5th July 2022
Robert Small has reviewed two games:
I have reviewed three games:
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Introduction and FAQ
Text only version List of games reviewed List of advertisements AMTIX! reviews list Links to other CPC sites Acknowledgements
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5th July 2022Robert Small has reviewed two games: I have reviewed three games: 2nd July 2022
Screenshot of Red Planet Playonretro has released Red Planet for the Amstrad CPC. The game was originally released for the ZX Spectrum in 2015, and in it, you control an astronaut who has to explore an old space station, find ten containers of explosive, place them in an area deep within the station, and then return to the room where you entered the station. Your supply of oxygen is limited, so you will need to find oxygen canisters to replenish it. You can also collect ammunition to kill enemies - pelusoids, arachnoviruses, and even your former companions who attempted this mission before you but have been infected by arachnoviruses! It's a fairly small game – there are only 30 rooms and you are given so many opportunities to replenish your ammunition that you don't really need to conserve it – but it has great graphics and is very enjoyable to play. You can download Red Planet from itch.io, although at the moment it's only available as a cassette image or a snapshot, and some people have reported problems getting both of them to work on emulators, as well as a real Amstrad CPC. The game is available in both English and Spanish. 29th June 2022Blinky's Scary School
Screenshot of Blinky's Scary School Zisquier (aka Amstariga) has released Blinky's Scary School. I've played it and it plays very well and looks very nice, but from what I've seen so far, the puzzles and the layout of the castle have changed, so if you've played any of the original versions of the game, it probably won't help you much! You can download Blinky's Scary School using this link to Google Drive. Goody, el RegresoIván Ávila has released Goody, el Regreso. Spanish readers may be familiar with Opera Soft's 1987 release Goody, and this is an unofficial sequel. Following his previous bank-robbing capers, Goody made some poor financial investments and has had to don his mask once more and break info safes to recoup his losses. As with Iván's previous games such as Llum, Goody, el Regreso has been programmed using the 8 Bits de Poder (8BP) RSX library, and you can download his latest game from itch.io. Paco, el HombreGoody, el Regreso isn't the only new release to be programmed using 8BP. Jose Javier García Aranda, the author of 8BP, has released Paco, el Hombre – a clone of Pac-Man that is designed to demonstrate that games developed using 8BP don't have to be sluggish. There is only one level, and there are no power pills to collect, but the game can be played at four different speeds ranging from 15fps (frames per second) to 33fps. You can download Paco, el Hombre from the 8BP GitHub page; look in the dsk and tape folders for the disc and cassette images for use with emulators. 6th June 2022Chuckie Egg 4
Screenshot of Chuckie Egg 4 Jean-Marie Barone has released another modified version of Chuckie Egg, which is unsurprisingly entitled Chuckie Egg 4. This latest modification features eight more new screens taken from the 2009 BBC Micro and Acorn Electron release Chuckie Egg 2009 by Dave Edwards, and it also includes a new title screen courtesy of Kukulcan from CPC-POWER. You can download Chuckie Egg 4 from NVG. Blinky's Scary SchoolThanks to XeNoMoRPH on the CPCWiki forum for posting details of a preview version of a game called Blinky's Scary School that is being developed for the GX4000 and Plus machines. This arcade adventure platformer was originally released by Zeppelin Games in 1990 for several 8-bit machines, as well as the Amiga and Atari ST, but unfortunately the Amstrad CPC missed out. I used to own it for the ZX Spectrum and I remember playing it a lot – until the Spectrum developed a terminal fault a few months later and I was left with only my CPC. Amstariga has been working for several months developing Blinky's Scary School, and he has suggested it will be coming very soon. It's looking quite impressive, although the palette resembles that of the Commodore 64 in places. You can watch his latest preview video below, and he has posted a few more videos of the game on his YouTube channel. Preview of Blinky's Scary School on YouTube 29th May 2022Last Friday, Xyphoe presented the second Amstream Amstrad Video Game Awards Show, known colloquially as the Sugars. There are no real life prizes, but it's a fun way to recognise the hard work that has been put in by individuals and teams to develop new games for the Amstrad CPC over the last twelve months. Fifteen games were nominated, and the results are as follows:
You can watch the entire awards show on YouTube, complete with a few technical hitches, and also a bit of controversy over the "Best platformer" award! The Sugars 2021-2022 on YouTube 27th May 2022Chuckie Egg 3
Screenshot of Chuckie Egg 3 Jean-Marie Barone has released a modified version of the A'n'F Software classic Chuckie Egg called Chuckie Egg 3. Back in 1984, Bit Twiddlers released their own modified version of Chuckie Egg for the BBC Micro with the title Chukee, apparently with the approval of A'n'F Software. It contained eight new screens, and Jean-Marie has inserted those screens into the CPC version of Chuckie Egg. You can download Chuckie Egg 3 from NVG. New reviewsRobert Small has reviewed two games: I have reviewed Top Level. 9th May 2022Robert Small has reviewed two games: As the FA Cup Final is in a few days' time, I have reviewed FA Cup Football. 22nd April 2022Robert Small has reviewed two games: I have reviewed seven games: 14th April 2022Retrobloc
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 reviewsRobert 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. 6th April 2022TokiGGP 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 reviewsRobert Small has reviewed two games: I have reviewed two games: 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. 26th March 2022
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. 19th March 2022New reviewsRobert Small has reviewed two games: I have reviewed two games: Puzzle Bobble updated againCrazy Piri has updated Puzzle Bobble again. Version 1.2 features faster launching of bubbles. You can download it from itch.io. 7th March 2022
Puzzle Bobble v1.1 menu screen Crazy Piri has released version 1.1 of Puzzle Bobble. Among the improvements are:
You can download version 1.1 of Puzzle Bobble from itch.io, and version 1.0 is still available from the same link. 6th March 2022
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. 28th February 2022
Screenshot of Wordle CPC Most of you will probably have heard by now of the addictive word puzzle Wordle that seems to have taken the English-speaking world by storm over the last few months, and which was recently bought by the New York Times newspaper. I've certainly been enjoying my daily Wordle fix! If you aren't familiar with it, you have six attempts to guess a five-letter word, and like Mastermind, you are told if a letter is in the correct position, or if a letter is in the word but in the wrong position. The concept is so simple that it has already been ported to several retro computing platforms, and it was inevitable that someone would convert it to the Amstrad CPC. That someone is Arnolde, who previously developed the Bejeweled clone Gem Jam for the CPC. Dictionaries are available in four languages – English, French, German and Spanish – and you can download Wordle CPC from the CPCWiki forum. Now you will no longer have to wait for hours for the next day's puzzle to appear; you can just play as many games as you want. 20th February 2022Robert Small has reviewed Codename MAT. I have reviewed two games: Xyphoe's Nightmare is a new game that is currently only available exclusively on the Antstream streaming platform. It has been developed by Yellow Belly (who was also the man behind Bug's Quest for Tapes), with the help of some other contributors. Xyphoe himself has stated that the game will be made available to play on emulators or a real CPC in due course – something that I would like to emphasise – but for now, it can only be played on Antstream. You can watch the official trailer on YouTube. 13th February 2022
Cover of The Mandarin Mananuk has converted his platform game The Mandarin from the ZX Spectrum to the Amstrad CPC. The story is rather crazy – our hero Mandarino has been recruited to infiltrate an enemy base called The Dying Orange and rescue a small creature who has been kidnapped by an evil empire. You must explore the base and retrieve energy cells in order to activate an emergency walkway and flee the base after you rescue the small creature. Xyphoe previewed The Mandarin on his YouTube livestream last Friday, and you can download the game from itch.io. Mananuk has programmed a few other games for the ZX Spectrum, and one of them, Black Sea, is in the process of being converted to the CPC, and XeNoMoRPH has posted some gameplay footage of a beta version on YouTube. 10th February 2022AmtixCPC Micro Action issue 3 available soonColin Bell, the editor of AmtixCPC Micro Action, has asked me to mention that issue 3 of the magazine is scheduled for release on 25th February 2022. Among the planned features is an interview with Juan J. Martínez (the programmer behind The Dawn of Kernel and Brick Rick, among several other games), and there are also previews of Xyphoe's Nightmare (which has unfortunately been the subject of some controversy recently) and Black Sea, and of course there will be plenty of reviews of the latest games for the Amstrad CPC. At the time of writing, it's not available to order from Retro Fusion Books yet, but when it is available, it should cost £3.99 excluding shipping costs.
30th January 2022Robert Small has reviewed two games: I have reviewed four games: 21st January 2022
Screenshot of Llum 
Screenshot of Tetris dotBAS LlumIván Ávila has released Llum. It's a clone of the puzzle game Lumines, which was originally released for the PlayStation Portable. 2×2 blocks of one or two colours fall from the top of the screen, and you have to align blocks of the same colour together so they form a larger group of 2×2 blocks. It's similar to Columns, except that instead of forming lines, you need to form large blocks in order to score points. You can download Llum from itch.io, but note that it requires BASIC 1.1, so you won't be able to play it on a CPC464. Tetris dotBASIf you followed the 2021 #CPCRetroDev Game Creation Contest, you may recall that one of the entrants, Wrecking Ball, was particularly impressive. It finished in sixth place overall and won an award for the best game written in BASIC, but it stood out because, despite being written in BASIC, it featured music and beautiful multi-coloured graphics, yet it was still very playable. Now the author, Francesc Alcaucer, is working on a version of Tetris, called Tetris dotBAS, that uses the same techniques. Again, it's written entirely in BASIC, and it was a real surprise to me to discover how fast the pieces fall! The game is still under development, but in the meantime, you can download the current version from itch.io. New reviewsRobert Small has reviewed two games, both featuring the Harrier Jump Jet: 13th January 2022Does anyone remember Code Masters' humorous music management simulation Rock Star Ate My Hamster? Well, SyX has released two modified, updated versions of the game – the Bizarre Edition and the Millennium Edition. When Rock Star Ate My Hamster was originally released in 1989, the tabloid newspaper The Sun ran a competition, and ten of the runners-up received a special edition for the ZX Spectrum titled Rock Star Goes Bizarre, which featured six additional pop stars who weren't in the standard edition. This special edition wasn't preserved until mid-2016. It was then converted to the Commodore Plus/4 by the Italian team FIRE, who in turn also developed the Millennium Edition and replaced the existing pop stars with new additions such as Germana Bigga (Ariana Grande), Ketty Parry (Katy Perry), Anna Ray Barbados (Rihanna) and Dea Kosova (Dua Lipa). New loading screens have also been designed, featuring Michael Jackson on the Bizarre Edition and Daft Punk on the Millennium Edition. Both the Bizarre Edition and the Millennium Edition can be downloaded from the Cepeceros podcast web site, and some more background information, and a full list of the artists, is available at Plus/4 World.
9th January 2022
Screenshot of Moritz on the Autobahn The first new Amstrad CPC game of 2022 has arrived. Team Moritz has released Moritz on the Autobahn, which is the third game to be released for the Amstrad CPC that features author Sebastian Braunert's dog Moritz, who has since sadly passed away. Moritz's cousin has invited him to Portugal, but instead of flying from his home in Germany, Moritz has decided to travel all the way to Portugal in his Sinclair C5 and visit several other European countries (Belgium, France, England, Ireland and Spain) on the way. As with the previous games in the series, Moritz on the Autobahn is a platform game in which Moritz must collect hearts (and gold once he reaches Ireland), while avoiding various creatures and enemies that move around the screen. The game features several covers of tunes by the pioneering German group Kraftwerk (including Autobahn, of course), and the game even features a stand-alone jukebox section based on the cover of Kraftwerk's album The Man-Machine. You can download Moritz on the Autobahn from itch.io and make a donation if you wish. E-mail: nich <AT> durge <DOT> org |
