Micro Mart


Those Damn Hippies!

Author: Shaun Bebbington
Publisher: Cronosoft
Machine: Spectrum 48K/128K

 
Published in Micro Mart #991

Shaun tests out Farmer Jack's new tractor, heading off to Somerset in the process

Retro Mart: Those Damn Hippies!

It's a hard life being a farmer. And after Farmer Jack's valuable crops of fruit grown for his famous ales were previously at risk from mechanical roaming monsters sent out by the local breweries, he decides to get away from it all and go to his cousin's farm for a nice holiday. So off he sets down the M1 to Somerset in his favourite tractor. There's a lot of commotion along the way, with Jack wondering why everyone is in such a rush to overtake him, but that's city folk for you.

On arrival, Jack's cousin isn't in a good mood. What should be a tranquil few weeks for poor Jack isn't looking like it's going to happen, due to Farmer Jon's farm being overrun with lost festival-going hippy types looking for a small gathering called Glastonbury. The problem is that Jon has just sown his seeds a few weeks previous, and his crop is therefore in jeopardy. Jack offers to collect up Jon's precious seeds, and so begins his latest venture. This game, like its prequel Farmer Jack In Harvest Havoc, is a static-screen affair. It's a Pac-Man-style affair, and seeds must be collected before the roamers start trampling the ground. Factually though, this game is one inspired by an early-'80s arcade outing called Lady Bug, but you get the gist.

Usually set about the middle of the screen are the roaming enemies. They stand in wait until the effects of their illegal recreational substances have worn off, and then go in search of more, or other like-minded individuals. Jack must avoid them and the pesticides on each level, denoted by a skull, which will also take out a roamer, but disappear once touched. There are some strange-looking pills knocking about each level, which have letters or hearts on them. They'll add to your score unless their colour (which changes at set intervals) matches that of the status bars on the right-hand side. When they're red, collect the letters to make the word 'Special' for a sub-game; when yellow, any letters for the word 'Extra' should be picked up, while the hearts will increase your score two-, three- or five-fold (but only if they're blue - you still following this?). As you play, you will get used to the timing for the cycling through each colour.

Farmer Jack And The Hedge Monkeys

Some of the code, and all of the music and sound effects, have been recycled into this game, though movements over the first are more fluid throughout, as every sprite object is time-locked to the refresh rate of the screen. That means that there's no slowing down when things get too busy and speeding up as the level clears. Another small change to the game mechanic is the fact that Jack's tractor doesn't need to be perfectly aligned to turn. Arguably, these are improvements over the first game, with other tweaks including animating the main sprite in four directions and the varying intelligence of the nasties.

Each level has a number of hedges which can be turned 90° to allow Jack's tractor easy passage. This can be handy for blocking off your apparent enemies, but all areas of the screen are usually accessible, with the exception being where the pesticides are layed.

Proceedings are jollied up with Lee du-Caine's superb AY beeps and tones for 128K variants of the Speccy, and everything is slickly executed, colourful and cute.

The best bit about this game is that if you're really impatient, you can legally download it now for your emulator from www.bobs-stuff.co.uk, so you can try before you buy. But at Cronosoft's low prices, you can hardly complain.

Shaun Bebbington

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