Previous Next

Readers with long memories will recall The Arcade's preview of Pipeline much earlier in the year - now the game seems to have changed dramatically for the better. I loved it then, now it's more than fun - it's complex, it's involving, it's a game of the month.

First, the boring background stuff. You should have seen this some months back but at that time the game was set on an oil rig and the hero Red O'Hare had to put out major fires. Fate struck, the day the artwork was printed up there was a disaster at Piper Alpha and so we now have a new storyline as well as improved graphics.

The game is now set on Io, a sulphur-covered volcanic moon of Jupiter - your mission (should you decide to accept it) involves collecting drums of sulphur from the large playing area. Unusually, for an arcade adventure, there is nothing to kill, just rather sweet moving flames and other evils to avoid.

The game has much of the same feel as Ravenskull - though that's no criticism of new coders Ian Holmes and William Reeve - partly due to the overhead perspective, partly due to the blocky graphics and partly due to the puzzles that have to be solved before you can reach some areas of each platform level. The game's main distinctive feature is the inclusion of pipes which carry you speedily from screen to screen - something that's good, sometimes bad, especially as there is no way to turn halfway towards destruction.

I really like this game - it is unusual but at the same time has a very familiar feel, like an old friend already. And the inclusion of an excellent and very powerful menu-driven editor which allows you to design new graphics, new screens and new missions. In fact, Superior are hoping to market the best of users' own designs.

After a couple of disappointing releases from Superior, this marks a return to top quality, top value entertainment. An instant classic, I reckon.

Dave Reeder