Zzap


Super Seymour
By Codemasters
Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Zzap #81

Super Seymour

Finding the Commodore 64 versions of old arcade classics is getting harder every day. All those wasted hours grubbing through market stalls in the pouring rain, endless visits to dodgy second-hand software emporiums, and when you get the game you were after you find the previous owner recorded the Top Forty over it! Well, if one of the games you're after is the old Elite conversion of Bombjack, worry no more - those awfully nice Codies have very thoughtfully produced a very similar game.

Fresh from his adventures in Seymour Goes To Hollywood, Seymour is given his first starring role in a major film, Super Seymour Saves The Planet (David Icke failed the audition). Donning the obligatory cape and mask, Seymour leaps through the air and runs across the platforms, gathering the toxic waste, watching out for the multitude of baddies, and generally kicking serious ass.

As with Bombjack, each level is played on a single screen which you must complete to advance to the next one. A single toxin icon flashes until collected, causing the next to flash, and so on. Flashing toxins are worth more points than their dormant counterparts, and there's a big bonus if you collect them in order!

Super Seymour Saves The Planet

And this is where Bombjack and Super Seymour part company. Unlike the former, there are several types of baddies, and if you're fed up of having them chase you round the screen, you can get your own back and jump on them! Be careful though - each baddy needs to be killed in a different way. Get it wrong and it's curtains for Seymour! Baddies appear at various intervals, the Mutacount at the bottom of the screen showing when one will next appear.

The first thing you notice upon loading are the fabby graphics - how oon earth did they manage to make the backgrounds so colourful and detailed without them clashing with the sprites? The game runs very quickly, and joystick response is perfect - when you get killed, you can only blame yourself!

Although tricky at first, you soon get the hang of it - when you do, it's impossible to put down.

Super Seymour is a superb game. The Codies have once again taken an old theme, updated it in their own inimitable style, and the result is a game that looks and plays far better than the original. With so many so-called updates of old classics on the full-price scene (most of which are exactly the same game as before with a few bad gimmicks thrown in), it's great to see a game like this on budget. Buy or die.