Previous Next

Mad professors once tried to rule the world or bring dead bodies back to life but the star of this game contents himself with feeding golden apples to his Contraption. What it actually does isn't clear but it really gets through those apples, making your job of collecting them very tough indeed.

There are ten screens on each of which four apples have to be picked up before passing on to the contraption to deposit them. Collecting the apples takes the form of good old platform action, but it takes place on some refreshingly devious and colourful screens. Each screen is packed with hazards and has a desperately short time limit that will demand perfection from the player.

The contraption is on a separate screen that appears after every game screen, making 20 screens in all to get through. Once you work out how to fill the contraption with apples, it becomes quite easy to complete each time but the other game screens are diabolically difficult.

The professor only has the standard left, right and jump controls and, using these, he must avoid all sorts of deadly plant life, animals and even a killer snowman. This all comes down to good timing and positioning which is where the pause facility comes in handy for planning your route. The plants are the most important thing to find out about since some of them will kill you but others can be a handy platform to leap off.

Most of the hazards move in regular patterns either up and down or across screen and to get past them there will be only one successful path. Collision with deadly objects or a long drop loses one of the professor's three lives and is accompanied by a speech bubble saying "silly me". I can think of a lot stronger responses in those situations since you go back to the start of the screen with all the apples to collect again.

One of the nicest touches is the pistons that pump up and down like valves on a trumpet and have to be walked on or used to boost you up on the contraption screens. The other graphics are of an equally high standard and although there isn't much animation everything is colourful and well drawn. There is still a problem when characters overlap but this doesn't happen too often. The one time you really notice it is when using the lifting platforms that are on many screens - sometimes the prof's feet sink into it because of the timing of your walking onto the platform.

The best graphic is saved for the end of a game where the professor is crushed by a large apple as it snaps off a branch and plummets down the screen. A large bouncing "contraption" sign is also nicely done and the other titles include a demo of all the screens. The sound is less impressive, with no music and simple effects for jumping and dying.

The graphics are very distinctive, revealing the BBC origination of the game, and although the gameplay is fairly ordinary, it's a nice little package that would have been all the more impressive for a few more screens. The ones there are tough enough but perhaps just a little frustrating when you get too stuck.

The graphics seemed to me just about the prettiest I've ever seen on the Amstrad. Initially, that's enough to make you love the game. But evidently the programmers have used to much memory to get them in that there isn't enough left for a large number of screens. So, although you get a very attractive and very tough platform game, it hasn't quite got the legs to make it an all-time classic AA Rave.

P. Very colourful and attractive graphics.
P. Tough screens to complete.
P. Nice touches like pistons, end game apple and bouncing contraption.

N. Little in the way of sound.
N. Screens may become frustrating.
N. Eleven screens isn't a lot for a platform game.