Fists of Fury

Sinclair UserSinclair User Gold

Graphics 89%

Sound 70%

Playability 89%

Lastability 92%

Overall 90%

Steve Keen 90%

Label: Virgin Memory: 48K/128K Price: £14.99 Tape, £19.99 Disk Reviewer: Steve Keen Take four good games, strip them of their original packaging, re-collate the cover art work and put them all in one box with an accompanying manual and you just might have a mega product. Well that's exactly what Virgin have done with this martial arts bash. And what a bash it is! Shinobi, The Ninja Warriors, Dynamite Dux and Double Dragon 2. There can be anyone out their who hasn't seen these games before so don't expect any surprises. Various scenarios and thugs to beat up, a lethal dose of weapons to be had and lots of levels to contented with. When you get fed up of one game just slap in another. The games themselves rate from the good to the drop a load in your pants variety! The playability of Ninja Warriors is particularly rewarding (you can spring twenty feet into the air spiralling in a menagerie of patterns that would put a high board diver to shame, and still be able to land foot perfect and deliver a deft blow straight into the happy sacks!) Shinobi's shuriken spewing antics are well at home in the compilation, but Dynamite Dux is a very obvious odd one out. Resembling a famous aquatic TV presenter, you punch and shoot your way through streets to rescue your kidnapped duckling (yuk!) whilst being chased by dogless heads and false teeth throwing crocks! It may sound quackers but it's sickeningly cute. However it's Double Dragon 2 that's the real star. Best enjoyed bashing with a friend at your side. The graphics are excellent and the game play, although limited in it's nature, is significantly advanced by the ability to use different weapons left lying about. Possibly the best compilation this reviewer's seen to date. Every game's hot so buy the lot!

Shinobi - great graphics and true beat 'em up action rescuing midgets.

What's up duck? One of the strangest cutey games - Dynamite Dux.

FIST FAX Judo was initially developed by a Japanese doctor in 1882. The highest grade in karate is 10th dan and the handful of people who have achieved this status are in Japan. The most famous martial artist to have lived was Bruce Lee. Being of slight build he was still able to send a man three times his own weight flying with a single punch.

Crash

Overall 76%

Nick Roberts 76%

BIGBOX THRILLS! What's the best way to catch up on all the great games that appeared on the Spectrum a while back. One: go out and buy every single one and spend a fortune? Tow: pop around to your mate's house and nick his copies? Or three: take a trip down to your local software shop and snap up one of the great new compilations? Well, one's only for the stupid, two's only for complete basts, so it must be three! NICK ROBERTS gives you the low-down on the current hits in compilation land! Code Masters £2.99 At that sort of price you can't go wrong, really. All the packs are themed but that doesn't mean there's a lack of variety because there's plenty of different game styles to contend with (you would not believe it, etc etc...). Virgin Games £14.99 (cassette only) Harldy surprising, Fists Of Fury is one for beat-'em-up addicts (violent lot). The games included are Shinobi, The Ninja Warriors, Double Dragon II and Dynamite Dux. My personal favourite of the bunch has to be Dynamite Dux. The cute graphics used to represent the pair of dynamic ducks and enemies, coupled with the strange weapons to trash them with, makes gameplay real fun. You're armed (literally) with a normal punch but by holding down the fire button you can increase your power to give a mega-blow. Weapons like fire throwers, water cannons and bombs give an interesting result when picked up. Flippin' great! Ninja action ahoy in Shinobi. You're searching for a bunch of kidnapped kids and there are loads of vicious thugs to be disposed of using your feet, fists and shuriken stars. Shinobi is taken from the Sega arcade machine and, thankfully, hasn't lost any of its addictive qualities in the conversion. All those who were addicted to the original Double Dragon will just love Double Dragon II - The Revenge. You can play either Billy or Jimmy in their quest to avenge the death of their chum Marian. Like every other game in this pack, it's a scrolling trash-everything-in-sight game with a high level of playability. The Ninja Warriors has you beating once more. This time you have to control one of the warriors and your only objective is to stop the evil master Greek, Bangler, in his tracks. Sadly, it's the least playable in the pack. Fists Of Fury - Edition Two is great for beat-'em-uppers. Gamers who want variety will soon get fed up as each game plays more or less the same. Shinobi: 17/25 Double Dragon II: 20/25 Dynamite Dux: 23/25 The Ninja Warriors: 16/25

Your Sinclair

Life Expectancy 60%

Instant Appeal 80%

Graphics 71%

Addictiveness 60%

Overall 60%

Jon Pillar 60%

Virgin £14.99 cass Reviewer: Jon Pillar Ninjas, eh? They blimming well get everywhere! And not least into compilation boxes calling themselves Fists Of Fury and featuring 4 chestnut beat-'em-ups like Shinobi and Double Dragon 2. So let's strap on our shurikens and first say hello to... DYNAMITE DUX You play a boxing duck and bash cute meanie menials like puppies and moles in order to rescue your kidnapped sweetheart. Along the horizontally-scrolling way you get to grab extra weapons (including a water cannon and guided missiles) but watch out for the big boss baddies! Not to mention the overdetailed backgrounds and jerky scrolling, which help to kill off the fun (and point) of the original. It's less of a conversion, more a disappointing imitation - a sort of Lazarus And Dingwall to the arcade's Police Squad. (Eh? Ed) '91 Verdict: 59° SHINOBI A Sega shuriken-'em up, this challenges you to free a load of baby ninjas (as if there weren't enough around already) from the clutches of a notorious villain and part-time sneeze called Bwah Foo. Face the legions of Oriental minions hurling boomerangs, shurikens and sometimes even themselves at you, and battle through to pick off the end-of-level bosses. Add colourful 4-way scrolling and sprites that are more poorly animated than a Saturday morning cartoon and you might think that Shinobi's a bit of a recipe for blandness. It is however jolly addictive and playable. There's quite a funky little smart bomb that pops up once a level, the long levels mean you're getting your multiload's worth, and there's always a little surprise hiding round the corner (or on the wall, or in the water, or behind that crate...). Tastier than my Nan's sponge cakes and the prize of the pack. '91 Verdict: 85° THE NINJA WARRIORS A horizontally-scrolling multiload which not only boasts all the beat-'em-up genre's standard features but also has quite a nice line in rather average gameplay. The nicely-shaded graphics, 2-player option and choice of weapons (poke people with your sword and throw a few ubiquitous shurikens around) contribute to solid, enjoyable play, but what could have been "oh wow!" is just "oh well". '91 Verdict: 67° DOUBLE DRAGON 2 Grab a pal and repeat more or less exactly the same kind of stuff you did in the first Double Dragon. Use a wide range of moves in conjunction with a load of stolen weapons and climb up onto the scenery to drop down on top of the opposition. All this is depicted in very attractive graphics but, sadly, these suffer from fatal clutter-clash. Also the gameplay's pretty similar throughout, there's a very irritating multiload and the most radically different 48:/28 versions I've seen since Road Blasters. It's only a short time before words like 'that' 'not, 'that' and 'good'start coming to mind. '91 Rating: 65° So, all told, it's a surprisingly weak compilation from Virgin (especially after Edition One).

A couple of Castro lookalikes throw bananas at Mr Ninja Warrior.

Here's old Shinny again trying to hide behind a stack of boxes.

Saturday night in sunny Swindon courtesy of Dub Drag 2.

Shinobi bumbs into a couple of baddies on his way to the shops.

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