There are a lot of things to like about this arcade adventure/platform game. The graphics are colourful and our hero Fred has some nice animations like skidding to a halt, lowering himself from ledges and landing on his backside! The enemies are cute, the puzzles aren’t difficult and it makes a change that water doesn’t kill you. However, this is the game that almost put me off rope swinging for life. It’s so bad that it left me in fear every time I came across a rope in subsequent games. There is a familiar tune on the title screen and the sound effects are functional. If it wasn’t for the controls it would score higher.

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Watch a YouTube video of this game by: Metr81.

Rating: 5/10

Take on the role of Sir Lancelot and explore a castle consisting of 24 rooms. In each of these rooms, you must collect several objects before you can visit another one – but there are also lots of monsters which you must dodge. This simple but delightful platform game was released in the early stages of the CPC’s life, so the graphics are rather crude, but don’t be fooled. There is some wonderful platforming action on offer, and while experienced players will find that most of the rooms pose little difficulty to them, completing all of the rooms will still be a challenge.

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Rating: 8/10

The village of Nargoot was fairly prosperous, thanks to the Golden Shield – a shield with magical properties. However, the dark magician Amargol has stolen it. Enter Arn, a farmer from the village who has set out on a quest to find the shield and return it. This is a wonderful game with three levels which each load separately. Each level contains lots of monsters which must be shot, and several larger enemies which can only be destroyed with a particular weapon. You must also collect six objects in order to complete each level – if you reach the end. The most remarkable aspect of this game is the graphics; they are absolutely luscious, with really big sprites. As a result, the game moves a bit slowly, but it’s nothing to worry about.

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Watch a YouTube video of this game by: jgonza.

Rating: 8/10

The best thing about this motorbike racing game is the graphics. They are very nicely drawn and feature some great touches like pulling a wheelie and spectacularly sliding off into the gravel when you crash. The game scrolls well and has a good sense of speed even with other riders on the track. The handling takes some getting used to and frustration will appear after accidents as you do not go straight back into the action. Mistakes are punished and caution is required. The sound of your bike is also annoying. As far as racing games on the CPC go this picks up points but misses the podium.

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Rating: 6/10

A mediocre and very simple single-screen arcade game in which you move around the screen on your flying skateboard, using it to kill the monsters which float around the screen in a particular formation. There are four monsters to kill on each level – two waves, with two monsters in each wave. Bonus icons can also be collected when they appear. The graphics and sound effects are rather primitive and there’s no appeal to the gameplay at all; it’s the sort of game that you’ll play a few times and then forget about.

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Rating: 3/10

Skate around a city landscape, performing jumps and collecting all five letters of the word SKATE in order to obtain pieces of bronze, silver and gold skateboards. If you want to acquire bonus points, you can collect litter and either give it to the elderly ladies standing about, or put it in the nearest litter bin. You also have to dodge various moving obstacles such as remote-controlled planes and cars. The graphics are awful and the scenery is very drab with little colour used, which is strange considering that they’re drawn in low-resolution Mode 0. There is also practically no sound, and the skateboarder moves at a very slow pace. Because of this, the game has no atmosphere or appeal.

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Rating: 3/10

Freddy wants to impress his roller skating friends with his skills, and he’s going to do this by skating around several obstacle courses. The game is divided into two parts. The Car Park Challenge consists of four courses which have been laid out in a car park. You must impress the judges by performing stunts, while not crashing too much or becoming too tired. If you don’t impress them enough, you must repeat the level. The Championship Course is more like a platform game in which you must simply reach the end of each level without losing all of your lives. The graphics are colourful and the music is absolutely marvellous, and although the Championship Course is merely OK to play, the Car Park Challenge is such great fun that you’ll want to try it out again and again.

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Rating: 8/10

Join Lester on five different skateboarding events – the ramp, high jump, downhill course, pool jousting (!), and the jam (a fight in a back yard). You can practice an event or compete in all five. They’re all boring, anyway; there is a very limited number of moves you can perform on the ramp, and the downhill course and the jam scroll too slowly to make it exciting. These two events are in monochrome, while the rest of the game uses full colour (but still very poor) graphics. It gives the impression that the game has been put together in an inconsistent and rather slapdash manner.

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Rating: 4/10

The Slime Rats are the coolest skateboarding gang in town, although I don’t know why they call themselves the Slime Rats – the name doesn’t sound very cool to me! To join the gang, you must tackle a series of courses, collecting eight flags in each. The graphics are appalling, there are no sound effects (although you have to listen to some irritating tunes before and after each course), and the gameplay is just as bad. The scrolling between screens is annoying and the collision detection is suspect as well. Maybe it’s not quite as bad as it sounds, but it could have been a lot better.

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Rating: 5/10

While the CPC didn’t get a conversion of Speedball or its legendary sequel, it did get a couple of futuristic sports games to call its own. This one is OK. You start by assembling your team. Each player has their own attributes and character portraits which is a nice touch. The game is played on an ice rink. It’s two-on-two with you controlling the outfield player. To begin with the rink is bare and matches consist of barging your opponent off the ball and trying to force the ball past the opposition keeper. Things step up a notch as obstacles and hazards are added to the rink. This allows you to kill other players so your replacements come into play. It’s not always about scoring the most goals. The graphics are detailed and scroll pretty well. However this is a better game with two players.

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Rating: 7/10