Commodore User


Movie Monsters

Author: Chris Cain
Publisher: Epyx
Machine: Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Commodore User #39

Movie Monsters

Ever thought of yourself as a monster? You have? Well, now you have the chance to be one! Smash New York, have Paris for lunch, or even rescue your baby from the Russians. Yes folks, you can do all this in real monster style.

Movie Monsters puts you in control of one of six monsters which are: Godzilla, Mr. Meringue (a bit like the Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters), Sphectra (a 24 foot wasp!), The Glog, Tarantus and Mechatron. Each character has its own strengths and weaknesses, for example Godzilla is very strong but a bit slow, and Sphectra is very fast, but recovers slowly from wounds.

First of all, you must choose your monster, location and action. Once you have done this, you are presented with a cinema screen (Well, it is supposed to be a film!), the curtains rise and the game commences. The plot is shown as a sort of introduction, a bit like Flash Gordon when you are told what happened last week, and then you start your monster mission.

The Movie Monster Game

Depending on what you have chosen, the scene sets itself and you begin wandering around. If you chose to go berserk, then you can start instantly, using your monster powers. All monsters have a paralyzing scream and the ability to atomize aircraft as well as their own special weapon.

If you chose Godzilla, you can have immense fun burning down buildings with your atomic breath (who's been eating too much garlic?) or if you're The Glog, just a touch is pure destruction!

Let's see now, what can you choose to do? Well, the actions go like this:

The Movie Monster Game

Escape: You have been captured and have broken free of your bonds. Now you must escape from the city. This is an easy one.

Berserk: My personal favourite, this one lets you just smash everything and anything. It's great fun to squash tanks with your feet or demolish buildings with a laser.

Lunch: Speaks for itself, all you have to do is eat, eat and eat as much as you can before you get destroyed.

The Movie Monster Game

Destroy Landmark: Being a monster, you can hear high-pitched noises so when they set up a radio transmitter near your bed, it's not funny. So off you go to destroy the blasted thing in order to get a good night's kip.

Search: In this, the last option, some nasty humans have got hold of your baby - and that makes you mad! Rescue your baby from the city and destroy every building in sight so they know who they're dealing with.

In the instructions, you are given a map of the cities and on it are marked famous landmarks. One thing though, in London the landmarks are Tower Bridge (OK), Royal Naval College (Sure), Tower of London (or course), Big Ben (definitely) and lastly Epyx House (What??!).

The Movie Monster Game

The graphics on each character are simple, yet nicely done. Animation is quite good and Godzilla even has a strange "Oh well" resigned look on his face when he's about to snuff it. As for the buildings, well, they are just blocks with no real detail.

Sound is just band, smash, with the odd tanks, ambulance or car noise thrown in. Nothing too exciting.

Now would I buy this game? Well, on the one hand it's a bit slow (the monsters walk one inch per hour) and the graphics and sound are not the sort of thing your average C64 owner wants on his monitor. On the other, it's great fun mashing buildings, burning tanks and eating people.

Chris Cain

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