Commodore User


Kick Start

Categories: Review: Software
Publisher: Mastertronic
Machine: Commodore 16/Plus 4

 
Published in Commodore User #33

Kick Start

The aim of the game, as Mastertronic like to say, is to ride your dirt bike through sixteen screens filled with some pretty tough obstacles.

The first thing that strikes you about the game is the great intro music. The sound on C16 games improves with every new release, and this is no exception.

Hit the fire button and your trusty two stroke revs into action. You travel across the screen towards the right as the ground scrolls underneath.

Kikstart: Off Road Simulator

In no time at all, you're confronted with some pretty heavy-looking obstacles. Actually, to begin with they're not too bad, they just get you into the swing of things. Holes appear in the ground, logs are carelessly left lying in your path, rows of double decket buses appear from nowhere. With most of these, it's simply a question of getting the speed right and hitting the fire button at the right moment to jump over them. You are given a little help with the buses in the form of a springboard which launches you skyward at just the right moment. Landing is, of course, an altogether different problem.

Each section must be completed within a given time limit, indicated by a clock at the top of the screen. When a section is completed, your bike slows to a halt and you get a bonus for time remaining on the clock and any bikes that you have left. A replacement bike is also awarded up to a maximum of five.

There are sixteen sections altogether, as each one is completed a little flag appears on the screen. The obstacles and hazards become a lot more interesting as you progress. Section two has balloons which can be collected for bonus points, but probably the most impressive was section six, where lightning bolts are hurled earthward from thunderclouds.

If I had to make a criticism, it would be that there is not really enough variety in the different sections. The same things seem to crop up repeatedly in a slightly different arrangement each time. Hence you have rows of three buses, rows of four buses, individual logs, logs in a pile, scattered logs, etc. While this tends to make the game look a bit monotonous, it remains, nonetheless, quite a challenge and fun to play.

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