At the end of the “Golden Age of Spanish Soft”, almost all the companies developed numerous game packs in order to obtain a last income with the excellent games they had developed during that unforgettable journey.

Among the well-known compilations, Opera Soft released four excellent PCW game packs, all bundled on a single 3 “disc.

• MUTAN ZONE

Mutan Zone is another surprising adventure from Opera Soft, which will take us to a world of beings subjected to a terrible metamorphosis.

Following the explosion of a supernova in outer space, forms of cosmic energy have been created within the atmosphere of the planet SCORPIO. These have led to its inhabitants living under a state of metamorphosis that has completely changed their lives. They have become terrifying and monstrous looking! The Earth, aware of the problem, has sent a team of scientists to try to eliminate the effects of radiation. But the metamorphosis has also made the inhabitants who have captured the team fierce and dangerous, forcing them to develop a powerful weapon to annihilate Earth. Our mission will be somewhat dangerous: rescue the science team and destroy the offensive bases in SCORPIO.

In short, this is the story of the game, a fight against beings that were former friends and now enemies that we must fight. The idea is good, although it has been setting a trend of yesteryear; the scenery and the story are changed, but deep down it is always the same: destroy the inhabitants of another planet.

The game is very well done, as is its conversion to all versions of computers. In the PCW we can enjoy the same graphics as in the PC and CPC versions, without noticing any change in them, although of course, without color.

The phases of the game

This adventure consists of two phases, in which we must fight with all kinds of unimaginable ways and face a multitude of dangers. Like the previous Opera game: Black Sun. We noticed some difficulty, perhaps too much to get to finish the game. As a curious detail, it is noteworthy that at the beginning of each of the phases we can take part in a small subgame in which we can obtain or lose extra lives depending on our ability.

In the first part, as soon as the game is turned on, the interior of a spaceship will appear with a window where enemy ships appear. If we kill a ship, our counter increases by one life (initially it is five); if a ship hits us, then we will lose one. If you want to do without this part, that's why the little practice and that makes our lives drop sharply against our will. As soon as we start, or at any time during the fierce fight with our enemies, we enter with the number of lives that are currently in our scoreboard by simply pressing the return key. Once inside, our problems begin: a dragon's head that rises from a puddle ready to kill us, strange shapes of faces that are shooting other smaller ones and end the life of our hero, both of a ” stroke of the pen “, in addition to mines and a long list of obstacles that make it almost impossible to get the first part of the mission to fruition. To defend ourselves against these attacks we have a neutrino gun, which, although it can get us out of a tight spot on more than one occasion, on others we will need stronger weapons. For this purpose we have the atomic mace, a powerful fighting tool that emits a ray from the ground to the horizontal, annihilating everything that is in its path. We are also accompanied by a kind of radar a few centimeters above “our head”, which indicates, on the radar, when we are detected by our hidden enemy.

In the second part, if we want to get more lives, we will have to look for them through a labyrinth. To guide us through it we have a compass in the lower center of the screen. As in the previous case, we enter the game by pressing return. With the advantage that we do not lose any life here. If the first part was difficult, the second part can no longer be graded. Armed with a nuclear powered aero-motorcycle, we ventured into SCORPIO's labyrinth. Enemies, traps, dangers and a long list of obstacles prevent us from achieving our objective with some ease. If we manage to go through all the galleries and reach the power station, we will have to eliminate the chief of the planet's inhabitants, who has been watching us all the time, in order to free the scientists. Once this happens we will have finished our mission and we will be more powerful. The armament of this phase is similar to the previous one, except that we change the deck for some bombs that we launch from the motorcycle. You have to be careful, as this weapon can kill us if it explodes near us.

The graphics

Like all Opera Soft games, we can enjoy excellent graphics in all versions, including the PCW. They are complicated and with a good movement. Although sometimes, especially when the doll is crawling, if it makes a movement that changes its crawling level, we can contemplate how it stays suspended in the air as if it were a magic trick. There is a fairly clear difference in quality between the CPC and PC with the PCW, of course. Mainly in the death of the first, where the passage from combatant to skeleton is not very well distinguished, but produces an effect that is difficult to achieve. If we had to choose a version we would stick with CPC's.

Difference between versions

Although they are minimal, there are some differences between the different versions of the game. Apart from the detail in the death of the CPC graphics, PC with the PCW. There are others such as sound, being null in the PCW, which does not even make a beep to the tone between the PC and CPC, in this sense favorable to the latter. Another data to review is in the load: while in PCW and CPC, when the program loads, the fight to get or lose lives quickly begins in both parts (except in the second, which are not lost), on the contrary, in PC it waits to let us know that we are ready to go. When hit by enemy ships, the screen shakes in the PC and CPC versions, to freeze in the PCW versions.

Conclusion

A good game, with excellent graphics and music (except for PCW, which is not available) and very good animation. We have noticed certain problems in handling the doll with the joystick, it gives the feeling of losing control and makes it very difficult to use. Another drawback that we have found arises from the problems that are created when they kill you and enemies approach; We die at high speed when the obstacle zone in which we reappear after death is not cleared. A vibrant, fast-paced arcade game featuring the graphic quality typical of all Opera games. Only reproach him for his excessive resemblance to “Black Sun”, since although both the mission and the development of the game are completely different, the structure of the set and the graphics are very reminiscent of its predecessor. A frenetic and ultra-addicting space arcade game, in conclusion, a game worth having in our collection.

• SOL NEGRO

For those who do not remember or have not seen the movie “Lady Falcon” (film on which the game is based in part), tells the story of a falcon and a wolf (fish in the game), which, by fault From a spell that holds them captive, she was transformed into a hawk by day and he into a wolf by night, they cannot fully love each other. The two walk day by day avoiding multiple dangers and protecting each other. Thus, until they manage to kill the sorcerer and return to his normal form.

This, which in short is the story of the film, is what we have to achieve in the game: break the spell that falls on the two characters in our story.

Welcome to the most romantic epic the software world has ever known. This is the story of Monica and Bully, the story of two hearts in love cruelly separated by a terrible spell.

Each full moon, one of the two protagonists is turned into an animal, a hawk in Monica's case, and a fish in Bully's, while the other recovers his human appearance. In this way, and unfortunately, they can never be together. They have only one hope left: the Black Sun … an eclipse of the sun.

Together they will embark on the most dangerous of adventures: the search for the temple of the sun, an underwater grotto located beyond the limits of the city of Hidrionis. Only there can they find the desired Black Sun. Happiness awaits you … but also all kinds of dangers and adversities. The road is long and hard.

The game

The program is divided into two independent phases, although we will only be able to access the second after having obtained the key that is provided to us upon successful completion of the first.

Each of the two phases is divided into different scenarios, although there is no type of separation between them. The first, in which our objective is to help Bully rescue Monica - transformed into a hawk - and accompany her to the entrance of the magic palace, is divided into four different scenarios, in this order: the desert, the swamps, the forest and the temple.

As for the second, our mission is to help Mónica guide Bully - turned into a fish - to the entrance of the underwater cave where the temple of the sun is located, the place where the longed-for eclipse will take place that will return to our heroes happiness. This phase is divided into three different zones: the maritime, the cavernous and the shipwrecks.

The areas of each of the two phases are not only delimited because they are made up of different graphics, but also because at the end of each one of them a special enemy will appear - the goblins - that will require a greater number of shots to be eliminated.

First phase

Our objective in this first part of the adventure is to help Bully rescue her companion from the cage in which she is imprisoned, and then lead her to the entrance of the magical palace.

We start the game with the not inconsiderable figure of twenty lives, but if we take into account that we will lose one of them every time we are hit by an enemy - and we can assure you that the number of enemies that will attack us along the way is not negligible. mission - it is more likely that unless we measure each and every one of our steps is insufficient. In addition, every time we lose a life we ​​will be returned to the beginning of the area - remember that the first phase is divided into four different areas - which, as you can imagine, complicates to the imaginable what was already difficult. .

Fortunately, -not everything will be misfortunes-, we have the help of a complete team with which we can face the adventure with a little more luck. This is composed of a reactive propellant and an M-92 laser rifle. However, and to our misfortune, these should be used in moderation, since their prolonged use can cause excessive heating that would damage them irreversibly. If this happens, we will remain defenseless or practically immobile - since walking, in addition to going much slower, we can find obstacles that are impossible to overcome-; after a few moments a new laser -or a new propellant- will appear on the screen, but until we pick it up, our chances of survival will be practically nil.

At the beginning of the game we must advance uninterruptedly to the right; After going through some screens we will reach the cage where the falcon is held prisoner, but we still do not have the key that opens it. This is a few more screens to the right, so what we will have to do is keep moving forward until we find it, pick it up - just touch it - and retrace our steps, that is, retrace our steps to reach the cage again of the hawk. When we do, it will finally be free, and from that moment on it will follow us wherever we go, and we must take care of its defense, since it has an energy bar that will decrease as it is hit by the enemies. It is convenient to note that if this is completely exhausted, the game will end, regardless of the number of lives that Bully has left at that time.

If we move too fast the falcon will be left behind and, therefore, will be more exposed to the enemies that appear on the screen. However, it is possible that if we go fast enough the hawk will be out of the screen where we find ourselves; This is a double-edged sword, since although it is true that during this time it will not be attacked by the enemies, it is also true that if we move too far the hawk may lose our trail and we will have no choice but to look for it again, with which we will have to travel the same path three times - going, back and forth again. However, and if we have not strayed too far from him, it will be enough if we wait for him for a few moments and he will return to us again.

If we can get to the entrance of the magic palace, we will have completed this first phase; We will witness a curious scene in which Bully will transform into a fish and Monica will recover her human aspect, after which we will be given the access code to the second part of the game.

The submerged city of Hidrionis

In this second part, our objective is to help Mónica reach the entrance to the underwater temple of the sun, although we must bear in mind that we must also ensure that Bully -transformed into a fish- does not suffer any damage. For the rest, the development of the game is practically similar: the technique to guide the fish is the same as that used with the hawk; the propellant and the laser have been replaced by a water-repellent propellant and a water-repellent gun, but their utility is the same and we must also take the same precautions -remember the fearful overheating- in their use.

The phase is divided into three different areas, the maritime, the cavernous, and the shipwrecks, and in addition to having a higher density of enemies per screen, we find the additional difficulty that at certain times the scenario branches in two different ways, only one of the two being correct. If we make a mistake we will have to go back, which will repeat the history of the first phase: we will have to go through certain screens up to three times … too many times so that we do not suffer any serious mishap when passing through them.

The markers

In the lower area of ​​the screen we can obtain specific information on the number of lives that Monica or Bully have left -represented by an energy bar that will be exhausted after dying twenty times-, the amount of energy that the falcon or fish has left , as well as the degree of heating of the thrusters and weapons.

There is also a kind of time indicator, although its usefulness is not excessive. In it we can see a sun and a moon; If we manage to conduct our mission, the moon will get in the way of the sun and the long-awaited eclipse will take place. However, we say that its usefulness is nil, since the eclipse will never occur before we reach the temple.

The enemies

Each of the two phases has different types of enemies, so we are going to tackle them separately.

First phase:

- Normal enemies: all of them can be eliminated at the first shot. They are the gerbils - jumping little rattles -, vultures and aliens, small beings that sporadically cross the screen at full speed.

- Special Enemies: They need 18 to 20 shots to be eliminated. They are the goblins and the dentures. The latter, like the tennis ball that appears in the temple, have the peculiarity that each time they are shot they change the direction of their movement. As for the former, to say that they are especially dangerous, because in addition to being extremely intelligent they have the ability to shoot us.

- Dangerous areas: Throughout the mission we will have to cross some compromised terrain such as swamps and spike areas - if we walk over them we will lose a life - and the temple walls that rise and fall randomly preventing us from passing. We can also be destroyed if we are touched by its point-

Second phase:

- Normal enemies: This time we will find moray eels, seahorses and strangler algae. The latter are especially dangerous, since they remain hidden in their hiding place and only come out when they detect our passage.

- Special enemies: This time there is greater diversity - and abundance - of this class of adversaries. On the one hand, there are sharks and whales, which need 20 shots to be eliminated. The same goes for the goblins, who this time have replaced their space uniform with a diving suit. We will also find a boat from which a hook hangs that goes up and down cyclically; our only chance is to go under the latter, just as it is rising, as both are indestructible. Large algae also appear that will also require 20 shots to be destroyed.

- Harmless fish: Throughout this phase, a multitude of harmless fish appear whose sole objective is to distract our attention. A separate case is that of the dolphin, since if we shoot it by mistake, we will raise the wrath of the God Neptune who will throw three deadly harpoons at us, practically impossible to avoid.

- Dangerous areas: there are holes inside which we will be trapped forever -translation: one less life-, even shaky areas difficult to distinguish.

The end

If we complete the game we will contemplate a romantic scene completely worthy of appearing in the most touching of melodramas. After that, you know, happiness, a new blow to the census of partridges and, for our part. the satisfaction of the work accomplished. Do not let the story end in any other way, and if you do, let the spell of the full moon fall on you. Let's see how you are turned into fish or hawks …

Conclusion

It is a very entertaining and entertaining game, perhaps too difficult in some parts, which with a little practice can be solved. The music, the graphics, the story of the game, make it of a great quality and worthy of being in our personal collection.

It has an excessive level of difficulty and the fact that especially in the second phase the high number of graphics that appear on the screen make the game become somewhat confusing on many occasions. Otherwise an excellent program that is highly recommended, especially for all those who love good arcades.

Like all Opera games, the graphics are excellent, with good animation and variety. Nearing the limit of perfection. As in almost any game adapted to the Amstrad PCW, it lacks sound, a shame.

In the following images you can check the original packaging.

• Original cover.

Here you have the front part of the original cover.

• Retouched cover

Its measurements are: Length 13,50 x Height 14,00 cm.

It has no manual.

Original disc supplied with Coleccion PCW Volumen II.

Custom labels to print. Over the years, due to their use, the labels are damaged and lose their color and quality. Now we try to adapt the most similar in the measure of our possibilities, the labels so that they can be printed and replaced or for those who work with a copy of the program and preserve the original disc. Measurement in 3 “height: 7.00 cm - width: 7.10 cm. The first image corresponds to the original label of the game, the second is the same modified label to be able to replace the broken one and the third and fourth images are for 3.5 “discs.

Soon

Tricks

• MUTAN ZONE

• To obtain immunity, type the word “EGOS”.
• To obtain immunity, type the word “NEGRO”
• To obtain infinite lives, type the word “CHARLY”.

• SOL NEGRO

• To get immunity against enemies; Get to the cage where your beloved is imprisoned, stand in the highest part on the right and press the “EGOS” keys.
• Pressing the “NEGRO” keys together at any time we will obtain immunity.
• To obtain infinite lives press the “CHARLY” keys.
• The code for the second phase is 2414520.
• In the climbing plant phase, you make the young heroine duck and shoot the plant, this will make you go much safer.

Maps

Here are some maps to make it easier for you to finish the game.

• MUTAN ZONE

• SOL NEGRO

The disk images, disk, have been obtained from the original version of Coleccion PCW Volume II, have been recorded and verified.

• Colección PCW Columen II (Compressed .DSK file in ZIP format)

• Play Mutan Zone online
• Play Mutan Zone online
• Play Sol Negro online
• Play Sol Negro online