Amstrad Computer User
1st January 1986On The Run
If you ran a software company and had produced two excellent vector graphic style games. What would you do for an encore? Yes, of course, produce a boring old sprite game, its obvious isn't it. On The Run is not a game about escaping prisoners but about one blobs search for another blob in a maze of blobs inhabited by blobs.
Lying within the maze are six blobs containing dangerous chemicals which it is your job to retrieve. You have a limited amount of energy to with stand the assault on your jetsuit from the wicked blobs that zip around the maze. However, you can blast blobs with your laser and it is possible to recoup energy by picking up blobs but remember some blobs will reduce your energy and when you have none left, guess what... You die. Dotted around the maze are smart blobs. When you have picked up one of these you can erase a screenful of blobs with one blow.
Movement in the game is by joystick or keyboard control. You can move left or right, fire the jet. and move up, drill down and fire the laser, also set off a smart bomb. As you would expect from Design Design the keyboard is definable.
On The Run has a very fast response to joystick/keyboard input. Too fast, when the jetman sprite is on the border between one section and the next the screen continuously changes between the two_ When the joystick is pulled back or down the screen seems to be completely updated producing a very annoying flicker. There are other aspects of the games playability that also leave much to be desired, which is *shame, because it could otherwise have been a very good boring old sprite game.
Verdict
Disappointing for Design Design.