Personal Computer Games


Lazy Jones

Author: Jeremy Fisher
Publisher: Terminal
Machine: Commodore 64

 
Published in Personal Computer Games #13

Lazy Jones

Ever fancied yourself as a cleaner in a hotel? No? Well how about a hotel full of video games?! Such is the job held by Jones, who will do everything he can to avoid working.

Jones' hotel consists of three floors, six rooms on each, the screen scrolling to show them all. Apart from a lavatory and a couple of broom cupboards, every room contains its own video game, although they are all fairly simple.

Jones' ambition in life is to play video games and do as little work as possible. He must tour the hotel, via a lift and visit all the rooms. Surviving all the games takes him onto the next, harder level.

Lazy Jones

Jones must be careful to avoid the manager of the hotel, ghosts of previous managers, and cleaning trolleys; contact with which gives Jones a heart attack at the thought of work! Not a nice way to go.

The games themselves include various shoot-'em-ups, a simple Breakout, a couple of manoeuvring games (an accurate joystick is helpful), and a version of the classic 'snake' game, amongst others.

There's also a ladders and platforms number called Eggie Chuck, and a romantic item called 99 Red Balloons in which you have to make your way back and forth to two pretty girls, giving each a kiss!

Lazy Jones

Each game has a time limit, and you can't go back to it again until you've played all the others. This stops you getting bored with any one game, and since the points from each are added to your overall score, you really have to demonstrate your talents as an all-rounder to do well.

Jones is nicely animated, walking complete with footsteps. On entering a room containing a game, he clumps over to a joystick and the game is displayed on a screen about a third of the size of the normal screen. The graphics in the games were adequate with some nice scrolling.

The simplicity of the games may reduce the overall challenge, but Lazy Jones is a hit for its sense of fun and value for money.

Steven Filby

Lazy Jones

Lazy Jones is like most computer games players: too busy playing with computer games to do any work!

This game is great. Why go out and buy a version of Scramble, Space Invaders or Breakout when you get many versions of these games, all on Lazy Jones? And not only that, it has entirely original games as well. I particularly liked '99 Red Balloons'.

I found the music very boring though, as it keeps playing the same short bursts over and over again.

Richard Patey

Lazy Jones

Lazy Jones is one of the most refreshingly fun games I have ever played. For a start, the concept is good; any of the hotel's many rooms can be accessed easily, all it needs is a bit of careful manoeuvring. Also, the mini-arcade games are not too frenetic and often have beautiful small-screen graphics.

The tunes played complement the game and set the perfect pace for movement. The sound effects too are interesting. Lazy Jones himself is quite a well-drawn character and moves quickly when necessary.

All this makes a great improvement over some of Terminal's previous releases, and an overall 'jump' (aargh!) in multi-screen games.

Chris Anderson

There's something incredibly appealing about this one. None of the fifteen mini-games which Jones plays would stand up very well by itself. But here the game is cleverly structured so that you only get one shot at each mini-game - you're not given time to get bored!

I found the graphics appealing, the music catchy. Great game.

Jeremy Fisher

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