Previous Next

Having not yet seen the film I must be in a unique position to review this game. Untouched by the hype of Big Screen Entertainment I can say, with my hand on my heart, that Howard The Duck is already the number one contender for the 1987 pretty boring game with a good title because Activision paid a lot of money for it award.

Howard - that's the one with the beak and webbed feet - has to save Beverly and Phil from a well wicked bloke called The Dark Overlord. Well, you'd hardly expect him to be called the fairy princess now, would you?

This Dark Overlord guy lives, of all places, inside a volcano.

There are four stages to the game. First, Howard parachutes onto the island and you must get him to the bridge. This is quite a simple task, despite the fact that you are attacked by hordes of 'mutants'. What the mutants need is a good kicking, which sends them into a spin. You can then finish them off with another good kicking.

The only thing of importance at this stage is that you have to deal with the mutants pretty rapidly because once you are overrun it's impossible to get rid of them. You have to get them all spinning at the same time, it's a bit like that bloke you get on magic shows with a load of plates on the end of poles. The mutants come out of holes in the ground, so the thing to do is stamp on the holes and bury them alive.

Next you have to run across the bridge while a mutant throws a couple of boulders at you. The only problem here is that the stupid thing has a bug. I got across several times, only to be killed on the other side for no good reason whatsoever.

If you're lucky enough to avoid the sprite bug, you can fly to the volcano in the Ultralight - a sort of powered handglider. This really is too tedious for words. The Ultralight hovers around the screen above the aerial view of the landscape below. You must try to get it to the top right of the screen where the volcano is, but the landscape doesn't really want to scroll that way.

I managed to reach the volcano just as my time ran out - you get thirty minutes to rescue Beryl and Fred.

The remaining two stages involve negotiating the inside of the volcano and finishing off Mr. Nasty. If the early stages of the game are anything to go by, this is well worth waiting for. I must admit I certainly seem to have it in for poor old Howard. But the way I see it, Activision are asking for it. I thought this would be good for two reasons. One, Activision's stuff usually is; Two, it's got a big title.

The one redeeming feature of Howard is that it's a game anyone can play. On the novice and intermediate levels it's a doddle, though you can't get to the end. Whereas Advanced and Expert levels are a lot trickier, though not beyond mastering in a short time.

This game could, and should have a lot better. Pass the orange sauce.