Previous Next

Just when Wonder Boy was going to pop the question to his fiance, Tina, along came the evil King and his gang of minions and abducted her. This cheesed of Wonder Boy somewhat, and he vowed to rescue her and give the malignant monarch a good hiding into the bargain.

The gallant rescue bid takes place over four levels of horizontally scrolling landscape. Each of which must be completed within a set time limit - represented by a shrinking bar which diminishes to zero. If the bar disappears before Wonder Boy reaches the level's end, his quest is considered a failure. However, if the level is completed, the time remaining is converted to points, the clock is reset and Wonder Boy progresses to the next, more difficult level.

Throughout the quest ferocious animals are encountered, including killer snails, vicious bats and murderous frogs. These are all deadly to touch, but there is help at hand. Giant eggs can be smashed open along the way to reveal either an axe, skateboard, mushroom or a protecting fairy. Picking up the axe gives Wonder Boy firepower, the skateboard gives him extra speed, and the fairy protects him from all danger until it flies off seconds later.

Wonder Boy starts in the forest, then continues over the sea and finally through the King's icy palace. At the heart of the palace is the king, who's head has to be knocked off by repeatedly throwing axes. This done, Tina is deemed rescued and happiness can prevail.

The Activision stable is putting out some pretty lame products these days, and Wonder Boy is certainly hobbling along in the wake of this trend. There's nothing really wrong with it, but for a full priced game it is definitely lacking in captivating gameplay or lasting appeal.

An adequate conversion it may be, but at ten pounds I would expect a little more than the very average game on offer here. Thre was a budget game released a few months back by the odd title of The Equalizer... this was easily as playable as Wonder Boy and was only two quid.

I leave you to make up your own minds to which offers the most value...

The main striking point of Activision's latest is the arcade-type graphics 0 the characters are extremely well drawn and very realistically animated.

The backdrops are great too, with plenty of colour and variety. I find Wonder Boy's straightforward gameplay very addictive and enjoying playing it very much.

In fact, the only thing that annoys me is the infuriating soundtrack which plays throughout the game - it's absolutely awful. Overall, a satisfying arcade licene.

I wasn't particularly thrilled when Activision announced that they were converting this to the Commodore; after all, the arcade original isn't exactly brilliant.

If you were stimulated by the prospect though, prepare for some disappointment. Wonder Boy looks very similar to its arcade counterpart, but falls down completely when it comes to gameplay - it's far, far too easy.

It takes about half an hour to go all the way around the landscape, and once the King has been conquered it completely loses its appeal. At ten pounds, Wonder Boy doesn't offer enough challenge or depth to be worth buying.

Presentation 67%
A one or two player option, but nothing else of note.

Graphics 65%
Similar to the original, but still nothing special.

Sound 23%
A dire tune plays throughout, and the spot effects are sparse and poor.

Hookability 68%
Running across the landscape is easy enough to get to grips with...

Lastability 39%
...but it only takes a few goes to complete, and after that all appeal is lost.

Overall 52%
An unchallenging conversion of a very ordinary arcade game.