues to churn out new Amstrad CPC games. His latest effort is a space shoot-’em-up called Galastrad. As far as I know, it’s the first shoot-’em-up to be developed for the CPC using Multi-Platform Arcade Game Designer; nearly all the other MPAGD games I’ve seen for the CPC have been platformers. It features an intro sequence, a gorgeous overscan title screen drawn by S_A, and several tunes by SuTeKH, although the presentation in the game itself is relatively basic.
The English version of Pakete Soft’s new point-and-click adventure The Key has now been released. You can download it from Pakete Soft’s site, but like the Spanish version, you will have to solve a puzzle first.
The Key
Screenshot of The Key
Back in 2019, Pakete Soft released a small point-and-click adventure called Escape the ROM as a demonstration of their PAKET tool. Now they’ve released a full game called The Key. You’re at home when a note and a key from your friend Mabus are posted through your door. The note tells you that Mabus is dead and you must go to Carfax Mansion to meet two of his colleagues, Chema and Jorge. Once you arrive there, Chema explains the mysterious events in more detail, and you can then explore the mansion.
Point-and-click adventures aren’t totally new on the Amstrad CPC (think of CPC Aventure and Orion Prime), but in my opinion, The Key is the first one that really captures the spirit of LucasArts’ range of games. It’s currently only available in Spanish, but English and French versions are planned. You can download The Key from Pakete Soft’s site, but to do so, you’ll have to solve a puzzle first – and no, I’m not going to tell you the solution!
The fourth annual Amstream Amstrad Video Game Awards (better known as the Sugars) were streamed last night on Xyphoe’s YouTube channel. As with previous editions, fifteen games were nominated for eight categories, and the results are as follows:
You can watch the awards show below or on YouTube.
The Sugars 2023-2024 on YouTube
Hypernoid Zero
Screenshot of Hypernoid Zero
Bitplane Technomantes took the CPC community by surprise with the release of Hypernoid Zero – a highly impressive clone of Cybernoid. There was no posting teaser videos on YouTube months in advance for these guys! Their last release was Corsair Trainer (a vertically scrolling space shoot-’em-up with only one level) in 2020, but I had heard nothing from them since then – until now.
Hypernoid Zero was presented at the Revision 2024 demo party that was held over the Easter weekend, from 29th March to 1st April 2024. The graphics are fantastic and the sprites move really smoothly, and the gameplay offers lots of action-packed blasting, just like Cybernoid! The difficulty level can also be configured, which is welcome, as the default settings make the game pretty tough. There’s some footage of the game in action on YouTube, which can be watched below, and you can go here to download Hypernoid Zero. Note that it requires 128KB of RAM.
Screenshot of AntiAir
Japanese developer Inufuto has released another new game for a wide variety of formats, including the Amstrad CPC. AntiAir is inspired by Space Invaders, but it comes with a twist – when you shoot an alien, it will drop either a block or a bomb. You have to think about timing the shooting of aliens carefully, otherwise you could find yourself boxed in and unable to avoid a falling bomb! There are ten waves of aliens, and the first few waves are fairly easy, but the gameplay becames a lot more frantic in later waves. You can download AntiAir from Inufuto’s site, although it’s only available as a CDT cassette image from there; however, a disc image can be obtained from CPCRulez.
