Zzap


Jonny Quest
By Hi-Tec
Commodore 64

 
Published in Zzap #81

Jonny Quest

I must confess arcade adventures aren't my favourite type of games, especially ones with titles that sound like a trip to the chemist for a packet of three! In Jonny Quest, the evil Dr Zin (aargh!) has kidnapped your father, Dr Benton Quest, and is forcing him to build a laser which he'll use, of course, to take over the world. And how do you set about freeing him? Well, you start by exploring a rabbit warren to retrieve a key... (?)

Jonny Quest promises much, but patchy execution makes it only slightly better than average. The graphics are well drawn and animate adequately, but the sound effects leave a lot to be desired. The game is very friendly in its layout, with an option to run rather than wal nothing worse than a slow arcade adventure), and the system for holding and using objects is fine, but the problems just aren't interesting enough - find a key to open the door, use the torch to light your way, etc, etc.

Although your sprite is human, he's capable of performing standing leaps that would tax a very athletic frog. This is all very well, but when you land, your energy bar goes down. *Why?* Who can jump high enough to injure himself on landing?

An on-screen scoring system in percentage form gives you the incentive to continue, as you know exactly how far you've come, how much further you need to go, and whether or not your performance has improved. Even so, with only one life, and no game save or password system, you will quickly get bored with the first few screens.

Jonny Quest will appeal to arcade adventure fanatics, but I'm afraid it didn't impress me. It's not bad value at budget price, but think before you buy.