Micro Style
£9.99/£12.99

We've had California Games, World Games, Winter Games, and we now go to the Orient to say 'Konnichi Wa' to the Oriental Games and to participate in four events, Kendo, Kung-Fu, Freestyle and Sumo Wrestling. You are up against some of the toughest opponents in the area, so it's best to get some practice in first. Only when you feel like a turbo charged Bruce lee is it time to enter the contest.

If in two player mode, chances are that at some point you'll be fighting a friend (each contest is in heats), or it baffling alone, the computer stands in as your opponent. Each event has its own style of fighting: Kendo sees the combatants whacking one another with large bamboo sticks, Kung Fu and Freestyle are no holds barred martial arts action, and if you imagine two Bernard Mannings in tea towels, that's Sumo Wrestling. Each combatant has an energy level, and it is this that must be depleted by using all the moves at your disposal.

Get through the quarter finals and you enter the semis with the other survivors. If you win the finals you go through to the next event, and the next until you're given the chance to become 'Grand Master'. It's a while since the last oriental beat-'em-up on the Speccy, and Oriental Games has been in the works a long time, and worth the wait. Unlike a lot of oriental style games the sprites are capable of some quite complicated moves, and they don't look like wooden puppets in the process. The four quite different events add a lot to the long term playability.

Oriental Games is no pushover - and recommended to tough nuts.

MARK [85%]

Take a normal computer, add some detailed graphics and atmospheric sound, a dash of soy sauce and what do you get? Oriental Games of course! This is really good. It's like having four beat-'em-ups rolled into one. Each of the events has its own detailed backdrop and characters, ranging from masked warriors in Kendo to large (to say the least) players in Sumo wrestling (who mentioned my brother!). They all have their own movements to allow the player to kick, swipe and pull at his opponent, generally doing the most damage possible. The whole game is accompanied by an oriental tune (surprisingly) and the odd effect in the events. Throw away that punch bag and get a copy of this instead.
NICK [80%]

Firebird
£9.99 cass/£14.99 disk
Reviewer: Matt Bielby

We seem to have been wobbling on about Oriental Games for absolutely ages - it's one of a few games that've been hanging round at MicroProse doing nothing very much ever since the Firebird/Rainbird purchase. But now (at last!) it's here, and very pleased about I am too - not because it's a particularly brilliant game or anything (though in fact it's not too bad) but because it's a) oriental (so it fits neatly into the theme of the issue) and b) a beat-'em-up, just right for this beat-'em-ups guide thingie.

In fact, playing it is like stepping back a few years to the days when straight beat-'em-ups were really big news. It's very much a traditional fighting game, not at all like the scrolling arcade things we've become used to, like Dragon Ninja and Renegade. There are no girlies to be rescued, no big end-of-level baddies to face or anything - all the action takes place on a static screen with only a single opponent at any one time, much like golden oldies Exploding Fist and System 3's International Karate. It's all structured like a real tournament, with the player taking on one computer-controlled character for a bout, then seeing how the other fights go before moving forward into the next round. Since all the computer-controlled characters all look and fight exactly the same as each other this doesn't really amount to very much (except atmosphere) unless you're playing in two, three or four player mode, in which case you'll come up against the other player(s) sooner or later.

So far so dull, you may be thinking, and, yeah, I'd agree sort of, except that all the sprites are very slickly animated, with a satisfyingly (but confusingly) generous supply of combat moves (meaning, as beat-'em-ups go it actually quite challenging). And, what's more, there's the bones that Oriental Games simulates some Far Eastern fighting styles not normally seen on the Speccy.

Okay, so in each tournament you've got to do some kung fu (pretty much what you'd expect) and freestyle (another version of kung fu but with some different fighting moves, like backflips), but the other two sports are far more interesting. For a start there's kendo (you wear bamboo armour and fight with big sticks) - this is nicely presented but often over in a flash, with the computer player's attack hacking away at your energy level in no time. Ho hum, my kendo skills need a a bit of polishing up, I fear.

The highlight of the game though is the Japanese spook sport of sumo - even on the Speccy it has much the same bizarre fascination that the Channel 4 series held on TV. Not only are the two wrestlers very nicely animated (just look at the screenshots) but the fighting moves and tactics are very different from most beat-'em-ups, which adds a lot of much needed variety to what is otherwise a very 'seen it all before'sort of game. Briefly, you (as one mountainous fellow) have to try and push the other giant out of the ring with a series of slaps, shoves and trips. Alternatively, you can have a go at simply picking him up and carrying him out! Weird! I'm still terribly crap at it, but it's fun trying to learn.

Finally (and this is the important bit) how does it all rate in the YS 'Danceability' stakes (ie can you make the two little guys dance on screen if you get bored with the fighting.)? Well, here it does pretty well actually - the 'freestyle' guys with their rubbery leaping-about do a good impression of the London Boys, while the sumos are truly a sight to be seen. Hours of fun!

All in all then, it's not going to set the world alight or anything, but having said that Oriental Games really isn't bad at all.

Label: Microprose
Price: £8.95
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

Yes, it back! The thwack of knuckle on skull! The crunch of falling bodies! The grunts of punched livers! Oh, you can't beat a martial arts game, and Oriental Games has to be one of the best EVER!

So what's the big gimmick that makes Oriental Games better than the horde of other combat games (seven thousand three hundred and twelve at the last count), most of which are merely poor imitations of the original and genuine Way of the Exploding Fist? For a start, there are no stupid gimmmicks: you aren't fighting deadly bunny-rabbits, fourteen opponents at a time, or giants wielding chainsaws. This is just realistic one-on-one combat, and all the better for it.

Second, you get four crunch-a-minute martial arts for your yen. The first two, karate and Ju-jitsu, are basically kicking-and-chopping events; the third, kendo, involves bashing your opponent on the head with a big stick, and the last, sumo, is that weird Channel 4 event where huge fat chaps try to push each other out of the ring after two hours chucking salt around, staring at each other and grunting (fortunately you're spared these bits in Oriental Games).

Tha scenario's a knockout competition in which up to four players take part against a total of sixteen fighters with charming names like Wong Tong, Slugger and Lu Sing compete through four rounds. Strangely enough your little man (mine was called Pong Fu) seems to be able to get magically fatter for the sumo rounds. Still, the sprites are excellent and the animation is fast, smooth and responsive, unlike some combat games where the whole thing is spoiled because you get head kicked in while you're waiting for the sprite to respond to your joystick movement.

In each event you have a different choice of moves; flying kicks, ankle crunches, short jabs, stick smacks and so on. Sumo is of course a bit different; here your aim la to grab your opponent by tha Y-fronts, and push him out of the ring. His favourite response is to try to twist you over, which is a bit of a challenge with a huge great fatty like you. As you'd expect, your progress is indicated by a strength bar at the top of the screen, and watch it carefully because a single smack on the head can take you from being on top to being out for the count.

The backgrounds are great too; a television arena, the traditional sumo basho, a seedy gambling den and a sports arena. One of my favourite features is the digitised images of the contestants, which grunt with pain when they get a smacking; strangely enough they don't look a bit oriental, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually the programmer trying for a bit of fame and glory. Good luck to him, he's done a fine job. In fact my only reservation is that you have to scan briefly through the results of the rest of the rounds, even if you get knocked out in the first. Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn if

Right! Pass the salt, I'm back to the basho for a smasho.