Quattro Megastars

Your Sinclair

Overall 67%

Rich Pelley 67%

REPLAY Re-pla, vt To play again. n That section in YS which covers re-released games. (We just thought you'd like to know.) QUATTRO MEGASTARS Codemasters £3.99 cassette [redacted] Reviewer: Rich Pelley Over the years those Codemasters have brought more than a few wacky characters into the world; Dizzy (an egg), CJ (an elephant), Seymour (a small, squishy thing), Richard and David Darling (more squishy things), Little Puff (a dragon) and Steg the Slug (a slug) to name just a few. Ouattro Megastars centres in on what they consider their four biggest megastars or, more likely, four games that haven't appeared on any of their other cheapy compilations yet. CJ'S ELEPHANT ANTICS Having reviewed this game twice already, I could probably do it for a third with my eyes closed (if it wasn't for the fact that then I couldn't see what I was typing). Er, yes, CJ's Antics may be naff with two players (the play area is biased to player one so player two can scroll right off the screen), and the scrolling may be crap, but this isn't enough to stifle what still comes out as one of the Codies' most addictive moments. A straight platforms and ladders game is what we're looking at, with you shooting, avoiding and dying your way through tonnes of levels. And you're just sure that, next time, you'll definitely be able to get a bit further. Great, if slightly flawed. 74° SKY HIGH STUNTMAN Having played so many one-way-scrolling shoot-'em-ups on the Spectrum already, I could probably do it again with my eyes closed (if it wasn't for the fact that I've already made the 'but then I won't be able to see' joke). Personally, I didn't think much of this one. You're supposedly a stunt man in a film set, so who are the people you are shooting down and killing? More stunt men? (You don't really kill them. You're just acting. You'll lose your job if you don't look authentic. Ed) And then there's there's the sheer lack of skill involved - stay at the back of the screen and fire and you'll get a long way. I'm sorry, but we had far nicer looking, more addictive and far more playable shoot-'em-ups than this years ago, even on budget (Chronos, anyone?). 43° LITTLE PUFF "If you like the Dizzy games, you'll love this" claimed the ever truthful Codies when they first released this. These were the days when every other CodeMasters' game wasn't necessarily a cutesy arcade adventure - little Puff was only the second character to emerge, and in a game which seemed quite novel at the time. These days, of course, every other CodeMasters' game is a cutesy arcade adventure. They have improved from the days of the original Dizzy, and therefore the days of Little Puff. (But not a quarter as much as they should have done in that time.) It's fun, but it's dated. 76° BIGFOOT Hello, it's a typically sweet puzzle game which plays suspiciously like Dizzy in a large furry pelt. As Bigfoot, you have to knuckle your way around the place, using such un-Bigfoot-like objects as TNT, fuse wire and broken disco signs to rescue your girlfriend, who, unsurprisingly, has been kidnapped. It's alarmingly uninspired. Ho hum. 59° Four budget games for the price of one can't be bad, which, well, kind of sums things up totally, if in a rather predictable way. Buy and enjoy, that's what I say. Buy and enjoy.

Animal Mastermind with Bouncing Limpy Toadstool was a brave attempt, but, sadly, not a ratings success.

Lots of sand and sea and, erm, helicopters, and, eeer, bushes, and other stuff, I suppose. Hey ho, eh?

See that little dog at the bottom there? Doesn't he look like Douglas from Larry the Lamb? (Oh, what a giveaway.)

The native Americans call him Sasquatch; the Tibetans, Yeti. In the Shed we call him Oswald. We're like that.

Sinclair User

Overall 87%

Garth Sumpter

Steve Keen 87%

Label: Code Masters Memory: 48K/128K Price: £3.99 Tape Reviewer: Steve Keen What's fat and smelly with brown hair, big ears, breathes fire and has absolutely no desire to live (apart from Garthy)? It's the latest compilation from those fab guys and gals at Code Masters. In this their latest offering, you can take the role of an elephant en route to Africa in CJ's Elephant Antics, a suicidal stuntman trying desperately to impress his director in Sky High, a smelly old Yeti who must rescue his girlie, or finally, one of those things that nobody thinks exist, but we know different (just ask Saint George)... Little Puff, a lost and somewhat lonely dragon. CJ the elephant was on his way to a zoo in England (I hope it's not London 'cos they're closing it down), but fortunately (well for CJ anyway) he fell out of the aircraft somewhere over France, landing on a bed of garlic which cushioned his fall. Now it's down to you to guide him safely back to Africa to his lonely family. This one's a good laugh, it's cute, addictive as hell and difficult. People have begun to doubt the talents of Skyhigh the stuntman, so in order to re-establish himself and land a big movie part he must fly through six levels of bullets lasers and all sorts of nasty killer implements in a helicopter, balloon and plane. This is a real action packed title, with plenty to see, do and dodge. However it won't take you long to see it all, do it all, and dodge it all. Oh no! Some nutter has kidnapped Bigfoot's girlie. Is he mad? Is he insane? Yes, he is in fact Mad Jack MacMad the winner of last years Mr. mad competition, and well known Blackadder character. Now Bigfoot must do the honourable thing and find his better half. In order to do this he must go through all manner of different situations and eventually blow open the lock to her cage using a High voltage wire. It would be fair to say that this is not a bad title but as far as platformers go it's not the greatest thing ever written. Although the graphics are good there are some difficult moments in the game largely caused by suspect sprite collisions. Puff the not so magic dragon got bored with his surroundings and one day defied his mummy (silly lad) by taking a stroll to see what lay beyond the pleasant and pastoral scenes of Dragon Land. However when he finally got sick of the real world and tried to head home for his tea he realised that he was lost as well as starving. And so began his journey to collect the four passes necessary to get back to Dragon Land and home in time for tea. Definitely the best game on this package. Not only does Little Puff look and sound very good it is also a very challenging and tough game with plenty of variety and some pretty difficult puzzles to solve if you're going to get past all the toll gates.

Bigfoot uses his big feet to jump around a few caverns.

It's C.J. versus the snail!

Not a nature lover is he?

Skyhigh takes his balloon out.

Will he ever find his beloved?