Previous Next

The 'plot' goes something like: "Fred Flintstone is late for work yet again, so Mr. Slate decides to give him special duty, cleaning up his brand new 'Bronto King' burger bar,' but what this lame puzzler actually has to do with Fred, Barney, Dino and the gang could be written on the back of a gnat's wing. And a tiny gnat at that.

Burgertime In Bedrock is the weakest excuse for a cartoon licence in a long time. You play Fred or Barney as you make your way around a one-screen level resembling the Donkey Kong games you used to get on digital watches.

Each level is crawling with vaguely prehistoric nasty creatures, and it is your job to amble painfully slowly around, avoiding these like the plague and walking over baps, burgers and cheese slices to make them fall to the bottom and create an entire burger. Each of these pieces can temporarily knock out the monsters, hampering their never-ending pursuit. You must finish the burgers as quickly as possible, scaling ladders in the correct order and knocking the pieces so that you never make contact with a monster.

To be honest it's just way too difficult, and not interesting enough a challenge to make you want to persevere after you get killed so very easily every time. The graphics are quite good, but it's perfectly clear that this dated, stupidly hard puzzle game was created first and the Flintstones characters were simply put in as a cheap attempt to make it sell. Fred should have known better than to put his name to this!

It's good to see the old classics coming back again - I don't really remember the original arcade version of Burgertime, but I do remember a game called Mr. Wimpy from the Spectrum that used the same idea. It was great fun! But that was in the days when a coloured block on the screen was a revelation!

This Flintstone incarnation has the best of intentions, but sadly has been made really tough by dodgy controls and awkward layouts. It looks nice though!

If you're old enough to remember the Eighties, you might have seen this game somewhere before - this is an update of an old classic called Burgertime that thrilled arcades back in the days of big frilly shirts and Mrs Thatch.

Graphics 80%
Nicely rendered sprites.

Sound 40%
Answer that mobile, someone!

Playability 20%
Are you a glutton for punishment?

Lastability 60%
Two-player option is a laugh.

Overall 53%
Cheap concept, low on charm.