This is a game I used to like when I was younger, but which has since lost much of its attractiveness. You take the control of a strange-looking guy named Humphrey. When Humphrey walks on the ground tiles, they change colour, and you must step on all of them to clear the stage. Of course, a plethora of creatures spend their time chasing you, while flying bugs only expect you to jump so they can sting you to death. Some tiles move to take you to inaccessible places, while others crumble under your steps or explode. The graphics are not too bad, but the sound effects hardly exist and the animation is slow. Besides, you often get stuck when getting round an obstacle, which does not simplify your task.

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Esmeralda has been captured and Quasimodo the hunchback must rescue her. As Quasimodo, you must jump over the obstacles on the ramparts, dodging spears, arrows and fireballs, and leaping across chasms. Watch out for the knight who is climbing the walls and chasing after you! This was one of Ocean's earliest releases for the CPC. I suppose the game was good for its time, but it feels really old and dated nowadays. Obviously, the graphics are poor and unappealing, but the gameplay totally lacks any excitement. It doesn't have the nostalgia of some of Amsoft's other titles – even if they were bad as well.

See also: Hunchback: The Adventure, Hunchback II: Quasimodo's Revenge.

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Hunchback: The Adventure
(Ocean, 1986)
Reviewed by John Beckett

This is a very snazzy-looking text adventure, in which you take the part of deformed bell-ringer Quasimodo, and must ultimately rescue Esmeralda from the clutches of the evil Cardinal. First though, you must escape from the maze-like and heavily guarded Notre Dame Cathedral, before taking to the sewers beneath Paris. It's not a difficult game, but it can get frustrating with its maze-like layout, and you'll often find yourself wandering about in circles. On top of that, the parser is quite limited, with a lack of obvious commands such as 'talk' and 'examine', which detracts from the depth of the game somewhat. Stick with it, though, and you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's lovely to look at, is challenging but not difficult, has a great sense of humour and is quite lengthy.

See also: Hunchback, Hunchback II: Quasimodo's Revenge.

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Esmeralda has been captured again, so Quasimodo sets out to rescue her again. As in the previous game, you must dodge various hazards, but this time, it's a proper platform game in which you can move all around the screen. Your aim on each of the five screens is to collect all the bells on the platforms. To move from one platform to another, you can either jump or use the ropes on the large bells. However, it's rather hard, and pixel-perfect precision is often required. The graphics are OK for their time, and the jingles when you start a new game and complete a level are very jolly, but the actual gameplay isn't particularly endearing to me.

See also: Hunchback, Hunchback: The Adventure.

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4

The Viking king Jorund has been captured and is being held by the Viking gods somewhere in the kingdom of Lukx. Jorund's daughter, Hundra, must enter the kingdom and rescue him. As Hundra, you must collect three precious jewels in order to rescue Jorund. The first isn't too difficult to find, but you'll need two keys to collect the others, and you can't collect the circular key until you've found the triangular key. This isn't a bad platform game by any means, and the graphics are colourful and appealing. However, there are numerous traps which are frustratingly difficult to avoid, meaning that lives are needlessly wasted. Despite this, it's still possible to explore most of what is a fairly good game.

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The film that this game is based on sees a Soviet submarine commander called Marko Ramius in charge of Russia's most high-tech submarine, the Red October, which is virtually undetectable. Ramius is planning to defect to the Americans, but they don't believe him. However, the CIA agent Jack Ryan does, and he sets out to find it, before the American and Russian navies beat him to it. The game consists of five levels which re-enact some of the scenes in the film, and there are several distinct types of gameplay throughout the game. The graphics are quite good, but two of the five levels are simple sub-games rather than levels in the proper sense, and the game itself is too short and too easy; I completed it after only a few goes.

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6

This is a 6-ball pool game which allows you to play in several different ways. There's the normal game, of course, and other games where you must pot the six balls in the right order, or pot the balls in the corresponding numbered pockets – the aim being to pot all the balls in the fewest number of shots. You can play on your own or against another player, but you can't play against the computer. The very simple graphics and poor sound effects only reinforce the notion that this is a rather dull simulation of 6-ball pool.

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4

Horace the Hamster has left the front door of Huxley Pig's house open, and now Vile Vincent the vampire pig and Sidney the Snake have hidden Huxley's toys and outfits. You must search the house for them, but first you'll have to find Horace's spanner and give it to him. Then, before you can look for a toy and an outfit, you must find a cross to get past Vile Vincent. Once you've got both items, you must take them to Huxley's bedroom. Once you've found three toys and outfits, you are taken to the second part, where you play three mini-games with themes based on the outfits you've collected. The graphics are colourful and will appeal to young children, but Huxley moves very slowly, and avoiding the spiders that reduce your score if you touch them can be frustratingly difficult even on the easy mode.

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5

Hybrid
(Starlight, 1987)

Four aliens are being held captive within a prison, but now they must be exterminated. You have three Hybrids under your control – a brain, a xylon, and a robot. The brain is only lightly armoured but can teleport itself and the other droids to another area of a screen, the xylon can activate switches which allow barriers to be crossed, and the robot is the most heavily armoured and has the greatest firepower. You must find cells where you can fuse the Hybrids together in order to fight an alien. If you defeat the alien, the Hybrids separate once more and you must find another cell. The prison complex consists of 200 rooms, so there's a large area to explore, but unless you're prepared to make a map, you probably won't find this game of interest. The graphics are rather bland, and the so-called 'music' (which thankfully is disabled by default) is absolutely terrible!

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5

Hydrofool
(FTL, 1987)

Sweevo has been called upon to clean up the planetary aquarium of Deathbowl, by removing four plugs and draining all the water away – but each of the plugs can only be removed if you find the correct objects. Furthermore, the plugs have to be removed in the correct order! Therefore, Sweevo has to explore the maze that is Deathbowl in search of the objects, while avoiding all the aquatic creatures that will drain his energy on contact. Most of them can be killed, but you will need to find the correct weapon, and the range of weapons is quite bizarre, as is the rest of the game! The graphics and animation are both wonderful, the music is a delight to listen to, and exploring Deathbowl is fun as well as challenging.

See also: Sweevo's World.

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