REVIEWS
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Enemy forces are amassing a stockpile of missiles, hidden deep within the heart of a jungle.
The launch countdown has started, and only the player can stop them: parachuting into the undergrowth, the quest begins.
Each level scrolls multidirectionally with a status strip at the top revealing the highscore, current
score, lives and time remaining and weapon carried. The player begins with four lives, depleted
in contact with enemies, their projectiles or armoured craft or the creatures that roam within the landscapes. Each level has a 200 second time limit: failing to complete it within that restriction
loses a life.
The player is equipped with a rifle and an extendable claw: pushing the joysick in a appropriate
upward direction and pressing fire attaches the claw to the nearest outcrop and pulls the player
up or swings him accordingly. Weapons and other useful equipment (such as a device to speed
up arm arm movement) are collected by shooting parachutes periodically dropped as progression
is made: these are picked up by walking over them or using the extendable arm.
The levels are loadeded in pairs, so the progresion from the second multiloads the third and
forth levels. Each section is separately titled, has a unique style of landscape and theme tune
, and poses individual problems.
The first stage comprises forest terrain, crawling with armed guards: other hazards include
birds, deadly plants and killer bees, the second involves scaling a large fortress guarded by
heavy cannon, crate and grenade-throwing soldiers. In the third section creatures eat away
the pipe work, stray pipes being fatal; the control tower makes up the fourth, with huge metallic barriers to open and bomb dropping helicopters and hopping robots to avoid. The final stage
involves stopping the missile before its launch, swarm of guards on constant patrol.
This is what Julian Rignall had to say about Bionic Commando
The programmers of Bubble Booble have turned up trumps again with a superb conversion of this
little know platform arcade game. It does'nt look particularly impressive - the sprites are a little
indistinct and some of the backdrops, although nicely coloured, are unclear - but it plays
extremely well. The extending arm is brilliant idea, and software creations have captured just
the right sort of inertia on the swing, so you can get the commando to grab a support, leap
accross chasms and retract his arm to land safely on the other side before he swings back and falls to his doom.
As well as climbing up the landscapes, the commando also blasts soldiers and avoids the attention
of giant robots, killer bees and robotic dogs as he battles through six challenging levels.
Supporting the gameplay are six incredible soundtracks - each one is as individual and innovative
as the last. If you're looking for a fast and addictive game singalong Bionic Commandos is for you.
ZZapp 64 Score 90% ZZapp Sizzler!!!
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On a distant alien planet the Tyreant Beast reigns supreme:
controlling a creature who can transform from the landbased Frogum
to the aquatic Draconewt, the player is on a misson to defet him.
The Beast inhabits a flickscreen labyrinthine complex guarded by
such creatures as gaint rats, bats and sea serpents. All enemies
are destroyed by puches or limited bursts of fire, the latter
replenished by flasks of flame fluid found in the labyrinth.
Contact with creatures or falling great distances reduces energy,
total loss of which forfeits one of five lives.
Artifacts are collected to aid progress: for example, a morph helix
allows transformation from on character to the other when on a morph
slab, thus allowing access to locations separated by water. Other
objects include a shield (prevents death by falling), a magic staff
(needed to cast spells), and a dragon's eye (removes illusory obstacles):
their significance is detailed when they are collected.
This is what Paul Glancey of ZZapp64 had to say;
Once again, Zeppelin put paid to the budget 'tradition' of quality
matching price. Nothing is lacking, and as an arcade adventure its
aims are admirably achieved. Superbly crafted graphics create a
fantastic Gothic atmosphere, and the sound effects are perfect.
Such smart touches as transmorphing into a draconewt, and the useful
record slabs are gratefully received and are conducive to immediately
captivating play. The overall hugeness of the game means you'll be
playing for ages, and it's certainly worth doing to see the fantastic
Tyrant Beast on the final screen. Three pounds are seldom better spent,
so do yourself a favour and buy this with all speed
ZZapp64 Score 92%
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Shockway Rider - Faster Than Light
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Nobody walks in the city of the future. Technology has advanced so far
that the paths move, while people do nothing more than stand still and
until they reach their chosen destination. This modern Metropolis is
hardly paradise though, its streets are dangerous and it’s moving
pathways even worse! Not everyone’s a criminal however, in fact you’re
the very opposite Greg ‘Cobra’ Follis, the world’s toughest vigilante
(with the world’s most terrifying sideburns). Taking it upon yourselves
to clean up the city’s sidewalks, you decide to start by sanitising the
eight levels of moving pathways
The circular pedestrian pathway is divided into three parallel sections,
which run at different speeds in the same direction. The walkways are
seen in perspective, with the characters changing size as they move in
and out of the screen.
The objective is to complete the circuit within a set time limit, killing
as many characters as possible. Fists can be used initially, but the
stationary pathways alongside are littered with bricks or spheres which
are far more effective. Extra live can be obtained by collecting objects
or shooting innocent bystanders depending on the level.
For example: on level one, an extra life is awarded for shooting five
bystanders, while collecting seven mailbags does the trick on Level two.
Having completed a circuit, the player automatically progresses to the
next level. Being sensible as well and hard, you tackle the walkways in
order of increasing danger so as you go on there are more bad guys to
flatten and more bad guys to flatten and more obstacles to avoid.
Future City’s thugs are slick, and down on Moving Mean Street they’re
identifiable by their pink cut-off T-shirts and natty shades. But
don’t be fooled by apparently innocent commuters and passers-by; that
frail-looking granny may turn into a mugger at any time. The safest
bet is to kill everyone in sight.
This is what Sabastian Clare at Zzapp64 had to say a about Shockway Rider
Unusual but playable games are few and far between these days- and
Shockway Rider certainly falls into this category. The concept is very
simple, but it has an oddly addictive quality marginally offset by the
lack of any real variety between levels. The presentation is polished,
with a thumping good soundtrack and one of the weirdest title screen I’ve
ever screen I’ve ever seen. Not really an essential purchase but interesting
nonetheless.
Zzapp64 Score 86%
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The peaceful inhabitants of Nemesis are under attack from Evil Beings of
The Sub-Space Star Cluster of Bacterion. As ever, help is at hand -
you've volunteered to lead your squadron of threee space fighters in a
daring mission to defeat the mighty Bacterion invasion force.
Nemesis is a right-to-left scrolling shoot 'em up which takes place over
five different sections of the planet. The first mission involves a hazadous
journey across the forest section, while later levels are set over a series
of space islands, an alien graveyard and the inside of the giant Bacterion
Battle-Cruise.
Cruising through the levels, the fighter is constantly beset by Bacterion
craft emergin from the all sides of the screen. Some fly in to attack,
others walk across the landscape firing missiles, and still mnore emerge
from the silos. Contact with an alien ship or bullet is fatal, and the
fleet of three ships is reduced by one. A giant mothership has to be
distroyed at the end of each level before your fleet can progress.
The space fighter returns fire with defensive laser bolts, and occasionally,
destroying an enemy craft produces a glowing credit. There are six icons
at the bottom of the screen, and collecting a credit highlights the far
left icon. If another credit is collected, the second to left becoms
highlighted, and so on.
Each icon represents one of six increasingly powerful features which
can be added to the craft: Extra Speed : Air-To-Ground Missiles:
Double Air-To-Ground Missiles: A Laser: Multi Fire Power: and a Shield
which absorbs enemy missiles. Pressing the right hand SHIFT key adds
the highlighted icon's feature to the ship's equipment.
The ship can carry a maximum of four Speed-Ups: Air-To-Ground Missiles:
Two Multiples, a Shield and either a Laser or Double Air-ToGround Missiles -
The icons become become redundant once the feature is added.
Lose a ship, and all of its weapons go wih it.
This is what Juilian Rignall (ZZap 64) had to say;
Its here at long last - the arcade game that destroyed a large proportion
of my wage packet last summer! The good news is that it's not all that bad,
nearly all of the original featurs have been included, and it plays very
similarly to the arcade version. However, there is some bad news - the
sprites flicker quite badly when the screen gets busy, which can be very
off-putting. But, it's the playability that counts, and this has plenty.
If you want a good conversion is definitely worth your while.
ZZap 64 score 80%
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