Amstrad Action


Captain Planet

Author: Adam Peters
Publisher: Mindscape International Inc
Machine: Amstrad CPC464

 
Published in Amstrad Action #78

Captain Planet

Yes, it's the Captain Planet game, based on top kids' TV show "Captain Planet And The Planeteers", in which Captain Planet (and the Planeteers) do battle with evil foes like Sly Sludge, Looten Plunder and Doctor Blight who try to destroy The Earth, using various acts of Eco-Terror.

Ozone layer depletion destruction of the rain forests, and pollution of the oceans are just three of these wicked chaps' nasty schemes. It's down to Captain Planet and his fellow Television heroes The Planeteers (Wheeler, GI, Linka and the other one) to put an end to this environmental carnage, and return Sly Sludge, Looten Plunder and Doctor Blight to the Hellish Toilet from which they came. Here's The Review...

Captain Planet is a scrolling platform game of three levels, each of which sets you up against a different bad guy (with a different Planeteer dude to help you). Before each level begins there's a 3D-scrolling section that lets you bump up your available time. The first of these sees clocks and stars whizzing towards you. Collect the clocks while avoiding the stars to get anything from 80 to 120 seconds to play around with. Not that it'll do you any good.

Captain Planet And The Planeteers

You get five lives, with your current state of health indicated by the colour of the World of Commodore symbol (that's what it looks like, anyway) in the corner of the screen (yellow, blue, green, purple, red and dead). There are a number of power-ups available, including lightning bolts (smart bombs). World of Commodore symbols (extra lives) and rubber chickens that make your head double in size.

The first level is the only one we can really comment on (it's a difficult game, chums). You have to run or fly very slowly to the right shooting things, and... er... that's it. There's lots of flying foes, some of which explode to shower you with hearts, rocket launchers, which shoot rockets at you (surprisingly enough), and so on.

You can yawn your way through this little lot quite easily, till you stumble into what appears to be the end-of-level guardian. It'll take a few bouts of manic firing to discover that it isn't. It's a middle-of-level guardian. When you've waxed that you run into a harem of rocket launchers and, er, fall out of the sky.

Captain Planet And The Planeteers

The other two levels are also scrolling platform jobs, but with slightly different gameplay. The graphics and sounds are quite spinky, but the whole thing is so dull you won't play it for long enough to find out if finishing the first level is possible. We lied about the rubber chickens - everything else is there.

Second Opinion

Captain Planet looks good, and it's all in a good cause, but it's just far too difficult once you get past the first guardian.

First Day Target Score

Get past the first guardian.

Verdict

Captain Planet And The Planeteers

Graphics 86%
Detailed, colourful, smooth, slow, slightly blocky.

Sonics 75%
Lots of electronic laser noises and stuff.

Grab Factor 62%
At first glance Captain Planet looks reasonably spiffy...

Staying Power 26%
...but appearances are deceptive. It's awful.

Overall 37%
Captain Planet is dull, difficult, deficient, demoralising drivel. And that's just the 'd's.

Adam Peters

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