Amstrad Action


City Slicker
By Hewson Consultants
Amstrad CPC464

 
Published in Amstrad Action #16

City Slicker

Hewson seems to be marketing a lot of quality software lately. Initially I thought that this platform/arcade adventure was not one. However, as the game unfolds, it becomes more interesting and addictive.

You play the part of Slick, the city slicker. He has been hired by Shhh, you know who, to save the country from the wicked Abru Cadabbra. Abru Cadabbra has planted a bomb in the Houses of Parliament. You must control Slick to pick up objects which will help you to defuse the bomb - when you eventually find it.

The first screens are of the Tower of London, from which you must escape. It took me several attempts. Only with the incentive that you have just spent nine quid on this game will you persevere. To get out, you must find the entrance to the Tube station.

City Slicker

Slick must be a really cool guy. 'cos he don't have to pay for his tube rides. The tube station is fun and reminds me of Saboteur in the way you travel. You get in and the train takes you to the next station on the Circle Line. There are seven other locations to the Tower of London. You can go to Westminster, where the bomb is, or Museum (main entrance or rear entrance), or Palace West, or Trafalgar Square, or Pall Mall, or Suburbia or back to the Tower.

Although the bomb is easily accessible, you must possess the right objects to defuse it.

Your jump is proportional to the amount of energy you have. Your energy decreases when you touch certain objects, sometimes enough for you to die. There is no limit on the number of lives you have, but when you die, you start from where you first came in - which is annoying when attempting to escape from the Tower. You can get down to the bottom, be about a step off the entrance to the tube station, and the bird drops its load on you. and back you go to the top.

City Slicker

City Slicker is an addictive game with some nice features and some very annoying ones, like the laborious bomb explosion every time to come into contact with Abru Cadabbra. Graphics are good, but could have been improved with the main characters being solid rather than skeletal.

Music is played to you while you are battling to dodge Abru Cadabbra. (Oh. didn't I tell you? Abru Cadabbra kills you if he gets his filthy conniving little hands on you, so beware!) Sound is passable, but yet again nothing special.

My advice is buy it - you won't be that disappointed!

Second Opinion

I found the game to have rather basic everything. Certainly not up to today's standards. The graphics and sound would have been marvellous around the Technician Ted era. Even the gameplay lacks something playability! The explosions when you fail in your mission are very pretty, but get extremely annoying as it takes several hours to go through the death sequence.

First Day Target Score

Visit all the locations.

Green Screen View

Visible if you care to look.

Good News

P. Good platform/arcade adventure.
P. Easy playability.
P. Very addictive.

Bad News

N. Possible withdrawal symptoms - I'm suffering already.
N. The main characters are difficult to see on some backgrounds.
N. Infuriating aspects.

Bob Wade

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