Aliens have taken over a building site, and Roland's boss wants our hero to remove them. Roland agrees, as he's broke and needs to supplement his meagre wages. You need to dig holes and coax the aliens into falling into them, where they will be trapped. By freeing them again, they will fall out of the hole and die. This is a slow and boring platform game with very simple graphics (although colour mixing is used) and an awful tune.

See also: Roland Ahoy!, Roland Goes Square Bashing, Roland in Space, Roland in the Caves, Roland in Time, Roland on the Ropes, Roland on the Run.

More information on CPCSOFTS

3

Gaming's most inconsistent mascot returns in this joint venture between Amsoft and Durell. This time around, he's a cube with legs (how does he get into these scrapes?), and the aim of the game is to traverse 20 increasingly difficult levels of floating square platforms – which quickly disintegrate after you step on them – until there are no platforms left. Why? Don't ask me, but nevertheless it's reasonably fun for about 20 minutes, until repetition sets in and – more importantly – the difficulty curve shoots skyward on level 7. The graphics are very simple but colourful, and the music is serviceable – though the 'falling' noise will start to grate after a while! In short, it's Q*Bert meets Octoplex.

See also: Roland Ahoy!, Roland Goes Digging, Roland in Space, Roland in the Caves, Roland in Time, Roland on the Ropes, Roland on the Run.

More information on CPCSOFTS

3

The evil Maetro must be defeated, and Roland is the man to do it! He has to travel to seven planets to retrieve all 158 bits of a superweapon that will destroy him. The planets are all differently themed; there's an Egyptian pyramid, a futuristic city, a treehouse, and a pirate ship, and even an underwater section. Shame then that it's really a remake of Roland in Time, with the same terrible graphics and music, and gameplay that's just as difficult.

See also: Roland Ahoy!, Roland Goes Digging, Roland Goes Square Bashing, Roland in the Caves, Roland in Time, Roland on the Ropes, Roland on the Run.

More information on CPCSOFTS

3

Roland has transformed into a flea and is exploring another planet when he falls into a cave. You have to help him get out by jumping on to the ledges in an effort to reach the top, while avoiding the plants and the vicious pterodactyl! When you've got out of the cave, you get a bonus and go on to another one. This makes the game very uninteresting. It doesn't help that you have less than five seconds before the pterodactyl is upon you, and that it's very difficult to measure your jumps correctly. The graphics are surprisingly good, but getting anywhere within the cave is a matter of luck as far as I can determine.

See also: Roland Ahoy!, Roland Goes Digging, Roland Goes Square Bashing, Roland in Space, Roland in Time, Roland on the Ropes, Roland on the Run.

More information on CPCSOFTS

2

Roland's latest adventure sees him journeying through various time zones to collect some crystals, taking him right through from the Egyptian era to well into the future. There are a total of ten time zones to visit, and you can warp to any of them, in any order, in your 'phone box (I wonder where that idea was borrowed from?). The two tunes used in the game are terrible and the graphics are abysmal, and the game is much too difficult, even with ten lives.

See also: Roland Ahoy!, Roland Goes Digging, Roland Goes Square Bashing, Roland in Space, Roland in the Caves, Roland on the Ropes, Roland on the Run.

More information on CPCSOFTS

3

An intrepid adventurer named Roland – or Fred if you're playing the original Spanish release of this game – is exploring some dungeons in Egypt, and he has to acquire as much treasure as he can, head towards the top of the dungeon, find the exit, and escape. On the first level, your main enemies are ghosts and rats, but later on, you'll encounter mummies and bats, and if you somehow manage to reach the fourth level, skeletons. However, there is no map available to you, so you may well find a lot of dead ends. It's one of the earliest games for the CPC, but it is fondly remembered by many people, mainly because it was included with many CPCs, and it was one of the few good games that you received with it! To this day, it still retains all of its simplistic charm, although it's a bit difficult.

See also: Roland Ahoy!, Roland Goes Digging, Roland Goes Square Bashing, Roland in Space, Roland in the Caves, Roland in Time, Roland on the Run.

More information on CPCSOFTS

7

Roland is one of gaming's oldest mascots and yet has never achieved the levels of fame of other veteran mascots such as Pac-Man or Frogger. Why? Well, games like this can't have helped his cause! In my opinion, the worst of all the Roland games, this one-screen affair works a bit like Frogger in reverse, in that you have to jump from a train at the top of the screen on to the back of two lanes of passing trucks, before jumping into your hideout at the bottom. And the game's about as interesting as that concept sounds. Somehow losing any of the magic that Frogger had, it's unbelievably boring, and has sound effects that make white noise sound like a beautiful melody. All I can say in its favour is that its one screen is very colourful.

See also: Roland Ahoy!, Roland Goes Digging, Roland Goes Square Bashing, Roland in Space, Roland in the Caves, Roland in Time, Roland on the Ropes.

More information on CPCSOFTS

1

An entertaining little game where you control a ball and have to wipe markers off coloured tiles by rolling over them. Of course, there are various nasties to impede your progress, and chasms will have to be crossed to reach some otherwise inaccessible parts on each level. Then there are some markers that will only appear if you touch a square with a special symbol on it... and don't wipe too many markers of the same colour! The graphics are very colourful indeed and suit the game perfectly, and while it's maddeningly frustrating to start with, it quickly becomes addictive, and you have a generous supply of lives as well.

More information on CPCSOFTS

8

Rolling Thunder has you playing secret agent extraordinaire Agent Albatross, who must infiltrate a secret gang of masked bad guys and put them out of business. The first level sees you doing this by walking from left to right, jumping from the bottom of the screen to the walkway in the middle, shooting an endless stream of baddies, and hiding in doors to replenish your bullets and escape from the endless torrent of bad guys. You'll also find that – should you get that far – the second and third levels (and no doubt beyond) are almost identical to the first one. The graphics are good and fluid – Albatross moves quite realistically – and the sound effects are serviceable. It's just that the game is so repetitive and boring that you'll soon be turning it off.

More information on CPCSOFTS

3

Room Ten
(CRL, 1986)

The Galcorp Leisure Corporation has devised many games which can be played on low-gravity moons and asteroids. One of these games is glyding, in which two players bounce a ball around a court using a bat. If a player manages to aim the ball so that it hits the wall behind the other player, he scores five points. The first player to score 35 points wins the game. In fact, glyding is nothing more than a 3D version of one of the very first computer games, Pong – and it's actually rather good, although I recommend that you change the default speed setting to something faster, as the game will otherwise be rather boring. You can also change the computer's skill level if you're playing against it, but the game is a lot more fun if you play against a human opponent.

More information on CPCSOFTS

7