Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles - The Coin-Op

Your Sinclair

Life Expectancy 87%

Instant Appeal 91%

Graphics 84%

Addictiveness 92%

Overall 89%

James Leach 89%

Mirrorsoft £15.99 disk/£11.99 cass Reviewer: James Leach Who are these Turtles? I've never heard of them. Where do they live? What do they eat? Do they wear headbands over their eyes? I dunno. (Okay then, James, how come you've got a Turtles pillowcase, Turtles pyjamas and slippers and Turtles seat-covers for the car? Answer that and stay fashionable! Ed) Well, all right. I have heard of them, but I still don't know all their names. Anyway, here they are on the Speccy, large as life (well, as large as a small cauliflower anyway). The game is a version of the coin-op and you've got to rescue Splinter and April from the clutches of Shredder. All people I've never heard of, by the way. It's a horizontal scroller with the odd platform chucked into make things that bit more fun. You have to rush from left to right, killing everybody you meet and, er, that's about it. Occasionally you'll be introduced to some really tough guys (or dudes, as I'm supposed to say 'cos it's the Turtles). Cos they're so rough, you'll need to use all your hacking, slashing and maiming skills to defeat them. Obviously you can choose which Turtle to play and each has his own weapon and style of fighting. I haven't got a clue which one uses which weapon, but they're about equal in fighting ability. Oh, and you can also select whether you want two player mode. If you play with a pal the violence quota is doubled, and you've got twice the chance of getting to April. Whoever she is. ON WITH THE BODYCOUNT! Once you've set up the game on your faithful Spec, you're plunged straight into downtown New York, where everything is strangely monochrome. You barely get time to sit yourself down and have a nice cup of tea before some nasty men run on. From that moment on its Fight City, USA as you kick smack, gouge and punch your way through the levels. Each Turtle uses his own weapon, but they can all kick, roll around and jump up and down. After playing for ages, I reckon that the flying kick is the most effective move. Time it right and you can waste entire screens of baddies. If you're into counting how many people you've killed, there's a meter at the bottom left of the screen. My best score was about 200 before the Turtle was wiped out. (Oh, yeah? Ed) it's possible to have over six enemies all gang up on you at once, so your poor hands will be red raw from all the frantic joystick-waggling. Usually the baddies only need one or two hits before they die, but the end-of-level dudes are something else! Rocksteady and Bebop are tough chaps and they can take immense punishment before dying, so concentrate all your firepower on their evil little heads. TURTLEY, ERM, AWESOME. I BELIEVE! Turtles: The Coin-Op, let me just say, is incredibly playable. Unlike a lot of beat-'em-ups, it starts of quite easy with only two blokes attacking you (who you can lay out with just one punch). Of course things get harder, but you should just about be able to keep on top. I'm usually crap at beat-'em-ups, so this is excellent. It's only monochrome, but the graphics are pretty big and clear, and the animation is great. Everything is fast and smooth and you can forget about bad response time and joystick lag 'cos this is one speedy game. Hurrah! What else? Oh yes, there's a huge variety of baddies. As well as Shredder's henchmen (with their knives, dynamite and man-hole covers), there are robot thingies and rats. There's also plenty of weird looking guys (like Krang, Bebop and Shredder) and even people in the background, who just stand there watching the action). There are 15 levels of this mayhem so you won't get through it too quickly, even though it does start off pretty easy. Luckily you get a lot of lives and, if you're feeling a bit run down (you've got an energy meter as well, by the way), there's usually some pizza lying around for you to nosh. Turtles: The Coin-Op isn't an earth-shatteringly new concept in Speccy games but it certainly is playable, exciting and set at just the right difficulty level. So rush out and buy it. If you don't like it, paint me yellow, call me Patch, dress me up in a flowery smock and dump me in a small village near Milton Keynes. (No! Ed)

Ha! Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy! These guys are a doddle to beat!

If in doubt, jump right out! Leaping out of trouble is dead useful, especially when there's lots of attackers.

That window ledge is brilliant for climbing onto then dropping like a stone onto people's heads!

8 LITTLE KNOWN TURTLE FACTS 1. They're actually based on real people who were green, violent and had two toes. 2. And were also Italian painters. 3. In America the Turtles are known as The Golden Girls. 4. They've made so much money that they've got a lake in Canada each. 5. They wear coloured blindfolds (with the blind bits cut out) to stop them being recognised by fans. 6. But it doesn't work and they continually get mobbed in Curry's. 7. Leonardo is bass-player for Chesney Hawkes' band, The New Seekers. 8. When Phillip Schofield was younger, he looked exactly like a Turtle. Luckily he grew up into the pretty boy we see today.

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Crash

Presentation 84%

Graphics 88%

Sound 82%

Playability 87%

Addictivity 84%

Overall 87%

Mark Caswell 91%

Nick Roberts 83%

Could anybody forget the indelible um... wait a minute, it'll come to me... Ah yes, Turtles! Just in case you have, there's a shiny new computer game featuring the fab foursome, a conversion of the coin-op which battled its way into the arcades a while back. Mark Caswell shouts 'Cowabunga dudes!' as he becomes an honorary turtle for the day... Imageworks £11.99 cassette, £15.99 disk Yes, the most excellent ninja heroes are back yet again to save the beautiful April O'Neil and Master Splinter from the clutches of despicable Shredder and his Foot Clan. There are ten levels in the game and one or two human players can compete, selecting one of the four lovable amphibious reptiles. Set in The Big Apple, the game kicks off in a flaming corridor. Not the best place to be, especially with hooded Foot thugs attacking from all sides. Each turtle carries his own weapon - bo stick, katana sword, nunchukus and sai - and has his own strengths and weaknesses. Each player has an energy bar that drops alarmingly as they're bashed by a thug or obstacle. Lives are limited, so wallop first and ask questions later. The fire's still raging on level two (call Blue Watch, someone!), and with the attacking Foot Clan members is Rock Steady (Shredder's right-hand creature). Level three leaves the burning building behind (thank goodness) and hits the streets of New York (although it retaliates with a roundhouse kick). Here the Foot Clan are better armed - especially the ones who leap out of manholes and whang the lids at you (bags of ouch!). MOST AWESOME! Bee Bop (another Shredder thug) makes an appearance, and good news for the amphibious dudes - there's pizza power-up up for grabs. You'll need them for your clashes with the Foot in the sewers and underground car parks - and especially until the final showdown with Shredder (yikes!). Turtles 2 - The Coin-op is a darn sight better than it's predecessor. The main problem with the first game is its simplicity: Nicko completed it on his first attempt. Here the thugs give you a good thrashing; I doubt anyone will complete this on their first attempt. The sprites are monochrome, unlike the original, which was very colourful, but they're wonderfully drawn and animated, especially the Turtles themselves, who walk along with a definite swagger, kicking, punching and giving the bad guys a taste of cold steel. Probe have given us some great games in the past and Turtles 2 is yet another winner, every bit as good as its arcade parent. All those who enjoy a birrov rip, mangle and maim should look no further than this. MARK 91%

Looks like April and Donatello are having bacon pizza for tea! Lucky blighters!

The ever popular Turtles being mobbed by adoring fans. Just like Nick at Ludlow school!

The fab four are here for you to choose from. Mine's Donatello pleeeze!

Sinclair UserSinclair User Gold

Graphics 90%

Sound 86%

Playability 92%

Lastability 90%

Overall 90%

Garth Sumpter 90%

Steve Keen

Label: Imageworks Memory: 48K/128K Price: £11.99 Reviewer: Garth Sumpter Yo! It's the fab four. No, not John, Paul, George and Ringo! It's those half-shelled heroes who are leaping back onto the Spectrum again after their amazing success of last year. And back they are with a bang! Turtles two is the actual conversion of the Konami coin-op that some people thought that they'd got this time last year. But no! Although the game carried Konami name, in terms of gameplay, it had nothing to do with the original arcade game but finallyy it's here - a what a rather nice bit of code it is too! The game that we've all been waiting for is the conversion of the Konami coin-op, which has proved to be so successful, and Probe Software, who were responsible for last year's Turtle game, have excelled even their own expectations with this version. One or two players can play simultaneously, using a variety of moves, jumps, attacks and defenses to make their way along from left to right, as the scenario unfolds before them. And what a scenario. April has been kidnapped (again?), and it's down to the boys to sort it all out. Can they do it? And if they do. what's in it for them? Probably some half cold pizza but then, they always were suckers for a pretty face.

And here's just the thing that every good turtle needs! A life-saving, energy giving pizza. It might look like a breath from heaven, but on this level (load three!) nothing is that easy. The Foot attack from all angles - even jumping down from the ledge onto your head!

Beware! Foot Odour can kill!

Flying turtles of doom!!!

Hurrah! It's April and she's going to stand there like all good heroines whilst the boys kick some Foot.

Just when you thought you'd stamped out the Foot, the Wheelie Robots appear and try to electrocute you. Don't get involved in close-up fights with them or ever approach them straight on. Instead, pick your time and hit them at the extent of your range.

On level one you are in a burning building and must make your way along a corridor. Progress is hampered enough by the fire and the occasional fireball that falls down the stairs, without the smelly Foot trying to put the boot in. Apologies for that last CORNY Joke! - ED.

The Foot with guns are particularly nasty. Try to hit them from behind and don't ever walk straight towards them. They'll blow you away dude.

TURTLE FAX DONATELLO Donatello's favourite weapon is the Bo. And although it may just look like a simple, old stick, don't think for one moment that it's not a deadly weapon - one deft move, and he can take care of even the largest of foes. LEONARDO A real handy person to have around when you're cutting up a pizza, Leonardo's preferred weapon is his mighty Katana which in all the films and cartoons, he manages to hit people but never slice them up into bite size pieces. Amazing skill or what? MICHAELANGELO Old Mikey is more fond of his Nunchukus than Sieve Keen is fond of his address book! Only Big Al has a closer non-sexual relationship with an inanimate object than Mikey, and that's with his beloved bagels. Mikey only really goes for pizza, unless of course, there are some bad guys on the menu! RAPHAEL Yet another turtle that wields a bloodless blade. This time though it's a pair of needle sharp Sal, or daggers to you and me. Raphael doesn't mind bad guys as long as they don't get too cut up about him!