C&VG


Burgertime
By Data East
TI99/4A

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #36

Burgertime

Chaos strikes in the kitchen again with the release of Burgertime for the Texas.

This is the official version as available in America. Luckily, Parco has decided to import it into Britain. It's a shame, though, that it took until the machine started to be phased out for them to decide to bring the software across the Atlantic.

This version of Burgertime has all the features of the arcade original.

Burger Time

In case you've never played the game before, the idea is that you play the part of Peter Pepper, the chef. Your job is to put together four hamburgers from a bun, the meat and some lettuce.

The ingredients are arranged in layers on the screen in a maze and, as you walk over something, it falls down a level, gradually making a complete burger.

Hindrance comes in the form of hot dogs, pickles and eggs which chase you round the screen. Defence is pepper-pot shaped. A quick puff of sneezing dust and the meanies will be paralysed for long enough to enable you to make good your escape.

Burger Time

Ice cream cones and coffee cups are bonuses and give you more points and also extra shakes of pepper.

This game would be as good as the original if it was not for the speed - or rather the total lack of it. This version is amazingly slow. It takes so long for the chef to climb up the ladders that your joystick hand starts to ache. And the less said about TI joysticks the better.

Sound is good. The traditional Burgertime tune plays during the game, but has a habit of stopping for a few moments while layers of burgers fall or meanies are destroyed.

Apart from this, it's still a good game for the Texas, and far superior to most of the software available at the moment for this machine. All credit to Parco for importing it.

You can get a copy by mail order.