Sinclair User


Quattro Megastars

Author: Steve Keen
Publisher: Codemasters
Machine: Spectrum 48K/128K/+2/+3

 
Published in Sinclair User #126

Quattro Megastars

What's fat and smelly with brown hair, big ears, breathes fire and has absolutely no desire to live (apart from Garthy)? It's the latest compilation from those fab guys and gals at Code Masters.

In this their latest offering, you can take the role of an elephant en route to Africa in CJ's Elephant Antics, a suicidal stuntman trying desperately to impress his director in Sky High, a smelly old Yeti who must rescue his girlie, or finally, one of those things that nobody thinks exist, but we know different (just ask Saint George)... Little Puff, a lost and somewhat lonely dragon.

CJ the elephant was on his way to a zoo in England (I hope it's not London 'cos they're closing it down), but fortunately (well for CJ anyway) he fell out of the aircraft somewhere over France, landing on a bed of garlic which cushioned his fall. Now it's down to you to guide him safely back to Africa to his lonely family. This one's a good laugh, it's cute, addictive as hell and difficult.

People have begun to doubt the talents of Skyhigh the stuntman, so in order to re-establish himself and land a big movie part he must fly through six levels of bullets lasers and all sorts of nasty killer implements in a helicopter, balloon and plane. This is a real action packed title, with plenty to see, do and dodge. However it won't take you long to see it all, do it all, and dodge it all.

Oh no! Some nutter has kidnapped Bigfoot's girlie. Is he mad? is he insane? Yes, he is in fact Mad Jack MacMad the winner of last years Mr. mad competition, and well known Blackadder character. Now Bigfoot must do the honourable thing and find his better half. In order to do this he must go through all manner of different situations and eventually blow open the lock to her cage using a High voltage wire. It would be fair to say that this is not a bad title but as far as platformers go it's not the greatest thing ever written. Although the graphics are good there are some difficult moments in the game largely caused by suspect sprite collisions.

Puff the not so magic dragon got bored with his surroundings and one day defied his mummy (silly lad) by taking a stroll to see what lay beyond the pleasant and pastoral scenes of Dragon Land. However when he finally got sick of the real world and tried to head home for his tea he realised that he was lost as well as starving. And so began his journey to collect the four passes necessary to get back to Dragon Land and home in time for tea.

Definitely the best game on this package. Not only does Little Puff look and sound very good it is also a very challenging and tough game with plenty of variety and some pretty difficult puzzles to solve if you're going to get past all the toll gates.

Label: Code Masters Memory: 48K/128K Price: £3.99 Tape Reviewer: Steve Keen

Overall Summary

Skyhigh Stuntman isn't a great title but it is entertaining. The rest of the pack is very worthwhile (especially Puff) and you could do a lot worse than buying this even if you already have one or two of the games... the rest will be worth it.

Steve Keen

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