Producer: Melbourne House
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £8.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Stephen Cargill and Russell Comte (graphics)

Hot on the heels of Exploding Fist comes Melbourne House's Fighting Warrior, yet another beat 'em up in true Exploding Fist style.

Fighting Warrior actually has a scenario which places you way back in the early Egyptian empire. You are a bit annoyed about the Pharoah's decision to bury your loved one alive as a sacrifice to the Gods. Acting as any mere near indestructible fighting machine would, you decide to rescue the Princess Thaya from the grisly death that awaits her.

To reach the temple where the princess is imprisoned, you have to cross a desert beleaguered with a host of creatures conjured up by the Pharoah's court magician. You come across mythological demons, warriors and what can only be described as fighting gargoyles, each doing their best to block your way. As you progress the magician's resolve to stop you becomes greater, and he creates progressively more vicious opponents to replace those that you've vanquished.

Along your quest to free the one you love various objects will present themselves in your path. Left there for centuries, they possess mysterious mystical powers. To use them you'll need to employ some alternative thinking and it's best to be sure that the magic they contain is good. Evil magic may bring great harm to you.

Once you've fought your way across the burning desert and entered the temple where you beloved is about to be sacrificed, your quest is not finished. A showdown with the court sorcerers follows. Sapping your strength and endurance they will do deadly battle and the only way to release the princess is to destroy them. Having done so, the path is free your quest is over once you've unbound your loved one.

You are armed with a sword and start each combat sequence rejuvenated with your life force, represented by a row of chevrons along the bottom of the screen, replenished. During combat each hit from your opponent reduces your chevron supply. Similarly, the beast or warrior you are up against has a row of chevrons and the first one to run out loses (and dies). To complicate matters a little, you also have to watch out for the occasional magical arrow which comes whining across the screen from right to left. If you don't duck or jump in time, and are hit by an arrow, two chevrons-worth of life force is lost.

Fighting controls are accessed through joystick or keyboard using an understandably similar concept to Fist. The control keys or joystick used alone allow movement in four directions: jump, duck, back off and advance. Your repertoire of aggressive moves is a little simpler than in Fist. Pressing the fire button or key in conjunction with a direction gives you access to an upper strike, mid strike or lower strike.

You win ten points for every successful hit on your opponent and it's possible to collect a bonus score for making a very quick kill. Extra bonus points can be won by releasing some good magic from a pot and of course there's a hefty bonus available when you complete the game.

As you progress along the scrolling landscape you fight in front of new scenery - all suitably Egyptian, full of pyramids, palm trees and the like. Not just violence for its own sake (or saki?) this time there's a quest in there as well.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q - jump, A - duck, P - move forward, O - back off and bottom row - fire.
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair and Cursor type
Keyboard play: very good
Use of colour: good
Graphics: superlative definition and animation
Sound: weak
Skill levels: one
Screens: scrolling

Unfortunately for this game, it is bound to be compared with Melbourne House's last release, Exploding Fist. Fighting Warrior introduces a bit of scenario into the genre, but remains a fighting game, and is one that can get a bit monotonous. All you seem to be able to do is fight your way from left to right, meeting yet another brilliantly animated opponent after each victory. Graphically the game is very attractive, with excellent animation, and there's no shortage of fighting to be done. It's a shame the variety is confined to your opponents - different weapons or moves might have jollied things up a bit. Bound to go well in any beat 'em up collection though!

The game has really striking graphics with some of the best action animation I've seen on a Spectrum - the only trouble is the gameplay is pretty dull. Once you've chopped up a couple of opponents and you realise that there are still another pile of foes which have to be similarly chopped, boredom tends to set in. The game would have been far better if it'd had some additional gameplay elements but as it stands it just gets rather tedious having to tackle the many (varied to look at) opponents in the same way time after time. Perhaps a set of different weapons would have been better, but as it stands it's just a case of 'nice graphics, shame about the game.

I must admit to not being that amazed by Melbourne Houses's Fighting Warrior. The graphics and animation are excellent but the game's just too simple to provide any long term interest. There is some frustration appeal, which makes you want to see what's on the next screen, but overall, despite the outstanding graphics, I wasn't very impressed.

Mastertronic Plus
£2.99 (rerelease)

Guess what? A beautiful princess has gone and get herself captured, and you must rescue her, silly girly. You are the Fighting Warrior, champion of all Egypt and a small town in the lake district (wha?). Using all your powers of combat you will confront many hideous monsters, ghouls and ogres, all of whom are just begging to be splattered.

The usual beat 'em up controls are used, plus you carry a handy weapon, useful for slicing pounds of flesh off your slobbering victims. The graphics are nicely drawn, but that's all: the backgrounds are very basic and colour is almost non-existent. In the sound category all you get is something like a bee trapped in a glass when someone hits you, brilliant! Some games stand the test of time, and this isn't one of them. You come across monster after monster, and killing them all soon gets a bit monotonous.

Fighting Warrior may be worth looking at if you're after a cheap beat 'em up and don't really care about graphics much, but otherwise I'd stay well clear: there are better rereleased games about.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

Another delve into the recesses of Speccy softstuff with Dr Marcus "stand very still and try not to scream" Berkmann.

Mastertronic
£2.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

I thought this rang a bell, but it wasn't until I loaded it up and saw the dread words "© Melbourne House 1985" that the ghastly truth dawned on me with the force of a small nuclear explosion.

AAAAAAAAARRRGGHH! Yes, it was a cheesy old beat-'em-up. And not just any old cheese, either - fine, smelly, slightly green old cheddar, of the sort that mice might just gobble up. For it's time, admittedly, this was impressive - large sprites, a scenario that made no mention of Japan or China (it's set in ancient Egypt instead), and simple no-holds-barred violence throughout. No surprises that it sold well, but nowadays it looks more than a mite ropey. For once thing, we like a little more to our fighting games these days - think of the Renegade trilogy, for instance. As a piece of Spectrum history it's interesting, even (for us old 'uns) a little nostalgic. But as a game it no longer cuts the mustard.

Ross: Another game continuing the current trend of combats but this one is presented in a refreshingly different style. The game is set in ancient Egypt and includes scrolling backgrounds and an assortment of mythical creatures.

You control an Egyption warrior and your quest is to rescue a beautiful princess held captive by a power crazy Pharoah. To do this you must fight your way past all manner of monsters and half man half animal type creatures to reach the temple where the princess is imprisoned.

The game's very like karate games in that your figure faces to the right and fights all those who cross his path. You carry what looks like a staff which can be wielded in three ways. It can be swung to strike the opponent high or low or thrusted at the middle of their bodies. You can always jump or duck and move forwards or backwards.

All the creatures and your own warrior move very fluidly, behave differently and have varying strengths which makes the game even more interesting.

Unfortunately it lacks a few finishing touches which spoils its playability. The joystick control, for example, doesn't respond to diagonals, you can't back away from the monsters without them advancing on you and the graphics repeat very rapidly. Probably because there's only four or five of them.

The animation and graphics are on the whole superb and the game's a good 'un. It did seem to lack depth and often turned into a session of trading blows, with the winner being the one with the most strength points. It'll probably be a fighting success! 8/10

Rick: The graphics from Melbourne House are getting bigger and brighter all the time. I love it! 9/10

Dougie: One of the best variations on the karate theme I've seen. 9/10

Publisher: Melbourne House
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair

The origins of karate are part of the history of the mystic Orient, or so we always thought. Melbourne House clearly reckons they go further back to Ancient Egypt, and has brought out Fighting Warrior to prove it.

Like the immensely successful Way of the Exploding Fist, it is an animated battle game, with you as an Egyptian warrior fighting a series of monstrous opponents by bashing them around the ribs with a large sword.

Similarities with Fist are obvious. The same style of combat is used, but with fewer options. There are essentially only three blows - duck, jump forwards and jump backwards. That makes it rather easier to play, but probably less satisfying in the long run.

The animations are terrific, with a variety of monsters - the winged demon which kicks you in the guts requires quite different tactics to the dog-headed creature whose main defence is to cower on the ground.

Magic bottles appear as you progress - assuming your energy levels last out long enough - which may contain hazards or give you invincible strength. Use them at your peril.

The point of all that is to liberate a princess from the tomb. If you get that far, watch enthralled as the screen displays a welter of spinning mummy bandages in the final scene. We won't spoil the surprise by revealing all, but it's well worth the effort of playing all the way through.

Fighting Warrior is karate for kicks and should appeal to a younger, or possibly less nifty set of fingers than Fist requires. It is good fun, and boasts one of the flashiest title sequences we've seen in a long time. Good solid entertainment, but liable to be eclipsed by its sister program in the charts.

MACHINE: Spectrum/CBM 64
SUPPLIER: Melbourne House
PRICE: £7.95 (Spectrum), £8.95 (CBM 64)

Just when you thought it was safe to pick up your joystick without fear of getting kicked in the goolies or socked in the jaw, yet another all action combat game explodes onto your screen!

Yes, the Exploding Fist people, Melbourne House, are out to give you a few more bruises with Fighting Warrior.

Although the game follows in the footsteps of the current trend for martial arts mayhem, Fighting Warrior has a strong fantasy feel to it.

It's set in the sand dunes of ancient Egypt - and you play the part of Fighting Warrior - Champion Of All Egypt. You're on a quest to free a beautiful princess who has been imprisoned by the evil forces of darkness in a dank, dark tomb.

The evil forces are out to stop you dead in your tracks - literally. Monsters and demons of the most awful; kind materialize in front of you as you trudge across the burning sands!

You must fight them off using your trusty staff. But they are tricky and tough creatures and they'll duff you up really badly, given half a chance.

Fight them off Fist style - keeping an eye on your strength rating at the bottom of the screen.

As you battle the various monsters, you'll come across some strange vases resting in the dunes - try to smash them as they contain various spells and forces which can help your quest. Some kill monsters outright, some give you more energy and some - well that's up to you to find out.

The graphics are big, bold and superbly animated - even, dare I say it, better than the Spectrum Fist.

Fighting Warrior is an action adventure packed with surprises - a worthy successor to Fist.

You've read the review now win the game! We've got 50 copies of this new Melbourne House game for the Spectrum and 64.

All you have to do is look at the pictures of the creatures Fighting Warrior encounters on his quest - and give them a suitable name. Easy eh?

The person who, in the opinion of C+VG and Melbourne House, thinks up the best names will get a copy of the game, a free Big Red t-shirt - AND the chance to name characters in a brand now secret game soon to be released by MH.

Once you've thought up your names, fill in the coupon - not forgetting to tell us which computer you own - and rush it to Computer and Video Games, Fighting Warrior Competition, Priory Court, 30-32 Farringdon Lane, London EC1R 3AU. Closing date is November 16th, normal C+VG rules apply.

Spectrum 48K
Melbourne House
Beat-em-up
£7.95

"The best graphics ever seen on a Spectrum", a familiar line in publicity blurbs. But now there is no excuse. Stephen Cargill has upped the stakes once again with cartoon style animation of stunning smoothness and detail.

You have to rescue a princess again (groan). In order to do this you've got to fight your way through a veritable army of monsters, who, being honourable types, come at you one at a time. Just to add to the fun, arrows come hurtling at you as well. You have three sword strokes, walk forward, back, jump and duck. The controls are easy to get the hang of.

The screen scrolls right to left as you attempt to make your way to the cave where the Princess is incarcerated. In the background, a landscape of Pyramids, temples and sphinxes scrolls past.

The fight sequences are beautifully animated, easily surpassing those in "Fist" or "Frank Bruno". Unfortunately, the process of fighting your way through the local heavy mob is a shade boring. Still, perhaps we can hope for the same sort of technique to be used on more complex and absorbing games.

Melbourne House
£7.95

There has been a spate of fighting programs lately, not the least being MH's WAY OF THE EXPLODING FIST, but now they have combined the pure combat game with the adventure quest type to produce this game.

In Fighting Warrior your task is to rescue the princess from a selection of 'vicious' enemies must be a combination of thick and gluey and brutal.

Joking at the expense of the spelling in MH's press release aside, there is nothing gluey about the beautifully drawn and animated characters in this program, they all act and react very quickly indeed. Your character has to walk along as the background scrolls behind him and every few feet it seems en counters another adversary. Fighting is done by sword and by using the four direction and the fire button, joystick or keyboard you can back off, move forward, jump, duck, or strike at the upper, mid or lower regions of your opponent. Each of you has a graphic representation of your strength and stamina, once it is all gone - RIP.

Added to this there are objects which you have to puzzle out how to use and a frequent arrow attack which you must duck under or jump over, even in the middle of an encounter.

I found that the response was a little slow and it takes some getting used to before accurate timing of blows and dodges can be made. It is also a very difficult game to play as you are under almost constant attack from the very start. Even though I did not get very far into the gameplay, the superb graphics and adventure style concept ensure that I will go back to this one time and again. Melbourne House yet again bring a touch of class to computer gaming.