Big K


Eskimo Eddie

Publisher: Ocean
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Big K #3

Eskimo Eddie

Ocean are particularly good at honing arcade originals to polished Spectrum programs - their Kong and Hunchback are about the best of their type - and Eskimo Eddie is a skilful metamorphosis of Pengo into a playable small-scale version.

There's a kind of 'preliminary run' to pass through before the main part of the game: you send Eddie past ice floes and polar bears to pick up the penguin, a rescue which has to be effected three times before moving to the game proper.

This is actually a dubious bonus, for it's tedious to have to go through this unexciting stage each time a life is lost. But the bears at least are beautifully animated.

As for the rest, it is to my mind based on a singularly obtuse and brainless original - for some reason Eskimo Eddie's rather shapeless monsters always seem especially bland - and a glossy layout merely masks action which is smooth but eventually uninvolving.

A perky use of the computer's limited sound, and a general attention to detail hallmark the craftsmanship by which Ocean has commendably stuck by, and it must be admitted that this is the best Pengo version around.