Kixx
£4.99 re-releases

This is the third Multimix compilation and contains 1943, Street Fighter and the excellent Bionic Commando.

1943 is not unsurprisingly, set in said time period and see a lone P-38 plane (piloted by yourself) up against the Imperial Japanese Navy in true kamikaze style (the word kamikaze means divine wind, not surprising in the circumstances). Your eventual target is Battleship Yamamoto, but plenty of Japanese-built technolody stands between you and success.

Street Fighter puts you into the size ten espadrilles of Ryu, a tough brawling dude who has to travel the world and fight all types of thug to win the Street Fighting Championships.

And finally, Bionic Commando, one of my all-time favourite games, where he brave hero with an extendable arm and mean disposition battles the enemy forces to infiltrate their 1HQ.

If it wasn't for the last game I'd say Multimix 3 is pretty poor value for money. I never was very fond of 1943 or Street Fighter when they were first reviewed (neither were the other reviewers, come to think of it). Maybe they have their fans, but they never struck me as particularly good examples of their respective genres. My advice is to save your cash and buy Bionic Commando separately, for £2.99.

REPLAY

Old games never die. They just sit around for years doing nothing, then come back in a smaller box. JON PILLAR inspects...

Kixx
£4.99
Reviewer: Jon Pillar

A three-pack (for a change!) as Kixx becomes the latest company to open its back catalogue and blow away the dust. is this resurrection, or exhumation? (Eh? Ed)

STREET FIGHTER

Travel the world, meet top martial artists and then knock them down by waggling your limbs in an unfriendly manner. Repeat until you pass out. Brownie points for large sprites and optional multiload. but as a game it's stunningly average.

BIONIC COMMANDO

Neat four-way-scrolling platform game which has you battling fiercely through five multiloaded levels on a world-saving mission. (A typical day's work for the Spec-chum.) Using your telescopic, bionic arm you can biff baddies from afar or swing around like an aluminium Tarzan. Very clear graphics and surprisingly colourful, fast scrolling enhance the payability. There's many an afternoon to be wasted here.

1943

WW2 planes replace aliens in this very ordinary shoot-'em-up. With power-ups, a dual-player mode and big mid-level baddies, the only new idea is "rolling" to avoid bullets. Otherwise you could be playing any of 60 other games (and probably not notice the difference).

It costs a fiver, and two-thirds is crap - so work it out for yourself. You'd be better off checking out the Quattro range (then buying YS with the change)!

Label: Kixx
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £4.99 Tape, £n/a Disk
Reviewer: Alan Dykes

The Multimixx series seems to go on for ever and that's no bad thing as although there has not been one outstanding compilation they certainly are value for money and are of consistent good quality.

First off the tape is the classic beat 'em up Street Fighter. Taking a leaf out of Phineas Foggs' book you travel around the world to test your martial arts skills against two different patriots from each of the five countries you visit (Japan, USA, UK, China and Thailand) The fights are the best of three rounds at the end of which a bonus can be earned by chopping through a pile of bricks. Excellent controls and varied opponents (the shurieken wheeling invisible ninja to name just one!) with different styles and abilities make this the most appealing game on the tape. Of course the two player option is a bonus, but the ability to change your mans fighting style is not present. Pity.

Continuing the bashing theme Bionic Commando is original if nothing else. The five arcade platform levels range from a forest, which you must negotiate with your bionic arm to climb trees and avoid the aliens who's base you are hopping to destroy, to The Silo, where you have to destroy the launch computer and complete your mission. Your arm is very versatile and is able to extend out in front of you to catch parachuted weaponry and provisions as well as clubbing the enemy. The game is quite enjoyable, but let down severely by tiny sprites and unimaginative graphics.

This is definitely not the case with 1943. A very simple yet highly addictive air combat shoot 'em up. The back ground story is irrelevant as you fight for mastery of the air and sea in a P38 fighter bomber. Slick scrolling action, power-ups and assortment of weapons. SWIV it's not, but with the added feature of tumbling head over tail to dodge incoming flack this will entertain for days. A good compilation that maintains the average.

MATT:
Gentlemen we can rebuild him, we have the technology. Well it's a pity they didn't use it to make a better game!