Previous Next

What? A new software house (run by ex-Superior Steve Botterill, so far only known for the recent Mark Gidley cheats and some game club or other) and a programmer new to The Arcade (Gordon Key) getting good points? You betcha! This is a very enjoyable game - even if it isn't the most wildly original offering for many a month!

The premise is simple enough to explain quickly, I think. You play the role of a three-legged earth mover (Whaaaaaaat?) and must clear levels of cakes and apples. So far, so like Repton.

But there's more, much more. On each level you must assemble a picture made up of 21 blocks that you have to collect and move around the screen, whilst avoiding springs and cloggrass. There are hindrances like springs and gyroscopes, helpful stuff like buffers and drills and, if you can stand it, some fairly relentless but cheerful music. The graphics are great fun (especially the 'hero') and the gameplay is more cerebral than action-packed, given the time limit for each level.

All in all, this is a very nice package - and welcome too for those who've been looking for a variant of the lizard or the like. I enjoyed it tremendously and look forward to persevering deeper into the 18 levels of the puzzle. Do search this one out.

Don't be put off by the packaging either. The game's a lot more fun than the dreadful story on the inlay suggests - "in a strange and mystical land", you must prove your great love of art (by collecting the pieces) and so become a Master Clogger, Cloggers, you must understand, have 'strange powers that enable them to perceive their environment in a way that is incomprehensible to man'.

Why do software houses feel the need to downgrade games in this way? Especially ones that are so refreshingly different, so well coded, so much fun? If anything, it would put me off (if I were in the business of buying games, like all of you) simply because it makes a thoughtful game look horrendously childish. End of whinge.

Dave Reeder