Kung-Fu Master

The Good
Mmm,.. maybe it's intense action, the fact that it always keeps you trying to beat enemies or jump over them. I am not sure if I would recommend this game to other people because the gameplay is annoying but it's one of my most favorites on the CPC because I have mastered it so that I can do wild things like jumping over the tiny enemies or a throwing knife while delivering a flying kick to the tall guys, then ducking to avoid another knife while low punching the little dwarfs. And I can play through all the levels and the beginning, where enemies appear randomly and I can make funny moves and beat all the stuff out of them. It's one of those annoying in gameplay, controls and animation, CPC games which if you master they become classic in your eyes! Maybe compared to the other versions from the coin-ops or consoles, this one sucks, but I do like it!

The Bad
Controls: Low key response and collision detection problems at times. Sometimes I have to duck and tip on the fire button, still if the enemy is few pixels more close than allowed, he grabs the player and the attack fails. Annoying if you play the game for the first time. Not, if you've mastered it.

Annoying bugs that can freeze the game: Fortunately these are rare. In the 4th level you can freeze it easily if you try to hit the gorilla boss with any other way rather than the low punch. It's in the gameplay (as seen in other versions) that this boss paralyzes the player in this case. It happens here too, though if you try it many times, bugs or even a freeze may appear. Other kinds of bugs appear more rarely during the game..

The last boss: I never ever understood what is the trick to beat him. When I succeeded into that, it was random! At most cases, I have to tip on the fire button like a maniac for ten minutes or so. Once in a hundred I may see his energy bar loosing a tiny piece. During some plays the possibilities to reduce his energy are extremely less than other times. After loosing for several times and playing the 5th level from start, a lucky possibility might arise. This happens on the CPC version. I don't know the rules in the other versions..

Jerky scrolling: However this is an issue that haunts most CPC games, one that doesn't annoy me much personally. Some people may hate this though, so I decided to mention it.

The Bottom Line
Annoying but if you've mastered it on your CPC you might find it fun and play it several times from the beginning! I believe that if you come from the console world or have played the original in the coin-op, you might find the CPC version crappy and bad. Though, I love it!