Zzap


Hopper Copper
By Silverbird
Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Zzap #44

Hopper Copper

Cor! There are some really mean baddies running amok down in Groove Town - and some pretty thick policeman as well, by the looks of things. Four armed and dangerous criminals have stolen the entire fleet of police cars and the only PC left on the beat is you. You really have been caught on the hop this time - the only remaining form of transport available to you is a child's astro hopper. Cool or what?

Well OK, so maybe it's not the latest in street accessories, but it does come in pretty useful for squashing villains. As you bound about the streets minding everybody else's business, you'll find a message at the bottom of the screen giving the location of the nearest crime.

Hop along there, Cassidy, and you could be well on your way to getting more points that you ever dreamed of.

GH

Hopper Copper

'Ello, 'ello, looks like we've got a bit of a turket here - and not one you'll be carving up on your dinner table either. Whatever you do, don't ask your Grandma to get you a copy of this for your stocking because you sure won't be playing it for long.

There's nothing wrong with the presentation as such but when it comes to manoeuvring your hopper and jumping on the baddies - watching the needles fall off the Christmas tree would probably bring you about the same amount of fun.

Unless it's the only alternative to being gagged, bound and thrown out of the window, give this one a miss.

Kati

Well, I reckon they've definitely been running out of ideas down at Prune Software headquarters: I mean, a policeman on an astro hopper?!

They must really have been scraping the barrel when they came up with that. Not that I'm averse to silly scenarios (the more the merrier, I say) - but it usually helps if there's a game to match.

I must have spent ten minutes hopping around scouring the landscape, getting into Groove , before anything remotely exciting happened.

The messages at the bottom of the screen may suggest deep and meaningful things to little green men from Mars but they certainly didn't help me.

If you see this lurking innocently on a shelf, ask it politely to hop off.

Verdict

Presentation 51%
Cute front end animation and option to switch the sound off.

Graphics 57%
Samey multi-coloured street scenes, nicely animated sprites.

Sound 61%
Bouncy (!) Starsky And Hutch style music which is best switched off.

Hookability 45%
Well, it looks quite good, so you might as well have a go...

Lastability 21%
...but once you've played it you won't want to play it again. Budding policemen (and everyone else) steer clear.

Overall 47%