Personal Computer News
25th August 1983
Categories: Review: Software
Author: Max Phillips
Publisher: Severn
Machine: Oric 48K
Published in Personal Computer News #025
Road Runner
I'm not convinced Jogger is a major contribution to road safety. This Severn Software cassette for the 48K Oric is, of course, Frogger. How many joggers do you know who leap logs and crocodiles and live in frog's nests?
Objectives
Same old story. All you have to do is make a mad dash across a busy road, hop a few crocodiles and logs across a busy river and pop your man home.
Jogger has a time limit for each bloke and you get an extra one should you be persistent enough to make 20,000 points.
In Play
Jogger is neatly presented. Clear instructions, one slow and two fast auto-run copies make it easy to get going.
It has a messy 'hall of fame' and a cumbersome series of yes/no questions between each game. Missing Y for 'Another game?' dumps you in Basic without a cursor and with a mucked up character set. There's no obvious way to restart it.
The graphics are distinctly jerky during play though you get a smooth scroll whenever you get a man home. Your jogger doesn't look much like a jogger and the beasties in the water are also a bit odd.
Movement is by the cursor keys and is suitably responsive. The only real problem is that the traffic has an American look to it. It appears to be glued together, and even the crocodiles seem to be whizzing along at 55mph. I hung around for a bit, waiting for the inevitable pile-up so I could stroll across, but no such luck...
Once I'd sense it was easy to learn the gaps in the traffic. My best way was to stand in the middle and wait for the two green metros. Run like mad to the middle of the westbound lane. Let the lorry go by. Take three steps and wait for the croc. Works every time!
Still there are subtleties. You get fifty points for every move you make. So, if you've got time left, you can hop back and forth from log to croc just to knock the score up. And getting into the first 'box' isn't easy.
Verdict
Jogger isn't a bad version of a rather unoriginal game. But it has no new twists or fun. And it won't take long to master. Still once you're bored with it, there's plenty of scope for more of the same... Dogger, Sogger, Togger, Mogger... the possibilities are endless.