Previous Next

One of the best named games of the year - OK, there's not much of it gone - with one of the weirdest scenarios to go with it. It's set on an alien planet where, accompanied by your faithful droid, you have to round up Ramboids - a form of alien sheep. The droid does all the work, of course. You just have to guide him around.

The droid starts his task underneath a large cavern in which are hundreds of free Ramboids. He has to work his way up through them to get to an exit which will lead into another cavern. The free Ramboids are arranged in horizontal lines with gaps randomly placed. The lines move in different directions so that the droid has to weave his way through to the top.

The problem is that if he takes too long, the lines stop moving sideways and move down, taking the droid to the bottom of the cavern. He also ends up back at the bottom if he strays over to the edges of the cavern where a moving belt will force him down. Once he's free, the droid has to head for a tunnel where an automatic function will take him to the next stage of the game.

This next stage is the real nitty-gritty of the action and after a couple of levels gets pretty difficult. Here you have to shepherd Ramboids into a teleporter in the right order. There are seven of these woolly wonders circulating in the maze-like caverns and at least four have to be dumped in the teleporter in the right order. Getting them there at all is the hard part.

The sheep follow movement patterns around the tunnels and corridors and have to be bumped, diverted, pushed or plain forced into going in the right direction. There are two basic types of movement pattern but either will prove tricky to deal with.

To aid the droid in his task, he has three types of movement, which he can use to get around the maze. The one for general use if flying, so that he can go in any direction. Digging allows him to disappear into the floor while tunneling allows him to burrow horizontally through the rock walls and join up areas of the maze.

A timer gradually ticks down as you try to capture the Ramboids, giving you a total game time of 20 minutes in which to complete your task. If you manage that, a time bonus is given before proceeding to the next level. Each of the 20 levels can be accessed by a password that is revealed when the previous stage is completed.

Each level is a real test of logic and skill, that may take many attempts to solve while the sheep are, of course, as stroppy and obstinate as possible. Some are complicated by other items that can get in the way, like brick-blocks that can go into the teleporter.

The game requires patience and logic and, while the graphics and sound won't knock you sideways, the addictiveness lies in the puzzling. With twenty caverns, there is plenty of lasting challenge and with speed always of the essence, things can get hectic.

I really liked the fairground organ sound, and found the graphics attractive enough, despite their simplicity. The gameplay I could take or leave. And not just because it's difficult. The trouble is that the task is very similar throughout the game - if you're not really hooked at the very beginning then you're unlikely to become so by sticking at it.

P. 20 different and difficult levels.
P. Some tough puzzling and logic needed.
P. You can work through using passwords and start from scratch to get high scores.

N. Gets frustrating if you can't work out a level.
N. The logical puzzles won't suit all.