CPCWiki - THE Amstrad CPC encyclopedia! - User contributions [en]

Sport Of Kings

2007-08-03T13:26:37Z

Thisboyshouts: New page: A horse-racing game where the player would gamble on a horse, watch the race, and probably not win. Since the races were non-interactive, being heavily dependant on chance, and the money i...

A horse-racing game where the player would gamble on a horse, watch the race, and probably not win. Since the races were non-interactive, being heavily dependant on chance, and the money involved was of course fictional, this game was utterly pointless.

Continental Circus

2007-08-03T13:21:37Z

Thisboyshouts: New page: Continental Circus was released in 1989 by Virgin Mastertronic. It was a straightforward arcade racing game where the action was viewed from just behind the player's bright yellow Formula ...

Continental Circus was released in 1989 by Virgin Mastertronic. It was a straightforward arcade racing game where the action was viewed from just behind the player's bright yellow Formula One style vehicle.

It was very popular at the time because of it's sense of speed and nicely drawn sprites, but essentially did not add anything spectacular to the genre.

The title of the game was orginally intended to be 'Continental Circuit' - which makes far more sense in the motor-racing context - but at some stage in devlopment it was misheard or misread and it became 'Continental Circus', a name which the producers liked and chose to stick with.

Space Crusade

2007-08-03T13:13:01Z

Thisboyshouts: New page: Space Crusade, released 1992, was Gremlin Graphic's second adaption from a Milton Bradley board game, and a spiritual sequel to Hero Quest (1991). As with the predecessor, Space Crusade ...

Space Crusade, released 1992, was Gremlin Graphic's second adaption from a Milton Bradley board game, and a spiritual sequel to Hero Quest (1991).

As with the predecessor, Space Crusade remained very faithful to the boardgame. Remaining turn based, the player controls a squad of 5 Space Marines (borrowed directly from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K universe) who's task it was to battle through an alien spacecraft to complete various missions.

Space Crusade built on Hero Quest's system by adding a choice of weapons and equipment, and a movement system based around action points (AP). Each character would have an alloted number of APs (decided by the roll of a dice) which would be spent on moving, firing, reloading, etc. This system was akin to more advanced turn based strategy games and thus Space Crusade was a big leap forward from Hero Quest. This was reflected in yet more favourable reviews for Gremlin Graphics.

The Addams Family

2007-08-01T08:58:39Z

Thisboyshouts: /* Reviews */

Published by [[Ocean]] in 1991.

== Reviews ==
* [[CPC Amstrad International]] issue 8-9/1992 (German CPC magazine) (1 = best; 6 = worst)
** Motivation: 1
** Presentation: 1
** Sound: 2
** Graphics: 1
** '''Overall''': 1

Conversely, Amstrad Action gave the game an overall score of 90% and awarded it with 'Mastergame' status.

== Weblinks ==
The Addams Family in the [[CPC zone]] gamebase [http://www.cpczone.net/index.php?game=19]

[[Category:Games]] [[Category:Platform]] [[Category:Stub]]

Total Eclipse

2007-08-01T08:49:52Z

Thisboyshouts: New page: Total Eclipse was released in 1988 by Incentive. It was the third game to use their lauded 'Freescape' engine, after Driller (1987) and Dark Side (1988). The Freescape engine was able to ...

Total Eclipse was released in 1988 by Incentive. It was the third game to use their lauded 'Freescape' engine, after Driller (1987) and Dark Side (1988). The Freescape engine was able to create true 3D landscapes which gamers explored freely in a first-person perspective.

Total Eclipse was set in and around an Egyptian pyramid, which was divided into rooms each full of traps and puzzles. The player was equipped with a gun, used to shoot targets, and was also able to 'activate' certain objects, such as doors and buttons. The player was up against the clock, represented by a slowly progressing eclipse - the position of the sun and moon are displayed in the status bar, and when the sun is totally eclipsed, the game ends. This takes exactly 1 hour to happen, and the game clock moves in real time. The goal of the game was to reach the top of the pyramid, collecting 4 magical 'Ankhs' along the way, before the time limit elapsed.

The true 3D engine, improved since the earlier Freescape games, was fairly revolutionary and the scope of the game was well beyond what was generally expected of CPC games at the time. Critics were duly stunned and it received excellent reviews.

Hero Quest

2007-08-01T08:38:22Z

Thisboyshouts: New page: Hero Quest was an adaption of the Milton Bradley board game of the same name released by Gremlin Graphics in 1991. This version remained very faithful to the board game, right down to th...

Hero Quest was an adaption of the Milton Bradley board game of the same name released by Gremlin Graphics in 1991.

This version remained very faithful to the board game, right down to the turn based movement and combat system. The game could be played either individually, or with team mates, each player picking one of more characters from those available - Barbarian, Elf, Dwarf and Wizard. These were referred to as the 'Heroes' of the title. The game was quest-based, each quest seeing the heroes battle through one dungeon in search of an exit, enemy, or some other objective.

The main advantage of playing on a home computer was that the board game required one player to act as the 'Evil Wizard' player, who would have full access to the game map and control over all of foes the players encountered. The computer fulfilled this role in this version.

In its computer incarnation, the game stood up very well as a light-weight RPG in its own right, and received very favourable reviews. An expansion, 'Return of The Witch Lord' was later released, consisting of ten extra quests based directly on the Milton Bradley expansion of the same name.

Turrican

2007-08-01T08:23:09Z

Thisboyshouts: New page: 'Three-headed demon Morgul has been influencing people's dreams to create nightmares, but more recently these nightmares have become real.' Turrican was a sideways scrolling shoot-em-up/p...

'Three-headed demon Morgul has been influencing people's dreams to create nightmares, but more recently these nightmares have become real.'

Turrican was a sideways scrolling shoot-em-up/platform game originally released by Rainbow Arts on Commodore 64 and ported to the CPC in 1990. The game was very popular due to it's brightly coloured graphics with large sprites coupled with fast paced action and smooth scrolling.

The non-linear nature of the levels appealed to gamers who were invited to explore each world, searching for secret areas and bonuses, a concept which was quite novel at the time and has since become a staple in the platform game genre.

The sequel, Turrican 2, was released in 1991 and added larger worlds, more power-ups, and several levels where the gamer would pilot a spacecraft in an R-Type style format. Turrican 2 met with huge critical acclaim and was widely regarded at the time as the best CPC game in the action genre.