Commodore User


Cheapo Round-Up
By Kixx
Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Commodore User #65

World Games (Kixx)

World Games is the pinnacle of the Games series. Travel all over the globe in search of international recognition as a world class sportsman in various fields. All the events are linked to the country they're set in. Sumo wrestling in Japan for example, or Bull riding in the US. Graphics are large, clear and as always with Games products, perfectly animated. The multiload does put a small dampner on it, but not enough to completely quench it. Good at full price, a gem on budget.

Golf Master (Rack-It)

How does an overhead view golf game tickle your fancy? Not bad enough? How about if we take out all references to wind, any forms of manual dexterity and make it incredibly easy? Eighteen holes. A prize goes to the first person who can sit through more than four of them. Boring.

Pasteman Pat (Silverbird)

Cries of disappointment went up when we realised that this wasn't Postman Pat with a mistyped label, but just the old 'slide the blocks around to make a picture' kiddies puzzle type thing with a twist. You are Pat, the bill sticker, who, after just putting up an advert for the Olli and Lisa game, realises that he's mixed up all the pieces of the poster.

By scrolling the pieces of the wall along, he has to try and put the picture back in some kind of order before the time runs out. He also has to avoid the bricks and paste-brushes thrown at him by passing yobs. Fail, and you fall to the floor, succeed and he performs a rather perculiar dance.

Nice idea, though it wears off fairly quickly.

Antiriad (Silverbird)

Can there be a C64 owner who hasn't seen Palace's old classic? In one of the best arcade adventures of all time, you are cast as Tal, the barbarian warrior, in a desperate bid to destroy a huge nuclear power plant somewhere in an Amazonian jungle. The only way to get to the reactor is by donning the 'sacred armour of Antiriad', otherwise known as an anti-radiation suit. When fully stocked with jetboots and a laser, you become an awesome destruction machine.

Wonderful aliens, well-defined sprites, smooth animation and stacks of playability will have you coming back for more. A real gem. Re-release of the month, no contest.

Gribbly's Special Day Out (Rack-It)

Gribbly is a one-footed, no-armed strange creature from the planet Blabgor. Gribbly is also a re-release and as I remember it, it wasn't too good to start with. Written by Andrew Braybrook, obviously before he want on to better things, your life as Gribbly Grobbly seems to consist primarily of floating around the inside of a cave firing bubbles.

The graphics are fairly smoothly animated, the game makes a big thing out of Gribbly's facial animation, though the humour does tend to rely on his cuteness just a little too much. Gameplay is diverting briefly, but it's all over too soon.

An old game, and one that shows it.

Zamzara (Rack-It)

Trapped inside some strange alien world or other, you are Zamzara. Looking like something out of Aliens and Trantor, you guide the gorgeously animated creature through 256 scrolling levels of fast and very difficult arcade action. Your enemy come in two forms. The first and easiest are the air-based creatures. These simply fly around and cause a loss of energy when you touch them. The second, and most dangerous are the ground-based monoliths and guns. Impassable until destroyed, these take a lot of hits while throwing a lot of flak at you.

Written by Jukka Tapanimaki, the author of Netherworld and with some pretty fabbo tunes by those Maniacs of Noise boys (responsible for the Savage sound effects, amongst other things), Zamzara would be good at full price. At budget, it's great.

Infiltrator (Kixx)

The classic blend of flight simulator, arcade adventure and American humour. You are Jonny 'Jimbo' McGibbets attempting to foil the evil mad doctor's plans to rule the world. Find the base on the map, fly your helicopter to it, fighting and talking to enemy and friendly craft as you zoom through neutral airspace. Get to the base, and the viewpoint changes to an overhead shot of the base. Move your little matchstick man about avoiding guards and generally keeping out of sight. Get into the buildings and cause as much damage as possible. It's multi-load, but it's fun. Gets boring very quickly, but great at the price.

Steve Jarratt

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