Producer: Firebird (Silver)
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: Tron Software

After many long months spent meditating on a mountaintop, following his victory in Firebird's Ninja Master games, the Ninja is once again ready - ready to challenge Zerwin The Wizard for the ultimate title of Supreme Oriental Combat Master.

If the Ninja fails, death will be his only reward. So mind and body must be one, and both must be all-powerful.

The Ninja's quest takes place on a horizontally-scrolling road which leads to Zerwin's palace. This road is protected by the Wizards, bloodthirsty armed guards who attack the unsuspecting Ninja and throw darts at him. He can jump or duck to avoid the darts, but three powerful kicks are needed to fight off these foes.

Winged beasties also pose a threat - they rush up, arms stretched forward, and attempt to strangle the life from our hero. A single punch or kick will send one of the foul creatures flying off the screen.

At the end of each of the four levels a powerful guardian awaits the Ninja. The first to fight is a Terrible Indian Cobra; then come a Highly Technical Triple Armed War Unit, Ivan Dragovich, The Russian Master, and finally Supreme Oriental Combat Master Zerwin The Wizard himself.

Firebird/Tron Software's Ninja Master received 64% Overall in CRASH Issue 30.

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: large, crudely-animated characters
Sound: insipid title tune, and spot FX

Oriental Hero is so incredibly bad it's almost worth a look. There's everything you'd expect from the authors of Ninja Master rubbish gameplay, poor graphics and no lasting appeal.
BEN [24%]

Graphically Oriental Hero is excellent. And the tune for the title screen isn't bad either. But when you try to play, the tears set in! Wherever, whatever you do, you get killed before realising it. The terribly hard gameplay is a real shame, because otherwise Oriental Hero would be very addictive as kick-'em-ups go. As it is, you'll soon be bored.
NICK [52%]

I don't know why Firebird insists on throwing out all these martial-arts games -none are very good, and they're not presented well. Oriental Hero is totally unplayable; the graphics are very badly animated, with uninvolving backgrounds. Firebird should know better.
PAUL [15%]

Firebird
£1.99

If you've a yen for Kung Fu combat games which are full of Eastern Promise, then perhaps you'd like to nippon down to the chip shop for a few bytes of Firebird's latest, Oriental Hero.

Your bruising mission is to become Supreme Oriental Combat Master, and to achieve this you'll need not only super skills, but mega stamina, as there's four rounds to fight through. You have all the usual powers, squatting, jumping, kicking and fly kicks, to be practised either on joystick or keyboard.

What's more, you'll have to have hair trigger reactions, 'cos as your ninja wanders against a gently scrolling Outer Mongolian panorama (and I always thought the Far East was Billericay), your assailants will fly at you from various angles and differing speeds and directions. And when I say your enemies are speedy, there so preciptous they're the kind that can hit the switch and be under the sheets before the lights gone off. So be prepared for death by a thousand cuts (and kicks and chops) before you learn to deal with your foes.

If you win your way through to the end of a round, you must defeat the combat master at the level to go on to the next. For example, you must beat the Indian Cobra at the end of round one (worth 300 points) to get to round two, and at the end of that beat the war unit (worth 400 points) and so forth. Only with the defeat of Zerwin the Magician can you claim to be a true Ninja master.

There's nothing much wrong with Oriental Hero, it's fast with cheery graphics and ear thumping sound fix. But it sure lacks imagination. There's nothing new in it, and unless you're a fanatic or this is your first kung fu game, then it's probably not worth a dosh. But that certainly won't stop it being a hit!

Label: Firebird
Author: Tron
Price: £1.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Tony Dillon

Ah soo! Ret us return to ancient times, glasshopper, to a far off legion in Outer Mongolia where a stlanger has appeared and is after the title of Supleme Oliental Combat Master. Tly saying that with a mouth full of No 47 soy sauce. You are that masked stranger, and you must fight your way through four rounds of intense combat training.

At the end of each round you'll fight one of the masters but unfortunately you only have an armoury of three kicks to help you win through and basically you've got no chance.

This follow up to Ninja Master - probably the most successful trash title of all time - is all so fast, though, that winning starts being a matter of luck.