Previous Next

Typical. Just when you're at the end of your last Krypton 3 sales run, the blimmin' astrocar breaks down and you have to call the repairman from the seediest Space Rangers' bar this side of the Dog And Algolian Duck. Between you and the phone, there's an ugly crowd of characters clustered around a Shufflepuck table and they want a game...

Pick your opponent and take a seat. Each contestant varies in their Shufflepuck prowess, from complete klutz to Mr. Turbo-Reactions, so it's a good idea to start with someone like the programmable training robot or Skip Feeney (a prize zeeb).

You're bound to be instantly familiar with Shufflepuck, it being a futuristic version of ye olde arcade table game, Air Hockey. As you face your opponent across the table, grasp your mouse and take control of a paddle. Using his paddle, each player has to score points by hitting a puck over his opponent's end of the table, while defending his own end. The first player to fifteen points is declared the winner, and if that happens to be you, you get to take on the next most advanced contestant.

To space the game up a bit, you can change the size of your paddle from weeny to table-width. But remember, the bigger your paddle, the less spin you can put on the puck, making it more difficult to spang off a real trouser-scorching shot.

As well as being able to alter paddle size, you can also put a blocker on the table. As its name suggests, this is just a block which sits on the table until the puck hits it. Then it starts to drift back and forth across the middle of the table, deflecting the puck right back at whoever hits it, resulting in some embarrassing own-goals.

Now you may think (as I did) that such enhancements are comparatively insignificant, when, surely, all the gameplay boils down to is a kind of 3D Pong. Well, this is true to a certain extent, but remember - this Broderbund game.

Beating the first three opponents is a piece of cake, but after that the computer players' reaction speed goes through the roof. It's a real challenge just keeping up with the puck, never mind trying to spin it or catch your opponent out of position. As well as having different playing styles, each contestant keeps you amused with his characteristic gestures and sound effects which also help keep boredom at bay. I particularly liked Vinnie the Dweeb's victory chant of "Nyah Nyah Na Nyah Na!"

Shufflepuck's other really smart feature is its mouse control method, which simulates (about as accurately as an Amiga mouse is able) the action of a real Air Hockey paddle.

A class piece of gamery, with smart graphics and a superb opening soundtrack. Could be the game your mouse was made for.