Zzap


Butcher Hill

Publisher: Gremlin
Machine: Commodore 64

 
Published in Zzap #48

Butcher Hill

Intelligence reports suggest that POWs are being held at the guerilla outpost on Butcher Hill. Your mission is simple: jump in a dinghy, make your way up river, then battle your way through dense forest to the guerilla weapon stores. Arm yourself with their ammo, then stage a one-man assault on Butcher Hill, rescuing the prisoners and doing general gung-ho stuff. Your country's pride is in your hands - don't louse it up!

Hints For The Hill

1. Level One: Helicopter drop supplies of ammo into the river at regular intervals. 2. Level Two: Shoot the mines on the floor, or you'll be blown up! 3. Level Three: Shooting at the chopper will make it fly off!

Kati

While employing some pretty atrocious graphics in level one, with a river that looks just totally static, the rest of the game isn't that bad. Stage two is probably the best of the lot, taking a lot of ideas from the tunnel section in Platoon - but it's fast and colourful, and lends well to this kind of product.

Butcher Hill

Butcher Hill is littered with some typically Gremlin tunes and effects, being fairly well done but totally out of place in the product they're with.

If you're not absolutely sick of this type of game, it could provide you with some fun for a few days - but not much longer than that.

Gordo

This is quite good fun to play for a while, but all three levels are highly derivative of other products. Level one is an extremely poor copy of Live And Let Die, with some pretty pointless river-running and blasting.

Butcher Hill

As for the others... one in particular looks very much like parts of Platoon; the other owes a lot to Operation Wolf.

While not being brilliant by a long chalk (the graphics on stage one are awful), Butcher Hill could be enjoyable for fans of the one-man-army genre. Sample afore ye purchase.

Verdict

Presentation 54%
Poor instructions and awkward control method. Colourful animated title screen.

Butcher Hill

Graphics 55%
Sloppy graphics and animation on level one, getting a lot better on later stages.

Sound 48%
Jolly but out of place tunes and effects, which add little to the atmosphere of the game.

Hookability 40%
Uninspiring first level will put many people off, but becomes more enjoyable further into the game.

Lastability 58%
Fairly enjoyable, but too easy to complete.

Overall 52%
A playable but very average mixture of exploration and shoot-'em-up.