Domark
£12.99 cass/£19.99 dis
Reviewer: Kati Hamza

If you can remember when Star Wars first came out, you probably use Grecian 2000 and still wear thermal underpants. Yup, you're a bit of an old dodderer!

So here's your chance to reminisce by using The Force and all that stuff, not once, but three times 'cos Star Wars, The Empire Spikes Back and Return Of The Jedi are now available on one compilation.

STAR WARS
A slick little 3D vector graphics thingy this, which has you blasting the stuffing out of the Empire's Tie Fighters, laser towers and barriers before plunging into the trenches of Darth Vader's Death Star itself. Phew! Course, once you've done it you've got to start the whole thing over again but you don't care 'cos you're a Jedi Knight. Lucky that. One of the best-known Speccy games of all time, it's dated a bit but the 3D's fast and there's plenty of action.
'89 Rating: 80°

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Well, blow me it it isn't another one of those vector graphics jobs. Good old Tie Fighters appear in this one as well but first you've got to stop the robots sending transmissions of the Rebels' power generator to nasty old Darth. Next come brilliantly animated AT-ST and AT-AT Walkers and after that you've got to negotiate a pretty hairy asteroid field. There's just a tad more sound on this but the gameplay's even more faithful to the coin-op than on the 16-bit. The pick of the bunch.
'89 Rating: 86°

RETURN OF THE JEDI
Wossiss? Not a vector graphic in sight! Instead, you're slogging it out in the forest and the inside of, yep, the Death Star again. First off, you're on a speeder bike trying to blow up enemy bikes and making them crash into trees. Then you're negotiating the Millenium Falcon to the centre of the Death Star dodging Tie Fighters and watching out for energy gates before manoeuvring a Scout Walker through the forest again. It's a nifty little number this, but somehow it just doesn't match the atmosphere of the other two.
'89 Rating: 74°

And that's it. If you've never seen them before, now's your chance to experience the whole kaboodle in one go. It may not be the most original thing since sherbert dips but who's complaining when you get three ultra-playable classic Speccy games for such good value?

STAR WARS TRILOGY
Domark
£12.99

CONTENTS:

STAR WARS: A bit slow and jerky, but has all the features of the arcade original.

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: Thrilling conversion of the coin-op - the best of the series.

RETURN OF THE JEDI: Mediocre translation ruined by rancid graphics and putrid sound.

CONTENTS: Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi
Spectrum/Amstrad/C64 £12.99, ST £24.99

The first two vector graphic Star Wars games are nicely executed, and contain all the features of the original, the third one is a bit of a disappointment. One for the collectors...