Previous Next

Rock Carrington one of those guys you just can't stand at parties. Young,handsome, and in line to inherit a fortune from his eccentric and recently deceased uncle, Professor Maxbillion III.

Fancy free, and never having done a day's honest work in his life, Rock has been enjoying the life of the idle rich on the strength of his impending inheritance. But at last, the creditors are closing in and Rock has actually got to go into the prof's home and get his hands on the readies.

This is where the trouble starts. The old professor was incredibly mean - and rather devious. To see whether Rock is worthy of the lolly, Maxbillion laid a series of traps for his unsuspecting nephew.

The maze that comprises the mansion and its grounds consists of a series of rooms, viewed from the side. Rock ambles about this, picking up objects. Pressing fire brings up a screen containing eight icons: Quit; Abort; Pick up; Drop; Use; Pause and Return to the game. Accessing the object handling icons brings up a further screen showing the objects carried.

After the initial trap, where our hero stands a chance of being gassed, it is a question of collecting and using pieces of equipment to gain entrance to parts of the maze that are initially inaccessible. Rampant robots and man-eating plants have to be evaded. Energy and time are in short supply, although some objects replenish energy.

The final aim is to find a video tape which shows where the money is hidden. The clue to its location lies in a painting hanging in the house, and sections of the painting are obtained for solving certain key puzzles.

Control keys: definable; up, down, left, right, access menu
Joystick: Kempston, Cursor, Interface 2
Use of colour: pleasing, with few attribute problems
Graphics: pretty, with lots of detail
Sound: reasonable title tune, but sparse spot effects
Skill levels: one
Screens: 72

'FIREBIRD have come up with a cracker in the form of Mega Bucks. I must say that I found it a little tricky to begin with, but after a fair amount of raving, and lots of trial-and-error this game became rewarding and fun to play. In gameplay and plot this could be a great rival to one of David Jones' masterpieces (Knight Tyme and the like). The graphics are similar to those used in the Wally trilogy - there are a few colour problems but everything else has been well drawn. The sound is surprisingly good, with a reasonable tune on the title screen and well above average effects during the game.'

'Another excuse for another Silver Range arcade adventure game. I wonder why FIREBIRD can't bring out some good original games. Mega Bucks contains all the budget favourites, lots of colour, smart graphics and lots of options. Sound is limited to a few spot beeps. A tune running through the game would have suited it well - but alas there isn't one. Sadly I found Mega Bucks boring to play, as there is very little to keep the player addicted to it for long. It may look nice, but the game holds little appeal.'

'Mega Bucks looks very suspiciously like a game from the Magic Knight trilogy. I'm not particularly keen on it, as the game isn't as playable as it should be - even for two quid - and it loses out far too much on addictivity. The tune on the title screen is annoying, and the game sounds aren't anything above spot effects. The graphics are below standard, and too much colour has been used. The icons are unattractive, though recognisable. I think that FIREBIRD have skimped a bit on this one. Definitely not their best; they should have spent more time on it.'