Commodore Format


Tarzan Goes Ape

Publisher: Codemasters
Machine: Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Commodore Format #14

Tarzan Goes Ape (Codemasters)

Tarzan's always been a bit of a thicky [I blame the parents - Ed]. Now he's gone and angered a witch doctor who, in revenge, has turned the ape man into a real ape. The idea in this platform game is to collect certain ingredients which enable Tarzan to re-assume his human form.

These ingredients are a ring, a mask, some herbs, a diamond, a cauldron and a collection of bones. All six have to be picked up on each of the three levels (is that all?) to complete the task.

There may only be a trio of levels but they're hard - very hard. For one thing, you have to avoid or kill loads of enemies. Hurling rocks at them helps. The other obstacle in the way of your success is poor collision detection. For a platform game, it's remarkably easy to fall off the edge of platforms you've just jumped onto.

Tarzan Goes Ape

The beasties in the game are by no means few and far between. In fact, they're practically shoulder to shoulder. A lot of them, like the snakes and Amazon Warriors just shuffle around the platforms, preventing you from progressing until you've stoned them to death. Others are a tad more threatening.

The birds are vile and, although they don't fire back at you, their erratic patterns of movement make negotiating small floating platforms horrendously difficult.

Another thing to watch out for is the ingredient sequence at the bottom right of the screen. If you collect one of the required objects out of sequence you will die horribly. There are also skulls scattered throughout the levels. Some do nothing, some contact and others reverse your joystick movements for a short time. So what do you have in your favour? Er, nothing, apart from the boulders you throw. As I've already said, it's a tough one.

However, despite the frustrations of the game I found myself having a rare old time and wasn't content to leave it alone until I'd finished it (with a bit of help from a cheat mode). It ain't gonna win any prizes for originality or depth but it is good fun.

Frame Rate

Not the most complex platformer we've ever experienced but, heck, it plays well enough and is extremely addictive.