ST Format


Kids Pack

Categories: Review: Software
Author: Jon Pillar
Publisher: Alternative
Machine: Atari ST

 
Published in ST Format #44

Kids Pack

Honestly! Have these people never heard of apostrophes? This compilation from Alternative must surely stretch the definition of kids' programs to the limit by including Count Duckula and The Munsters. Come to think of it, isn't Postman Pat aimed at the 30-something generation seeking to recapture the idyllic simplicity of a country life that never was - all on the pretext of watching the show with their children? Maybe not.

Count Duckula

"There's no-one zanier in Transylvania!" Well, that's what the instructions say. Subtitled "No sax please, we're Transylvanian", Duckula is a merry platform-cum-maze game set inside a pyramid, with lots of Egyptian villains to avoid. The initial attraction of the game evaporates after a while because, although it's commendably speedy, you can't really do that much beyond run a lot and open the occasional door. Randomly set rooms don't help either - you can straddle two flip screens and watch your poor old ST smoke as it tries to keep up. Definitely good for a few plays, though.

Postman Pat

Featuring the return of the crap Snap game, as well as the slightly less crap Ludo and Snakes And Ladders games - er, hurrah, Postman Pat is the everyday tale of a carrier of paper. Pat has to drive his little red van all around town, pulling up outside people's houses, delivering their post and then probably banging the gate upsettingly and driving away with expressive exhaust noises.

Kids Pack

Map-making is the order of the day - the town is fairly big, and you're given no clue as to who lives where. Here comes the rotten part, though - there's a bunch of insane cyclists drifting around the place and if you crash into any of them (by accident, of course) they survive, but you run into a ditch. Bah, and doubly so, because you quickly realise that fine manoeuvres with your van are infinitely improbably. Apart from that - and it's a big apart from that - you should really enjoy Postman Pat, though not at all in a naughty kind of way.

The Munsters

Which came first, The Munsters or The Addams Family? This question has plagued theologians for years, but then, they have nothing much better to do. In the game of the show of the quite possibly other show which appeared first, Marilyn (the dull, normal one) has been kidnapped, and the other Munsters have to rescue here. The instructions actually tell you how to complete Level One, and it's pretty obvious why - the game is damn near impossible to play.

You have one life represented by a bottle of blood, and one hit from a nasty digests about half the liquid contents of the flask. Ridiculous. The game itself is just a race through the house and its environs, shooting baddies as you go. Or, in other words, it's just plain bo-o-oring.

Verdict

Kids Pack

Il Buono, il bruto, il cattivo as Sergio Leone once stated, but then he was Italian and clever like that. Being a cheapy doesn't necessarily mean being a good buy, but in this case, Kids Pack is worth looking at.

Highs

Good variety of game styles. Both Postman Pat and Count Duckula are good for an hour or two.

Lows

The Munsters is horrible, and the others may be a little tricky for the age group they're aimed at.

Jon Pillar

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