SUPERIOR COLLECTION vol 1
Available from: SUPERIOR SOFTWARE
PO BOX 6
BRIGG
S.HUMBERSIDE
DN20 9NH
Tel: 01652 658585
Price: 11.95
BBC Micro & Master Series (DFS)
This collection has a total of eight games that can be categorised
under shoot 'em up, beat 'em up, platforms and ladders, and maze type
games. There are four games on each side of the disc, don't do what we
did and waste ten minutes trying to work out how to get to side two!
Well nobody's perfect eh, just turn the disc over and back in the
drive (and this fella made it to 24?)
There is something for everybody here! With all eight of the games
covering a host of age groups with titles such as REPTON, and STAR
STRIKER.
SYNCRON:
******* This is the new boy on the block, SUPERIOR SOFTWARE have added
this game to seven of their other classics, it is a vertical scrolling
shoot 'em up.
The gen on this one is this. You must blast your way through 16
missions, during each of these missions you have to collect a bunch of
power orbs. But you must also find the enemy's Headquarters and
destroy it which is, of course, your primary target once you have all
of the power orbs.
Be careful though, each orb is heavily defended by rocket launchers
and enemy space craft (wicked evil aliens). Once you've found it you
blast away at the orb which is located within a container. When you
have the orb you must then return it to one of your bases. You can
find out how many orbs on the status screen. This screen gives you all
sorts of info on your current mission.
This game is filled with loads and loads of blasting and bombing,
quite enough for the shoot 'em up fans out there, but maybe it won't
hold your attention for very long.
Graphics monochrome but detailed, well defined sprites if a
little dificult to see
Playability takes a little time to get used to the speed of the
game, but quite fun to play
Sound very little in the way of sound here, a few blip and
spot effects
Overall V.good, difficult at first but as you get the knack it
becomes a challenge
******************
REPTON:
****** Yes this old chestnut, but what a chest nut it is eh! This was
THE game to play back when I was just a wee sproot at school, and it's
still my personal favourite now at 24.
I have spent hours on this one, it's by far the most addictive of them
all, it's a real brain teaser this one. The deal is to guide the
little green guy (called Repton funnily enough) round 12 different
mazes collecting these massively over proportioned diamonds and trying
to avoid the monsters that you inadvertantly let loose and can run
about 200 times faster than you can (hmmmm, not fair).
To collect the diamonds that are placed in extremely awkward spots. To
get to them you must move rocks and things by pushing them down holes
or dropping them onto others. But beware, although this sounds quite
simple I can assure you that its definitely NOT, as there are various
obstacles to deal with. These take the form of EGGS that contain these
lizard type creatures. If you break one of these eggs by pushing it
off a ledge or something like this, the weird monster hatches and
proceeds to chase you all over the level waving it's arms about a lot.
You can kill these by crushing them with rocks if you're lucky enough.
They are quite thick however, if they have walls between them and you,
they don't think to walk round the wall.
With a neat password facility and some other cool touches, Repton is
a game that will have you coming back for more when all the others
have lost your interest.
Graphics not brilliant but quite colourful mode 5 graphics
Playabillity excellent, you'll be hard pushed to find a more
playable game
Sound a catchy in-game tune, good if a bit repetitive, you
can turn it off too
Overall 10 out of 10
***************************
KARATE COMBAT:
************* Hmmmmmmmm. Where to start with this one? Well, according
to the instructions it's set in the 'realm of the mystic orient'. That
may as well be, but that doesn't make up for the awkward controls and
lack of interest that this game holds for me.
DONT'T get me wrong, this could be quite a good game if you have the
patience to suss out the controls.
OK, enough of that! The game has you cast as this tiny oriental dude
wearing a pair of pygamas ('that's a GEE stupid' the wife), and the
idea is that you fight a series of bouts against an opponent. You then
have to beat the hell out of him until his energy runs out using
flying kicks, high and low punches, blocks and sweeps. But watch it,
the other guy will be trying his best to do the exact same to you only
he's better than you.
There are 15 fights you knuckle your way through until you get to the
Master. Having not got past the first fight I can only speculate that
he's this old dude of about 90 that can kick and punch at a 100 miles
an hour, like the baddie out of a Bruce Lee film. Defeat him and you
get the title of the Master.
The game has a practice mode to fine tune your moves, which is a good
idea as if you're anything like me you will probably need it.
OK fair enough, I don't like the game but I'll bet there is a host of
people out there who'll lap it up, just beware if you don't have much
patience though.
Graphics nothing much here, basic but there is a lot of detail
on the sprites, adequate would be accurate
Playability difficult at first, requires a little patience
Sound just a few smack and whack effects
Overall probably good in the long term, but you'll have to
persevere to get anywhere with this one
*******************************
STAR STRIKER:
************ Cool game this one! How many remember SPACE INVADERS?
Well this is it with a few neat touches thrown in to spice things up a
bit.
OK, down to business. You have 3 space ships that can join together
(cool eh) that you can eventually transform into a mega space fighter.
You blast your way through several waves of aliens with your little
ship. If you get killed then you lose one of your ships and
effectively 1 third of your mega fighter.
At the end of each section you must dock your ship onto the next one.
If you do it alright then you continue from there with a larger
fighter made out of the two. This gives you extra speed and fire power
for the next round.
If you get through all the stages then you go back to section one and
do it all over again, but it's harder and faster this time round.
There is not much here granted and the idea is quite antiquated but it
works well enough here. Good fun to play and can get to be a bit of a
vendetta.
Graphics colourful, mode 5, and quite attractive
Playability extremely (to the point!)
Sound a few blips and spots and rumbles, but who cares?
Overall in a word, brilliant. Fast and furious, fun to play
AIR LIFT:
******** Ever wanted to fly a helicopter? Well now is your chance,
sort of. You have to fly about this amazingly fat town, where all the
houses are identical and for some reason there are all these tanks
rolling round blowing up these amazingly samey houses.
You are armed with an infinite number of bombs, just where they are
kept is bit of a mystery but you have them all the same. Use these
bombs to blow up the tanks before they total the town.
If and when the tanks bomb the houses, you are required to rescue the
survivors and transport them to the local hospital. You do this until
there are no more houses left standing then the houses get rebuilt in
record time and you must do it all again. This does get quite
repetitive after a while.
The way to do it is to hover over a house and when it gets bombed
just blow the tank up and then land to resucue the survivors.
Basically there is nothing more to this game than that! It may be
good for the sprogs in the familiy.
Graphics plain but smooth mode 5 graphics, very colourful too
Playability it does get extremely repetitive and it's basically
doing the same thing all the time (hhhmmmmmmm)
Sound spot effects and a few explosions do nothing for this
game
Overall there is not a lot here to keep you for very long
BMX ON THE MOON:
*************** Quite a funny one this is!
Right then, in this game you owm a 'MOON CYCLE' as the instructions
describe it, and your job is to bomb around the surface of the moon and
avoid a selection of meanies including space ships, bombs for the space
ships, rocks and other unusual items that you just wouldn't find on
the moon.
I had a great time with this one learning to judge the gaps between
craters that the bombs leave in the ground. There is always plenty of
stuff happening on the screen so don't let your concentration slip for
long.
Again there is not much here, but this is what appeals to me about
this one, simple yet fun to play. The game is just so constant that
you tend to forget this fact and carry on playing as the further you
get into the game, the further you want to get.
It becomes quite a vendetta at times as you want to get just that bit
further, but somehow that alien always manages to bomb you.
Graphics not much at all here but you tend not to notice. What
graphics there are are smooth and colourful.
Playability in my opinion you will have hours of fun with this one.
It's not a stunning game but it can get very
challenging. The action is smooth and fast.
Sound not a lot in the way of sound here, all the usual
including the complementary annoying drone of your bike
Overall a good little number this one, a bit plain and simple
but it's challenging and fun to play, one to come back
to again and again.
WALLABY:
******* This is a platforms and ladders game with a twist, you play
the part of a boxing wallaby. There are five screens of ever
increasing difficulty.
The idea is to rescue your baby that has been kidnapped by these
monkeys that for some reason have locked it in a cage. You must work
your way to the top of the scren via ladders and gantries to where
your baby is and free it. All the while these annoying little monkeys
(get it?) try to kill you by throwing apple cores at you (eruch,
gross).
You have a number of lives at the start but these will quickly dwindle.
There are fruit and bells scattered around the levels, collect the
fruit for points and punch the bell to reveal fruit that are worth
more points.
You can punch the apple cores and monkeys if you're lucky, but you must
not stay still too long or you'll get an apple core on the bonce, this
game can get very frustrating but I suggest that you persevere.
Graphics simple and colourful if a bit jerky, the sprites are
well defined and very attractive.
Playability extremely fun to play even if the learning curve is a
bit high at first, not the best game in the world
but definitely one that I recommend.
Sound there is still nothing special here, but the effects
are more than up to standard.
Overall a good game that takes a bit of getting used to but
very good fun indeed.
SMASH and GRAB:
************** In this platforms and ladders game you are a rouge bank
robber. The idea is to grab the bags of money that fall from the top
of the screen. To do this you must negotiate a screenfull of platforms
while avoiding the bobby who'll do his best to nick you. Collect a set
number of these bags and you go on to the next stage.
The controls are a bit dodgy so you must be very accurate in
controlling your robber. There are these police boxes at the sides of
the screen, if you boot one while it's light is flashing then you get
certain bonuses, like stopping the bobby or halting the bags of dosh
so you can get them.
The game can get very frustrating as the difficulty is set a bit too
high in my opinion. I have not managed to clear the first stage yet!
Graphics good, colourful and amusing graphics that will bring a
smile to your face.
Playability there is bags of potential here if you have the
patience, maybee a little too difficult all at once.
Sound nothing special but there are some spot effects that
after a while can get quite repetitive.
Overall one that you will come back to when all the fancy
flashing lights of the more dressed up games have lost
their challenge. Very amusing, but maybe for the
younger player?
There is something here for everybody, well worth a look at in my
opinion. Great value for money.
E2K