Capitan Trueno

STORY / GAMEPLAY
Capitan Trueno is among the last classic games developed by Dinamic and offers a nice pack of features like good visuals, great gameplay and, at least this time, a reasonable difficulty level (though it's still tough to play). The game is divided into two different parts (as most Dinamic's games are). The first (and the most interesting) part is a mix of arcade action and puzzle / strategy story while the second part (which is quite short) is a typical side scrolling platform game. In both parts you can switch among three different characters, each one with his unique skills. The first character is Captain Trueno himself, who can use his sword to take down enemies (like giant mice, frogs, lobsters etc). By holding down the fire button, the Captain will swirl his sword continuously killing everything in its sharp path! Trueno can also jump over enemies or objects to avoid lethal contact. The second character (named Crispin) has the abilities to jump higher while he cannot use any weapon. Use this character i.e. to grab a rope and step on a higher platform or make any long jump when needed. The third character (the Goliath) is a muscular man who can either hit with his strong fists the enemies / objects or even destroy certain objects by jumping vertically on them (but he cannot move left or right, just by staying at the position where selected!). Using this kind of gameplay (based on the characters' skills), the game offers a strategy-like arcade action rather than being a simple action adventure, especially on its first part (i.e. you need to activate or collect certain objects to open doors). The game is definitely one of the best action adventures for the 8bit genre though it remains quite difficult to handle.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The Amstrad CPC version offers really nice and brightly colored visuals, beautiful details at the backgrounds and smooth character animation. Each level has its own design including forests, cathedrals, caves and more. Especially the first part is a real candy to your eyes. Each of the three characters has his own set of frames and cool animation (i.e. when Goliath jumps on the ground, the whole screen trembles!). The first part is in flip-screen mode and you can scroll backwards to previously visited screens, while the second part uses a classic left-to-right side-scrolling gameplay. The game's sound effects on the CPC suit pretty well to the game's atmosphere, offering some nice aural touches such as the character's footsteps and spot effects when collecting items or hitting enemies, but unfortunately there is no in-game music at all.