Source: Commodore User – Issue Number 51 – December 1987

Commodore User was a pretty long running Commodore magazine that initially covered the VIC-20 and Commodore 64 and later the Amiga. There may have briefly also been a bit of Commodore 16/Plus 4 coverage. While not strictly a gaming magazine initially, it was by the time 1987 rolled around. The December 1987 issue covered the Commodore 64 and Amiga and includes:

Specials

• Combat School – A review of Combat School by Ocean for the Commodore 64. This was kind of like a multi-sport game such as Winter/Summer Games only with a boot camp theme.

• Sub Compo – A competition in which the reader had to answer three questions about submarines for the chance to win a chance to spend a day on a Royal Navy Submarine. This contest was associated with the impending release of The Hunt for Red October.

• Games For ’88 – New arcade games at the Tokyo JAMMA Show. Some of the games there include Final Lap, Heavyweight Champ, Thumnder Blade, Cyber Tank, and Full Throttle.

• Pull Out Poster – A Skate or Die! poster.

• Buzz – A sneak peak at upcoming games including Rastan Saga, Out Run, Rampage, Jack the Ripper, Masters of the Universe, Mars Cops, Test Drive, and Platoon.

• Adventure – A look at adventure games, including: Not A Penny More Not A Penny Less, a text adventure with graphics based on the book of the same name; Nord and Bert, a text adventure from Infocom; Zodiac, a text adventure with graphics from Incentive; plus some help for Questprobe 2: Spiderman.

• Arcades – Reviews of new arcade games including Heavyweight Champ, Rainbow Islands, Gray Out, Ajax, Full Throttle, and Free Kick plus an interview with Johnny Dumfries, race car driver.

• Play to Win – Game tricks and tips, including complete maps of Druid 2 and POKEs for various cheats in Hysteria, Bubble Bobble, Freddy Hardest, Amiga Karate, and Jack the Nipper II.

• Results – The results of previous competitions, including the winner of an Amiga 500.

• Tommy – Technical questions answered about reset switches, the Commodore MPS 803 printer, the difference between the 1570 and 1571 disk drive, creating sound, and much more.

Screen Scene

• Rygar – A pretty lousy side-scrolling beat-em-up for the Commodore 64.

• Skate or Die – A decent skateboarding sim for the Commodore 64.

• Combat School – A review of Combat School by Ocean for the Commodore 64. This was kind of like a multi-sport game such as Winter/Summer Games only with a boot camp theme.

• Cosmic Causeway – You could think of this one as Trailblazer 2 even though it technically isn’t.

• Star Wars – The Star Wars arcade game ported to the Commodore 64. It gets a mediocre review here mostly because the vector graphics of the arcade don’t translate that well.

• Freddy Hardest – A port of a budget title for the Spectrum. So not that great.

• Mean Streak – A decent motorcycle racing game.

• Maniac Mansion – Lucasfilm’s classic adventure game on the Commodore 64. This and Zak McCracken are must play games.

• XOR – A maze game that makes use of the XOR logic.

• Jack the Nipper 2: Coconut Capers – The object of this game seems to be to cause mischief but it reminds be a bit of Spelunker.

• Buggy Boy – A Pole Position style racing game that gets a good review here.

• Passengers on the Wind 2 – A rather obscure adventure game based on a French comic strip.

• Superstar Ice Hockey – A mediocre hockey game.

• Mad Balls – Based on a license for Mad balls that were around in the 1980s. The game actually turns out ok.

• Beat It – A maze/puzzle game in which you must collect the correct notes.

• Kromazone – A sort of arcade spaceship game played from a first person point of view though there doesn’t seem to be much to do.

• Starlifter – A 2-way horizontal shooter budget game that gets a pretty good review.

• Bobsleigh – Similar to such events in Winter Games type games but with more realism, particularly when it comes to managing an olympic team.

• Gunboat – Kind of like River Raid from a boat’s perspective. But the graphics are no better and the game play is not as good.

• Airborne Ranger – An outstanding game from Microprose. Think of it as a game like Commando but with better graphics, more complexity, more realism and more varied missions.

• Athena – A pretty terrible side scrolling action game.

• Power Struggle – A Cold War era strategy game.

• Zig Zag – Described as a hunt and kill maze game, the graphics and perspective will remind you a lot of Zaxxon.

• Tetris – Tetris on the C64…available quite a while before the Game Boy came around.

• Spore – A game reminiscent of Gauntlet but with spores instead of magical creatures.

• Survivors – You control three droids whose job it is to rescue people from their nuclear shelter. From the review, it’s not worth the 1.99 it cost.

• Mask – Based on the comic and TV show of the same name.

• PHM Pegasus – A simulation/strategy game in which you control a “Hydrofoil Missile craft”.

• Ubik’s Music – A music program that lets you created musical sequences. Quite complex for the low price.

• Microrythm+ – Basically an electronic drum kit.

• Grand Prix Simulator – It looks like a Super Sprint clone but it’s nowhere near as good.

• Dark Castle – An excellent action game for the Amiga in which you explore the various rooms of a castle.

• King of Chicago – An adventure game for the Amiga featuring Chicago crime lords. Looks nice and is entertaining but it’s basically a glorified Choose Your Own Adventure book with pretty graphics.

• Western Games – Another multi-sport style game, this one featuring “sports” such as milking cows and arm wrestling.

• Garrison – Basically, Gauntlet for the Amiga.

• Leviathan – An isometric shooter reminiscent for the Amiga that is reminiscent of Zaxxon but with improved graphics.

…and more!