Total Carnage

STORY/GAMEPLAY:
Out of nowhere, crazy, power-mad general Ahkboob became the sole military power in Kookistab (!) by creating a vast army of infantry, tanks and BioGenetic Mutants onto the world. With an endless supply of mutants forces (you will notice those endless hordes during gameplay) and the hostages in his possession, Ahkboob stands ready to spread devastation upon the entire globe. Only two men are brave enough to take on Ahkboob's army: Captain Carnage and Major Mayhem, both huge, muscular Rambo-type figures. You now need to guide them (if you play in two-player mode) through the evil General's awesome array of defenses to get inside his stronghold and go after the General himself.
There are three huge levels to complete (ALPHA MISSION, BAKER MISSION and CANDLESTICKMAKER MISSION), each one having it's own type of enemies and traps. Expect heavy resistance from ground troops you will cope with large numbers of mutant soldiers, machine guns nests, and light attack vehicles. Oh, you need also to take care of the civilian hostages held in many locations throughout the levels, keep rescuing them for bonus points. At the beginning, the available weapon is just your trusty machine gun, but you can find plenty of upgraded firepower (plasma guns, flame-throwers, rocket launchers etc) scattered in every location. Be noted though, each upgrade is limited, so you basic weaponry will come back soon enough. Fortunately there are also scattered bombs to collect and use them to wipe-out everything moving currently on screen (except the vehicles and...hostages of course...).
What is really nice with this game is that, you can toggle a preferred shooting direction while moving your character in all other directions. It’s pretty effective when a horde comes from a specific location on the screen, while avoiding vehicles at the same time. At the end of each level, there is always a big nasty boss waiting for you.
Total Carnage is a really addictive but a very tough game, that keeps you coming back for more even today! The gameplay itself is a breeze, just shoot everything except any hostages and collect everything you can lay your hands on. Of course there were several better titles to play back then, but still easily worth having a look.

GRAPHICS/SOUND:
Ok, much like the arcades version, the game features some nice visuals for its age without having to fill the screen with impressive details. Truth is that, the coin-op conversion from Midway is almost perfectly done on the Amiga, keeping most of the original level details, sports smooth and fast sprite animation and they are almost identical in terms of graphics, without having the need to use any extra Amiga's custom-chip power.
The in-game sound is equally ok, including the original music and an array of digitized sound FX and speech during gameplay.