The finale of the Silicon Dream trilogy is arguably one of the most adult-themed text adventures to grace the CPC. A broadside on the politics of the day, The Worm in Paradise begins with a symbolic dream sequence after which you find yourself in a Utopian ‘paradise’ – but are things what they seem to be? Taking the best of the previous instalments, The Worm in Paradise is not as oppressively difficult as Return to Eden but it is still a tougher prospect than Snowball. The graphics haven’t improved much either, but the storyline is where The Worm in Paradise excels, creating what feels like a real world and exploring ideas not generally touched on by computer games of that time. Be warned, though; the game’s transport system is guaranteed to frustrate and it will take a long time to complete this game without resorting to cheating!
See also: Return to Eden, Snowball.
Wrath of Olympus
(Alpha Omega, 1986)
The setting is ancient Greece. You are one of the gods of Greek mythology who has incurred the wrath of the all-powerful god Zeus. As a punishment, Zeus has cast a curse of forgetfulness upon you, and now you don’t even know who you are. The only way to restore your memory is to enter the realm of Hades and drink the water from the Pool of Remembrance. This is a text adventure written with GAC, and the storyline is quite interesting, with all these great tales involving the gods. Many Olympian gods and other mythical creatures appear in the game, and pictures have been sacrificed for a larger map and more descriptive text. However, it’s difficult to see what the puzzles are and how to solve them. Maybe you’re supposed to have a good grasp of Greek mythology to play the game properly, but not a lot of people do.
Wreckless Roger
(Blaby Computer Games, 1986)
Roger has crashed his rocket, the Millennium Sparrow, on an inhospitable planet and must retrieve the five pieces which are scattered about a maze of rooms. Starting in one of the rooms, you must shoot all the flying objects before you can teleport to another room and continue the search for the parts of your rocket. As you may imagine, this is boring. Not being able to leave a room until you’ve shot all the objects is silly, and when you do find a rocket part, you have to search again for the exit to the next level. The graphics and sound effects are dire as well; just avoid playing this game!
Wrestling Superstars
(Code Masters, 1993)
Can the Darling Dude become a wrestling superstar? You take control of this wrestler as he fights, and hopefully defeats, four opponents – Skullbasher Bob, Knucklebuster Nik, the Masked Marauder, and the Golden Guy. You must win two rounds in order to fight the next opponent. The usual wrestling fare is involved here, although a lot of joystick waggling is required. This was one of the last games that Code Masters released for the CPC, yet hardly anyone knew about it at the time! The graphics and music are quite good, but the moves you can make are rather limited, and the difficulty level increases too sharply when you come to fight the third opponent. It’s also a shame that there is no two-player option.
Wriggler
(Blaby Computer Games, 1985)
The garden is infested with mushrooms, and you must use your laser base to kill them and also shoot the other bugs that inhabit the garden, such as flies, snails and spiders. The main aim of the game, though, is to shoot the caterpillars that move from left to right and downwards as well. When you shoot all the segments of the caterpillar, you go to the next level. This is a pretty good version of the classic arcade game Centipede; the graphics are very similar to the original, and change colour as you progress through the game, and it’s fast as well, without being overly difficult.
Wriggler
(Romantic Robot, 1985)
It’s that time again – the worm marathon, where two worms race each other over a gruelling course. The first section is in a garden with ants and spiders to contend with, before moving underground into hell (yes, really!) where, among other things, there are acid drops, moving bridges and red-hot pokers, with the last section featuring a lift where each floor has a different theme. A horrible colour scheme says it all for the graphics (which are rather simplistic), and the music is grating, too. The game is nice at first, but the final section is by far the most annoying, and you often fall through the lift and lose most of your three lives.
Wulfpack
(Blue Ribbon, 1988)
The Nazi U-boats are sinking Britain’s convoys of merchant ships faster than Britain can cope. You’ve been assigned by the Royal Navy as a sub hunter and have to trawl the Atlantic, looking for the U-boats using sonar and then destroying them with your supply of depth charges. When you run out, you’ll need to sail to a port and dock by guiding your ship through the harbour, which isn’t easy. In fact, it’s probably the most challenging part of the game, for the rest of it is rather boring and just involves randomly moving your ship about the screen. The graphics aren’t great and the music is very irritating.
Does anyone remember Hulk Hogan or the Ultimate Warrior? Does WWF (nowadays known as WWE) ring a bell to you? This game takes those fake combats that seemed to have no rules at all to your CPC. The graphics are quite good, although they lack variety. Your character performs a wide range of movements both fast and smoothly, and the computer controlled opponents are quite smart. WWF Wrestlemania is a very enjoyable game, regardless of whether you are playing against the computer or a friend. The only drawback is that it has some joystick-breaking movements (a bit like the Daley Thompson games), which I find quite bothersome.
Watch YouTube videos of this game by:
ChinnyVision,
jgonza,
Novabug,
Xyphoe.