Screenshot of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: The Coin-Op

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: The Coin-Op

(Image Works, 1991)

Reviewed by John Beckett

Cowabunga, dudes! This game is radical, as the Turtles would say! As the title suggests, this is a port of the great arcade game by Konami, and you’ll be surprised how near to the original it is! The basic plot has no surprises; as any of the Turtles (or any two, as this game has one of the best two-player modes the CPC has ever seen) you must walk the corridors, streets and sewers and rescue your master Splinter and your friend April O’Neil from the clutches of Shredder, beating up his henchmen along the way. Bebop, Rocksteady, Krang... all the old favourites are here! The graphics are great and colourful, the difficulty level is perfect and the two-player mode is brilliant. The sound could be better, but even so this is an absolute blinder of a game.

See also: Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles.

More information on CPCSOFTS

10

Screenshot of Teenage Queen

Teenage Queen

(Ere Informatique, 1988)

Take three guesses as to what sort of game this might be. Yes, it’s strip poker! Actually, this game has much better graphics than the other strip poker offerings on the CPC (and how do I know that?). As with all other strip poker games, when the girl loses all her money, she takes off an item of clothing and you get to see a picture of her. As I’ve already said, the graphics are very good indeed, and a soothing bit of music on the title screen sets the atmosphere well. However, I’m no good at any type of poker, anyway – and why are only 32 cards used by both players instead of 52?

More information on CPCSOFTS

4

Screenshot of Tempest

Tempest

(Electric Dreams, 1986)

The hyperspatial wireways have been invaded by aliens, and it’s your job to eliminate them all – not an easy task when there are 99 of them! You control a zapper which moves along the rim at one end of each wireway, while the aliens appear at the other end and move towards you. You must merrily unleash a hail of bullets at them, trying to prevent any of them reaching your end of the wireway. If you feel overwhelmed, you can use a super zapper, but you only have one of these on each level. This game was a classic in the arcades, and it has been converted very well, with great vector graphics, marvellous sound effects, and addictive gameplay. It’s excellent!

More information on CPCSOFTS

9

Screenshot of Tenebra

Tenebra

(Haplo, 2022)

You are trapped in a dark dungeon and must find your way out. There are 31 levels in total, and each one consists of a single screen. Each level is lit with braziers and torches, and as the character you control won’t wander into any areas of the dungeon that are unlit, you must use them to find your way around. The first few levels introduce the player to the various rules and concepts of the game, and each level has a code so you don’t have to play previous levels over again. The graphics and sound effects are minimal, probably because the game was influenced by the text-based dungeon crawler Rogue, but this just adds to its charm. The puzzles in later levels are quite deviously designed, and fans of puzzle games will be scratching their heads for a long time.

See also: Tenebra 2.

8

Screenshot of Tenebra 2

Tenebra 2

(Haplo, 2023)

Once again, you’re trapped in a dark dungeon. This time you must explore 35 levels and, as with the previous game, you have to find your way around each one using only the light provided by torches and braziers. The first few levels provide a refresher on how the various elements of the game are used, but some new elements have been introduced. Portals enable you to teleport from one area of the screen to another, but you have to find the portal gun first, and they can only be created in certain places. Later levels feature weak walls that can be knocked down if you have a pickaxe. The graphics and sound effects are exactly the same as in the first game, and the levels are more challenging and trickier to solve.

See also: Tenebra.

More information on CPCSOFTS

8

Screenshot of Ténèbres

Ténèbres

(Rainbow Production, 1986)

  • Knowledge of French is required in order to play this game properly.

The Black God is threatening to cast a shadow of darkness over the kingdom, and the king’s beloved daughter has been captured. Are you the hero who can rescue the princess and save the kingdom from evil? This French fantasy adventure is inspired by the popular Fighting Fantasy series of gamebooks (known as Défis Fantastiques in France). The story is divided into eleven parts, with each part being accompanied by some rather nice background scenery. There is no combat, which lets the player focus on decision-making, but as the story progressed, it seemed that my choices rarely, if ever, had any effect on outcomes later on, and the same thing applies to collecting objects. This attempt to develop a computerised version of the gamebook format had potential, but it has a number of flaws.

More information on CPCSOFTS

6

Screenshot of Tennis Cup

Tennis Cup

(Loriciel, 1990)

This is Loriciel’s second tennis game for the CPC, and it’s a pretty good one as well. Although you can’t play in any tournaments, the game allows you to customise the abilities of both yourself and your opponent in several areas – namely service, forehand, backhand and volleys. You can also choose whether to play on a cement, clay or grass court. The game uses a split-screen technique which shows the view of the court from both ends, which is very useful in two-player mode, where both players have a clear view of their own end of the court. Although the graphics lack colour – and the colour schemes that are used have not been chosen well – the animation of the players is excellent, and after a few practice sessions, it’s a very playable game as well.

See also: Tennis Cup 2.

More information on CPCSOFTS

8

Screenshot of Tennis Cup 2

Tennis Cup 2

(Loriciel, 1990)

Reviewed by CPC4eva

A very polished and impressive tennis game, making good use of the Plus’ capabilities. It is indeed one of the most in-depth tennis games on the CPC. The graphics and sound effects are very good and the game has so many options to select from – one- and two-player modes, training and practising different shots, playing on different surfaces such as clay, grass and hard court, taking on other countries in the Davis Cup, or playing the Grand Slam tournaments. You can configure options such as the match length (1, 3 or 5 sets) and game speeds, and you can also select split-screen or normal single-screen viewing mode. But wait; there’s even more! There is a credits system to change the attributes of your player, giving them more or less ability in things like serving, passing shots and smashes.

See also: Tennis Cup.

More information on CPCSOFTS

7

Screenshot of Tenpin Challenge

Tenpin Challenge

(Atlantis, 1987)

Reviewed by Pug

Another bowling game hits the CPC. Upon loading, you are met with a request to enter your name. You then choose the weight of the ball and the skill level before the game begins. Choosing your start position leads to selecting the spin used when releasing the ball. Pressing fire animates the player sprite in slow, flickery motion. The ball then travels along until it goes out of view. Once you’ve done all of this, you realise that this game wasn’t thought out too well. Its poorly defined graphics and screen format, mixed with dismal effects, just add to a very dull game indeed.

More information on CPCSOFTS

1

Screenshot of Teodoro No Sabe Volar

Teodoro No Sabe Volar

(Retroworks, 2013)

Reviewed by Missas

Teodoro No Sabe Volar is a great arcade adventure game that features great graphics, fast-paced gameplay and strong grab factor. The graphics are really cool; something between Rick Dangerous 2 and Phantomas Saga: Infinity, they have great colours, smooth animation and great sprite design. The scenery is also very detailed. A minus here is the small playing screen. The sound is not the strong point of this game but it is adequate and fairly supports the game. The gameplay is excellent; assisted by the graphics and the good collision detection, the scenery keeps evolving and changing until the game is completed. This is a magnificent, albeit short, gem.

More information on CPCSOFTS

8