Previous Next

Dandruff's never been such a serious problem. But it'll take more than a bottle of Head & Shoulders to defeat the fiendish Dr. Franz Dandruff. He's gone and kidnapped a young girl called Pearly. Why? Because he needs her 'bodily sustaining juices' to reverse the effects of a failed immortality experiment: the mad doctor is ageing ten times as fast as normal.

Luckily Pearly's boyfriend, Flimbo, is a brave fellow and sets out to rescue his beloved. Unfortunately, the rapidly ageing Dandruff has a clever head on his shoulders and quickly creates a horde of mutants to stop Flimbo. These little monsters run and jump around the horizontally scrolling, platform-packed levels trying to bite and sting the cute hero to remove one of three lives. Thankfully, Flimbo is armed with a little gun to shoot the nasties, though most of them require several shots.

The only way to get through a level is to collect parchments. On each of these is one letter of a computer code word - complete the word and you finish the level. All seven words need to be completed and entered into Dandruff's computer to paralyse the potty professor.

Each level also has a shop where Flimbo can buy special items with collected cash or activate items collected. These include a potion which automatically completes the current word, an hour glass for temporary immunity, and balls and arrows which double the reach and strength of Flimbo's shots. There's also an hourglass to extend the game's strict overall time limit.

Cash is obtained from dying nasties or from treasure rooms accessed through secret entrances. Inside these, bonus money can be made by collecting the moneybags in the correct order.

Despite the ads, this isn't a Sizzler, but it is fun. The graphics are nice on both machines with some good parallax scrolling (even the level behind is superbly detailed) and some very cute characters. Sound is equally impressive with an appropriately jolly in-game tune (different ones for each level on Amiga). Gameplay is admittedly simplistic - similar to Hawkeye but, just like that game, very playable.

Okay, Flimbo's Quest isn't exactly the most innovative game around but it's excellently presented with cute action which holds a strange fascination. Even the C64 multi-load is thoughtfully done - speedy and with your score totting up as it happens.

Despite not being written by the same team as Hawkeye, Flimbo shares the same style albeit with better graphics. The backgrounds ore superbly detailed - it's easy to become distracted just admiring their excellence, especially on the C64.

Gameplay is fun, with the time limit and wimpy gun forcing you to dodge aliens as much, or more, than you blast them. As you'd expect of System 3 there's plenty of nice touches, like the Bombjack bit in the treasure rooms.

Unfortunately the basic gameplay is overly familiar and lacks variety - especially for a £25 Amiga game. Still it's a quiet time of year and I'm sure this fun game will do well.

Presentation 85%
Very quick multi-load. Good intro sequence.

Graphics 82%
Plenty of variety with some excellent large nasties and superb parallax with detailed backgrounds.

Sound 80%
Jolly Maniacs of Noise in-game tune plus good FX.

Hookability 84%
Very addictive and fun to play.

Lastability 79%
Seven graphically varied levels of increasing toughness.

Overall 80%
A fun and demanding game albeit rather repetitive.

Presentation 79%
Unobtrusive multi-load, good intro.

Graphics 80%
Good parallax effect, detailed backdrops

Sound 78%
Appropriately jolly tunes.

Hookability 76%
Slightly disappointing but addictive 8-bit gameplay.

Lastability 73%
Very challenging but ultimately repetitive.

Overall 77%
Good fun, if a bit simplistic.