Previous Next

Tiki and his friends are in trouble. Right Down Under in the land of geysers and Maoris, the lovable kiwi has barely escaped capture by the evil Big Bad Blue, a large and totally vicious seal from the North. After falling out of the net containing his fellow kiwis, Tiki unruffles his feathers and sets off to rescue his friends.

Exploring a distinctly surreal world of platforms, ledges and pits, Tiki is hard-pushed to rescue even one captive. Bluey has left behind minions which must rank as some of the oddest around: cats, killer stars (?), firework-throwing crabs, wooden soldiers, bears wearing sunglasses and many other, less easily identifiable creatures.

Not even the most ferocious of kiwi beak-snarling will frighten them off but the bow and infinite arrows sure come in handy. Weapon-toting flashes leave behind weapon icons when they die - a fireball-casting wand, laser gun, a *big* laser gun, bombs and a handy water squirt provide firepower for this Rambo kiwi.

Tiki may not have the gift of flight but, wearing his smart trainers, our feathered friend can leap onto platforms and cross enormous gaps - well, they're enormous for a kiwi. Tiki's mate is caged somewhere - often high up-within the maze structure of platforms making up the zoo. One way to reach greater heights is to leap up ledge by ledge, but water often bars the way so the Aqualung allows Tiki to do a spot of scuba diving. The other method of gaining height is to hitch a lift in a balloon. Watch out though, it's a long way down and the spikes at the bottom take no prisoners.

Every fourth level a bonus screen pops up with Tiki taking on ice-dropping whales and suchlike. By progressing to the twentieth level, Tiki gets to meet Big Bad Blue and his balloon.

It's not your normal, run-of-the-mill kiwi, is it? Then again, The New Zealand Story isn't your normal run-of-the-mill game, as far as quality and attention to detail is concerned. Near-cartoon quality sprite definition and animation, with colour slapped liberally throughout, are complemented superbly by some charming backdrops (I thought the brick walls with the kiwi spray-painted on them was a charming touch!). Bubbly sound effects and tunes add to the enjoyment. I've never spotted New Zealand Story in the arcades but, with this conversion, I don't think I ll ever need to. The best platforms and ladders game to appear for a long time.

There's something that I found irresistible about the Taito coin-op with its immensely high level of playability and different style of action altogether compared with the mass of shoot-'em-ups - a breath of fresh air which is repeated on the Amiga. The conversion is simply arcade-perfect - the sickeningly cute Tiki is the spitting image of his coin-op brother with gorgeous back-drops to match his character.

Sound effects are well implemented, especially Tiki's 'cheeps' when he fires arrows. If anything, 20 odd levels may not seem enough but things are far from easy; by level 3 you'll be sweating buckets and beyond that it's nightmare time. A superb conversion.

The C64 version should be out before the end of the month, priced at £9.99 cassette, £14.99 disk.

Presentation 80%
Brief but effective instructions with typically stylish Ocean packaging.

Graphics 93%
The conversion's got even better graphics than the coin-op!

Sound 80%
Cute and cuddly music accompanied by realistic effects.

Hookability 90%
An instantly tempting to play as the coin-op, with an immediate appeal all of its own.

Lastability 88%
Not a wonderfully massive number of screens, but even tough kiwis will find the going gets very tough very quickly.

Overall 90%
An arcade-perfect conversion of a refreshingly different coin-op.