Hello there.
Today I thought I'd have a look at Contra on the Amstrad CP....
No, Gryzor.
Let's take a look at Gryzor on the Amstrad CPC....
Here we have the 3" disk variant of Gryzor, which I picked up for the modest sum of £30.
On the front you get two redrawn images of Arnie from Predator separated by a very Geiger
like alien.
It is in fact, identical to the Contra artwork.
In fact, before we go on let's clear up that the game is in fact a direct port of Konami's
arcade classic Contra.
The game was simply renamed for European 8 bit releases because upon its 1987 release,
the "Nicaraguan Contra rebels" was a hot political topic in these parts.
Gryzor then, sounds equally as menacing whilst avoiding any unnecessary contention and is
certainly better than the NES iteration, Probotector, which was developed for launch in the German
market, where you're not allowed to blow the hell out of fellow humans in game.
Talking of opponents, the story line is fairly tenuous.
It goes that The Durrs from Planet Suna have infiltrated Earth's defensive forces and setup
a stronghold.
Armed with an atmosphere processor, their plan is to trigger a new ice age and take
over Earth's resources.
As Lance Gryzor, your plan is to put a stop to their devious plans.
Quite why humans are helping defend these aliens is unknown and slightly bewildering.
Inside the box we find our single sided 3" disk, a folded instruction sheet in a variety
of languages and an advert for the game Combat School.
Another Ocean release licenced from Konami, of which a free demo is actually included
on this disk version.
However, mine seemed to incur some loading issues resulting in a crouched frog like character,
rather than a ripped running soldier.
Upon loading the main presentation you are presented with our mercenaries, Lance and
Bill and reminded this is an Ocean game licenced from Konami.
We're also presented with the programmers names, which is nice.
If you have a 128k machine you can then choose to have either in game music or sound effects.
You can't have both unfortunately, and it feels more right to just go with sound effects
to me.
This is what 64k owners are stuck with whether they like it or not.
Either way, you're then thrust into a world of gorgeous, although somewhat blocky colour,
and almost inevitably killed.
You're then killed again, and again, and again.
Gryzor takes some pretty rapid reactions along with many repeated attempts.
If you're not dodging bullets, then you need to be prepared for mid bridge explosions,
which you either need to know about already, or just leap quicker than you've ever leapt
in your life.
As well as these obvious perils, walking into an opponent will also render you lifeless
and if you lose 3 lives, it's game over sunshine, although you do earn an extra life for completion
of each stage.
Power ups are provided, such as the three way gun or savage laser beam, and these offer
much needed aid over your single bullet weapon.
However, if you die, then you're back to your pea shooter.
You can shoot in a multitude of directions, on a variety of platforms offering multiple
ways to progress from screen to screen.
It gives a feeling of freedom and control, and would make its way to various other games
including the brilliant Gunstar Heroes on the Mega Drive.
Like Contra, play is progressed through a variety of perspectives, including a pseudo
three dimensional tunnel sequence and a fixed screen sky blasting arrangement reserved for
boss battles.
All of which are pleasing and offer an impressive mix of variety given the fairly short length
of the title.
The Amstrad port has 1 less level than the original game and excludes a handful of bosses,
leading to some regarding the C64 version as superior.
But there's no denying that the CPC version looks incredible and plays very well.
It can be a little difficult to see what's going on at times, especially for anyone with
a degree of colour blindness, and although it's a slightly shorter game, it can still
prove an absolute menace to get through.
Although invisibility power-ups, such as placed on the vertical scrolling level 4, can allow
you to actually plough through the entire level with speed.
Unfortunately the simultaneous 2 player mode from the arcade is replaced by an alternating
implementation forcing each player to take turns.
Which pretty much saps the fun from that aspect.
If you complete the game then your reward is confirmation that The Durrs have greater
planning skills than anticipated, as the earth turns into a baked potato and everyone dies
anyway.
These gripes aside.
Gryzor on the CPC is a pretty spectacular port.
It's a game which appears to always be on the lips of CPC owners, and despite the lack
of smooth scrolling, one of the few games which shows off the hardware's potential.