Published 1985 by Imagine Software Ltd. | Authors: Jonathan M. Smith, Martin Galway, F. David Thorpe | [WOS]
“He’s the hottest cookie in school!”
Another excellent Konami coin-op conversion by the late ‘Joffa’ Smith. This caper puts the player in the Chuck Taylors of a high school heart-throb on a mission to deliver a love letter to his girlfriend.
Mikie’s fabulous pompadour quiff and defiant attitude to classroom discipline make him infinitely cooler than you but he has tricky task ahead of him. The letter is in pieces (represented by hearts, aw) all over the school, and our hero is stuck behind a desk in some boring lesson while his beloved waits patiently at the school gates. Luckily, he has sheer chutzpah on his side and blithely disregards his teacher to go a-roaming.
As Mikie travels the school, each room presents a particular challenge. In the starting classroom he must retrieve the hearts from under desks by aggressively doing the Bump with his classmates (consisting entirely of cheerleaders and football-helmeted jocks, just like every American high school) until they move elsewhere. Other rooms involve breaking into lockers, hurling canteen chickens or navigating between a gyrating dance class.
These shenanigans don’t go unnoticed and he is constantly opposed by THE MAN as the school’s faculty of teachers, janitors and cooks relentlessly pursue him. Mikie can defend himself with a well-timed shout – an ability toned down from the arcade original where the lovable hero could headbutt his way out of trouble.
Like Smith’s other conversions, it’s great fun and brilliantly presented. The graphics are cute and colourful while the sound pushes the limits of the Spectrum’s capabilities – even managing to include a terrific chiptune version of a A Hard Day’s Night on the intro screen. Its only flaw is how easy it is to get through the five levels after a few goes. Well, that and the fact that Mikie’s romantic poetry leaves a bit to be desired.
Published 1986 by Imagine Software Ltd. | Author: Jonathan M. Smith | [WOS]
“…you are alone, against immeasurable odds.”
Ok soldier, listen up! We got the perfect job for a rough, tough one man army like you. Shit just got real in Russkieland: those bastards have taken our boys captive and it’s up to you to get ‘em out. Now this ain’t gonna be a picnic; it’ll be raining goddam commies out there and they’re armed to the goddam teeth, so I hope you packed your balls son. Do I hear a “yes sir!”? Ok, here’s a knife. Be careful, it’s sharp.
1985 was a big year for lone wolf military types getting stuff done and leaving a startling body count – film releases that year include Mark Lester’s Commando, Joseph Zito’s Invasion USA and George P. Cosmatos’ Rambo: First Blood Part II. Around the same time, Konami brought pre-Glasnost gunboat diplomacy to the arcades in the form of a run’n’gun murderfest known in some markets as Rush’n Attack. A year later, Imagine released a home micro conversion under the game’s original title of Green Beret.
The player controls an elite special forces unit consisting of one extremely hard dude tasked with an extraction mission. His brilliant plan involves running headlong through a bunch of enemy facilities with only a shiny blade between him and hordes of enemies. Ivan understandably wants to put a stop to these shenanigans and comes charging in from both directions using running, jumping, shooting and mortar-firing tactics. You can evade attacks by jumping and ducking, or dispatch foes with a quick stabby-stab. Fallen enemies can be looted for limited-use weapons, such as flamethrowers and rocket launchers, which are best saved for the boss fight at the end of each level.
It’s fun, fast-paced and very tough. Most of the time, you need to be close to an enemy to send them packing, and your moves need to timed with pixel accuracy if you are to survive for more than a few seconds. The violent mayhem is offset by small cartoonish sprites, and animations that render grisly deaths as vanishing skeletons or puffs of smoke. This contrasts with the backgrounds in which Soviet military architecture is appropriately illustrated in clean black outlines with spare and careful use of colour. Although there is also an odd design decision, seemingly unique to Spectrum version, where the player’s three lives – freedom-loving, all-American lives – are represented by the hammer and sickle.
As with many games around the same era, completing the four levels displays a congratulatory message before kicking you back to start to go through it all again. War is endless, and a bit harder every time.
Konami would go on to squeeze more arcade thrills out of the cold war era in 1988 with the Vietnam-set Missing in Action, a game more directly influenced by the 1984 Chuck Norris vehicle of the same name but basically just an expanded Green Beret. MIA never made it onto home computers in the UK, but Spectrum owners could still experience the harrowing conflict as a fun shoot-em-up thanks to Ocean’s tie-in with Oliver Stone’s Platoon.
