Big K


Interview
By Front Runner
Commodore 64

 
Published in Big K #11

Interview

Getting a job can be a right old game. This right old game is all about getting to an interview on time, and intact. It all starts when you are sitting in your living room. A message comes through the letterbox telling you to get down to the Front Runner office in fifteen minutes for an interview for a job as a programmer. Then the action starts.

Front Runner doesn't appear to be a very experienced software house. It expects potential programmers to turn up on time, and smartly dressed. Anyone who has met a real programmer knows that they make the Young Ones seem smart and sophisticated. Jeff Minter didn't get where he is today by wearing a blue suit! Still, try turning up at the Front Runner office looking like anything other than a showroom dummy and you can say goodbye to the job.

The game has two stages. The first involves a dash down the street to the bank. As you make your way there are open manholes for you to fall into, and unemptied dustbins to get you dirty. (The local council must have been cutting services again.) If the municipal madness doesn't get you, falling flower pots and roaming dogs will. Moving the joystick should help you avoid the worst; however, certain situations cannot be sidestepped. In light of the conservative nature of the game, I'm surprised to see the banana skins lying in wait for you.

Once you reach the bank, you move onto another section of the game. Here you must make your way around the same town, only this time it is shown in an aerial view. You still use the joystick and there are still hazards to negotiate.

You can go to the cleaners to clean your suit, to the shoemakers to repair shoes, and to the tailors to mend the holes in your clothes. Personally, Front Runner can stuff the job, I hate wearing suits. As for the game, it's graphically brilliant, but becomes boring rather quickly.