Beach Head II
(US Gold, 1986)

The dictator is back! It's a war between the allies, led by J. P. Stryker, and the dictator's armies. There are four stages to the game in which you must first parachute them into the enemy fortress and reach the turret. Your can then control the turret and use it to shoot tanks and jeeps as the enemy attempt to stop you. When you've got your remaining men into the helicopter, you have to go on an obstacle course, dodging gunfire and other obstacles, before the final confrontation with the dictator himself. The game isn't as good as its predecessor, despite the fact that you can control either the allies or the dictator, and the graphics are awful.

See also: Beach Head.

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Bedlam
(Go!, 1988)

You are a cadet in the Stellar Imperium's pilot academy, and as your final test, you must fly an X12 Fighter craft across sixteen sectors to prove your status as an élite pilot. It's just as well that this is only a simulation machine and not a real X12. Actually, this is yet another vertically scrolling space shoot-'em-up with nothing new in it at all. The graphics are quite good, but there's no music and few sound effects. The stages are quite short, but if your spacecraft is destroyed, you have to start at the beginning of the stage, and another problem is that there are no power-ups which enhance your firepower.

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The evil archbishop has kidnapped Quasimodo's girlfriend, Esmeralda, and Quasimodo has to negotiate the hazards strewn about the tower, including arrows, rocks, barrels and chasms. On each screen he has to reach the bell and ring it before his time runs out, or he'll be struck by lightning. As soon as you look at this game, you know that it's going to be awful. The graphics and sound are rubbish and the overall presentation makes it look like it was written in BASIC (and it mostly is!). It's also quite tough, and you need more than three lives.

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You have entered the City of the Berks, and they're out to stop you grabbing their treasure! You must manoeuvre your way through the city and collect all the keys so that you can gain access to the treasure. Each screen is teeming with Berks which home in on you, and you must avoid all contact with them. Most Berks can be shot, but some of them (which are circular in shape) can only be stunned temporarily. This game is a simple variant of Robotron: 2084. The graphics are colourful but basic, and the sound effects are limited to shots and explosions. However, the gameplay is quite frantic, although the random placement of Berks each time you enter a screen means that you can lose one or more lives instantly, particularly on higher difficulty levels.

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You are a mercenary aiming to obtain the three parts of the C70-Magnum – a very powerful weapon indeed. Searching for this weapon involves surviving the great fortress that is Sagar. It's full of traps and enemies. A well drawn loading screen is the precursor to a MODE 0 menu system which leads to the game itself. The playing area is small but colourful and smooth. It reminded me of Gryzor to some degree. The baddies spawn endlessly in this flip-screen game, making progress very difficult indeed. Even the power-ups don't last long before you're dead again. Not one of Dinamic's greatest efforts.

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The mad scientist Dr. Cirilus has discovered a way of extracting energy from crystals. You have to help him extract this energy by linking crystals of the same colour together. Each level in this fast-paced puzzle game consists of a grid, and you must swap neighbouring crystals so that a line of at least three crystals of the same colour is created. When this happens, the crystals explode and new ones appear. Once you've obtained the required number of crystals of each of the seven colours, you can go to the next level. The game is based on Bejeweled and it is so addictive it should carry a health warning! With excellent graphics (including differently themed graphics every five levels) and a catchy tune that increases in tempo as your time limit nears zero, this is arguably one of the best games ever released for the CPC.

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Taking the part of Axel Foley, you're out to stop the big crime lord who is smuggling weapons and worse. After a well drawn loading screen, a brilliant rendition of the movie's soundtrack meets your ears. An options screen allows you to play the game outright or practice one of the four stages. The stages are all themed around existing genres such as Robocop, Chase HQ, Commando and Doom – yes, Doom! Each stage is different, so there's something here for everyone. The difficulty varies, as do the graphics – which overall are quite good. The sound, apart from the impressive music, is adequate. I was surprised by this one; it's rather good!

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The programmers at Elite probably wanted to restore their honour after the disastrous conversion of Ghosts 'n' Goblins to the CPC. Once again, the fight between good and evil is at stake in this perfect clone of the arcade classic. After a short introduction, you are cast into the battle, featuring ugly monsters to smash in, bottomless chasms to avoid, and bonuses to collect. At the end of each of the three levels, another large monster awaits to scalp your long blond hair. The presentation is quite polished, but the game is extremely difficult and frustrating. If you persevere, though, it is possible to finish it with the nine lives you have, provided you have not broken your monitor with rage before then.

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Biff
(Beyond Belief, 1992)

Biff is a chimpanzee, but he's been very naughty and his mother has kicked him out of the treehouse. In order to please her again, he must complete various tasks. This is an arcade adventure in which you roam around a landscape, picking up objects and using them in certain places. Each time you do so, you score some points and get a clue as to what you need to do next. To make things a little easier, the next object to use flashes when it's on the screen. All of this means that the game has a very linear structure because you cannot choose what task you wish to perform next, and although critics may dislike this style of gameplay, I don't mind it too much. However, it's a shame that the game is a Spectrum port; everything is green, and there is no sound at all.

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Big Foot's girlfriend has been captured and has been imprisoned in a cage in the National Park, and the only way that Big Foot can free her is by finding the pieces of wire scattered around the park, connecting them to the cage and running a high voltage to blow the lock. The playing area is quite big and there are a lot of hazards – the most common being molten lava! In fact, more often than not, you'll keep jumping into them and losing lives. The graphics are gorgeous, but Big Foot seems to have a mind of his own and the game becomes annoying.

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