C&VG


Contraption

Publisher: Icon
Machine: BBC Model B

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #46

Contraption

This game is all about picking apples; but you can forget about the harmless orchards of your youth. Here the orchards are filled with cannonballs and a host of deadly creepy crawlies, not to mention various identifiable and unidentifiable obstacles.

You must brave the perils of the pillars in the sky, the dangers of the deep, the demons and fires of hell, the loathsome spider's lair, the chilling snow palace and five other locations in your quest to - well, to pick apples!

And it's not easy. The timing has to be just right, and one of my major complaints is the rather arbitrary way you can sometimes be killed by being close to a hazard, as well as actually touching it. In a game that's difficult anyway, this can be really maddening.

Contraption

It's an entertaining little game from Icon which is strongly reminiscent of Frak - I would say the graphics were about on a par with Frak. The screens are very lively with plenty of movement, although there are rather too many dead ends. There seems to be a fixed route around each location and, if something goes wrong - a twig breaks off a tree, or something - you're trapped and have to start again.

I'm not sure about the exact significance of the title - I supposed they couldn't think of anything else to call such a bizarre collection of locations and hazards. Beyond building up a score by collecting as many apples as possible, the only point to the game is the fun of negotiating each screen.

Icon describes the game as "madcap lunacy" which just about sums it up. It will pleasantly while away a wet Sunday afternoon.