Similar to R-Type, here you control a baby dragon that has to rescue its mother. On the way you encounter weird metallic creatures such as mechanical tigers, cyborg bulls and armoured cobras who act as half- or end-of-level bosses. Power-ups can be picked up by shooting special pills that are littered around the scenery. Thankfully, unlike other similar games, when you die you don't lose them, even after a new continue. Your dragon also has a unique feature; your tail is impervious – only its head is vulnerable. This proves very useful when you're surrounded by enemies and their fire, as you can respectively destroy them and block with it. Nice looking, but a rather slow scrolling affair that is made difficult by the rather small screen area.

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7

Salamander
(Imagine, 1988)
Reviewed by Chris Lennard

Deep in the heart of space, evil forces have gathered, and it is your task to destroy them in this clone of Nemesis. There are two main sections; firstly a side-scrolling flight through the innards of the beast at breakneck speed in which you have to work hard to avoid the shifting scenery and relentless roving worm monsters, and a second top-scrolling journey through a decidedly packed asteroid field. A variety of power-ups are available, but considering the degree of difficulty here they tend not to be kept for long. The worst aspect of this game though, has to be the sheer lack of effort on the part of the programmers who quite clearly dragged the Spectrum version over (which actually has more colours!) without any due thought or consideration for the Amstrad's superior capabilities.

See also: Nemesis.

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4

Samantha Fox Strip Poker
(Martech, 1986)
Reviewed by Guillaume Chalard

Remembering those early teen years when the hope of seeing an awfully digitised picture of a big-breasted pop star could keep me two hours in front of my screen, I'm really glad to have grown older. But, well, that was a way to practice poker. The graphics are ridiculously bad, the computer's strategy is rather strange, and you must have a great imagination to distinguish anything erotic on the few MODE 2 screens that you'll see. Keep this game if you're a collector, or if you're a fan of Samantha...

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3

Samurai Trilogy
(Gremlin, 1987)

You are an aspiring warrior hoping to attain the title of Samurai War Lord, under the guidance of your master, Chu Yu. You must fight against other warriors in two disciplines – karate and kendo (fencing) – before duelling with four of the best samurai warriors. Before each fight, you must select a strategy to adopt, and you must also select three of twelve types of training to improve your prowess. Then you must choose your attack and defence tactics; choose wrongly and your opponent could have a big advantage over you. All these tactical decisions that need to be made detract from the actual fighting, and it's difficult to know how your decisions affect you and your opponent. The graphics are fairly good with some splendid backgrounds, and the music is suitably Oriental, but the game itself is poorly executed.

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5

Those naughty elves have spiked Santa's Christmas pudding, so for one day only, you have to take over as Santa and deliver presents to all the children around the world. There are three levels, taking Santa over Lapland and then across the Atlantic Ocean, before heading over the houses and dropping the presents he has collected on the way. While flying the sleigh, you must dodge or shoot all the Christmas presents coming at you (!) by firing snowballs at them. It's a pretty appalling game, and far too difficult for the young children that this game would be aimed at. Overall, the graphics are mediocre, and the only good thing about the game is the excellent rendition of various Christmas carols.

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2

When it was published in France, in 1986, Sapiens was really out of the mainstream. It was the first CPC game to introduce fractal graphics – I'd never seen a game with so many trees and bushes in it before! And its plot (your main objective is hunting to survive) was very refreshing. The playing area is really huge, and you'll never see the same landscapes twice every time you start a new game (remember, they're mathematically generated!). But the screens all look the same, which quickly becomes boring. That's a pity, because the control panel is handy – once you've worked out how to use it – and there are many things to do, such as making a spear, carving a flintstone, and killing a bear. But most players won't have the patience to discover all the joys of the prehistoric era.

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6

Play Ilan the Crusader as he battles against the Saracen hordes. On each of the 40 levels, you must look for the Saracen chief and blow him up with a hand grenade. You will need arrows to do this, and to shoot some wooden walls and other moving enemies (crosses with flashing coloured balls on each end – bizarre!), but each arrow can only be fired in one direction, although there is a plentiful supply. The graphics and music are absolutely dire, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that the game is written in BASIC (it isn't, though). There is also no option for starting from a particular level, and after playing only a few levels, I became bored. Take my advice; don't play it!

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3

This is a remake of Iber Soft's game Sabrina that was released 24 years earlier. It was said that the previous game was not as complete as it could be, so this time we may have the opportunity to see it as it should be. The graphics are nothing great. They are just average, but the sprites are cartoonish and look funny. Sabrina still looks great! A catchy tune plays throughout the game. The gameplay is repetitive and poses no challenge. It is probably more a demo than a game; it is a funny, short promo of Sabrina Salerno herself! The grab factor is weak. Once you complete it (in less than ten minutes) you probably won't bother to do it again. Overall, a funny, short demo/game.

See also: Sabrina.

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5

The SAS are the élite fighting force, able to tackle the roughest terrain and the toughest missions, and this is a really tough mission. You're on your own as you race through desert, jungle and swampland to destroy four enemy bases. There are four levels consisting of two parts; the first is a shoot-'em-up where you go berserk with your gun and grenades, avoiding enemy fire, while the second sees you armed only with a knife, stabbing the oncoming enemy soldiers (who are all unarmed, thankfully). The graphics, sound and music are all excellent, but as luck would have it, the game is too difficult, particularly the second part of each level – maybe the SAS could use it in their recruitment training!

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6

A group of terrorists are holding people hostage in various locations and threatening to blow up a nuclear power station. In a situation this serious, you call the SAS. You control one SAS gunman at a time as you attempt to stop the terrorists from carrying out their plans. You start at a farmhouse where the terrorists are based, watching out for enemy fire, grenades and mines. That's probably the only one of the four levels that you'll have the chance to see, because the game is far too difficult. The main problem is that the action is just too fast; the gunman you control, and the terrorists, move so quickly that you just can't avoid enemy fire. The graphics and music are quite good, but it's a shame that it's wasted on such flawed gameplay.

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4