Total Recall

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The game follows the story-line of the renowned 1990 film very closely, having you control the movie's main hero, Doug Quaid (performed by the great Arnold Schwarzenegger). Doug is out to find out his true identity and what is actually going on, as his life was "haunted" by recurring dreams of an alternative life on Mars. You are forced to recall a unique travel service (founded by an evil man called Cohaagen) that specializes in implanting fantasies into the minds of those who desire to turn their dreams into reality. On the first sector of the game, you run around picking up valuable objects (before travelling to Mars) that include a gun, a suitcase, a ticket and your passport. Out in pursuit are Cohaagen's thugs, with whom you "share" your renegade level of violence. Arnie himself doesn't much resemble the real life thing but he's suitably a fairly nippy sprite! His fighting maneuvers are somewhat limited but there's enough to keep you occupied for quite some time. The second level is the first of the car-chase sequences of the game (pretty much like Batman The Movie). You jump into a nearby taxi and rush through the streets, avoiding the numerous pursuers (some of them shooting at you) who have still not yet given up and desire to block your way towards an abandoned warehouse where you can get rid of your tracking device. Inside the warehouse, the action changes again to an action platform shoot 'em up style, with plenty of enemy reinforcements. By the time you kill all the enemies you finally arrive to Mars! On the Red Planet, you seek out the alien reactor and Cohaaggen himself, again in a platform shooting style. Apart from shooting and smashing incoming foes, the game is also a mix of puzzle and platform elements. Overall, Total Recall is a rather tough game and the enemy guards can easily get the hero so it is almost impossible to turn and shoot them quick enough. With some patience and practice, I guess you gonna love this game.

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The game features nice looking graphics on the CPC, with vivid colors detailed design of the backgrounds and sprites (same as with the Commodore version that uses different colors). The sprite animation is fluid, and overall this is one of the best looking games on Amstrad! The sound is good with various sound effects like explosions and gun fire and also an intro tune from the movie.