C&VG
1st April 1987Bactron
Billed as the world's very first piece of antibiotic software, Bactron from Loriciels via Activision is a medicine suitable for both adults and children. From the same team who producted MGT here is another full colour, isometric arcade adventure with smart graphics and an outstanding soundtrack.
The Bactron has already saved your life on numerous occasions but this time you're really sick! Mac the macrophage, Steffie the staphylococcus, Dot, Spek and all the other germs that live in your body, could prove too much for you unless you can guide the Bactron through your organs and arteries in time to release the healing enzymes trapped in the yellow cubes scattered throughout your body.
The Bactron is a cute yellow, blob-shaped fellow, with terribly bad breath, who prances around on two long rubbery legs rather like a cross between an ostrich and a piece of sweetcorn! So bad is out hero's breath that one well-aimed puff will temporarily paralyse many of the germs wandering around inside you, just long enough to make a quick exit or activate an enzyme block.
Apart from the main location display, the patient's (that's you) heartbeat and temperature are both graphically depicted by an oscilloscope display and thermometer which shows an ever increasing temperature. When the thermometer reads 42 degrees it will smash with terminal consequences.
Many objects in your organs can, and must, be moved in order to gain access to other areas of your body. Other objects, such as blue cubes, spring into action on contact and must be avoided at all costs if energy is to be preserved. Contact with any of the other germs will also drain Bactron's meagre energy supply. Luckily you have three back-up Bactrons to carry on the good work when one expires.
Although moving the Bactron around takes some getting used to, it's worth it to see the quality of the animation of its legs as they stretch out in front of him as he takes another step. Indeed, most areas of this latest French offering are polished and well designed, even if it's too easy to get stuck in a corner from where there is no escape. When this happens, all you can do is watch the Bactron's energy plummet unceremoniously to zero!
By far the most memorable thing about this game is the boogie-woogie music which is entirely addictive and, once heard, demands at least a dozen further plays. Possibly the catchiest tune ever for the Amstrad, and the game isn't bad either.