Zzap


Dizzy's Excellent Adventures
By Codemasters
Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Zzap #80

Dizzy's Excellent Adventures

Mercifully, Codies have resisted the temptation to call their new compilation Dizzy's Eggcellent Adventures - you get un oeuf bad egg jokes in Zzap! Featuring a nice variety of game styles and three new releases, it's almost certain to be a hit, but is it a worthy successor to last year's Dizzy Collection? I think we should be told...

Kwik Snax

Like its illustrious predecessor Fast Food, Kwik Snax is a maze game in which you pit your wits against hideous Pacman-like enemies that follow your every move. This time your task is not just to fill your face, but to gather the roving fluffles that wander around aimlessly, and guide them to the maze exit.

Simple, eh? Well, it would be if when collected they didn't insist on following you around like lost sheep, losing their way completely should they come into contact with a monster!

Kwik Snax scored 80% in Issue 67, and I honestly think it was too low. The monster sprites are delightful, the action is non-stop and the presentation is second to none. Okay, the Dizzy sprite doesn't look much like our ovoid chum, but we'll let this pass. Great game!

Panic Dizzy

There's nothing like a good puzzler, is there? Simple yet addictive, Panic Dizzy has you matching various shapes to their respective holes, and you'd better be quick about it or you'll cause a humungous foul up!

Panic Dizzy is the sort of game you either love or hate. I have to admit I found it a little tame, especially after Kwik Snax, but it's colourful, well presented and brilliantly executed - if you're into this sort of puzzler, you won't be disappointed.

Prince Of The Yolk Folk

Whoooppeeee! At last, a true Dizzy adventure that looks and plays just like it should! Prince Of The Yolk Folk is a marvellous game, featuring the fiendishly simple problems and wonderful cutesy atmosphere we all know and love! At his best, you can't go far wrong with a Dizzy game, and this is certainly Dizzy at his best!

It's interesting to see how the problems have evolved from the early Dizzy games. Whereas before you usually only used one object to solve one problem, in this one you often have to use them in combination, e.g. to get out of the first location, you must use all three items on offer.

Prince Of The Yolk Folk is a true masterpiece, and as it's only available on this compilation, a real incentive to buy.

Spellbound Dizzy

This is the one you've all been waiting for... Dizzy's biggest adventure yet! At 105 screens, it's bigger than Dizzy II and Dizzy III put together!!!

Dizzy himself is prettier and better animated than in Yolk Folk but the game as a whole isn't as well put together. The simplistic graphics and cutesy atmosphere are there, but the game is plauged by slow running speed - it takes ages to update the screen after moving to another location or picking up an object.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a disaster. Just not as good as its boxmate.

Dizzy Down The Rapids

Haven't I seen this somewhere before? In a Domark game called Toobin, perhaps? Dizzy Down The Rapids has you guiding Dizzy in his floating barrel along a tortuous river full of logs, crocs, and other nasties intent on sending our favourite egg to Davy Jones' locker.

Another blockbuster, Dizzy Down The Rapids makes good use of the C64's graphic capabilities. What it lacks in originality, it makes up in playability, dispensing with that annoying Asteroids-style rotating movement system and instead concentrating on simplicity and fun.

Full of excellent touches like being able to choose where you reappear when you die (no being dumped out of the frying pan into the fire!), and a whoop of delight when his eggcellence finds a diamond, Dizzy Down The Rapids is a worthy contribution to the compilation.

Recommendation

Dizzy's Excellent Adventures is a superb compilation, a real bargain. One of the best packs I've seen in a long time. Anyone who misses out on this one must be one egg short of a hen house. Buy it!!!