Commodore User
1st August 1985
Publisher: Quicksilva
Machine: Commodore 64
Published in Commodore User #23
Rupert And The Toymaker's Party
I can't say I'm a particular fan of level and platform games. In fact, I hate them, they send me into furious rages and provoke me into lobbing the computer out the window. This is just one of those kinds of games. But wait, because it's great. I don't want to drop it into a vat of acid or slash my wrists while playing it.
It features, as the title suggests, Rupert the Bear, 65-year-old cartoon star, the character that spawned a fashion for check trousers, yellow scarves and red jumpers.
Poor old Rupert has got left behind on the way to the party and his chums have pinned a trail of invitations to the walls of the toymaker's castle. As Rupert you must hop, jump and wander through the four screens of each level collecting the invitations. The screen is split into three levels that Rupert must work his way through before a door flies open and takes him onto the next level. You begin each level with a little verse couplet which gives you a hint on how to complete that phase.
As with any platform game, there are nasties, except there's nothing nasty in this game. You have to watch out for the tin soldiers that patrol around the castle in pairs or out-of-control Hornby trains. If Rupert bumps into them, he flips over and loses a life - expressed here as taking a tumble, losing lives is far too brutal for this game. Hitch a ride, though, on a passing bird or plane to get out of trouble.
It doesn't sound all that special so far, does it? You've got to see the graphics. What we have is a fully animated Rupert walking around the screen. Just like the real thing, and twice as cute. Every time he hops over a toy soldier or bounces up some steps his scarf flaps around his neck. Colours are bright without being garish and details are well-defined without cluttering the screen. I enjoyed controlling Ruperb as much as I enjoyed driving the prehistoric unicyclist off the edge of the mountain in Grog's Revenge. Buy this game, you must meet Algie and Bertie, they're the wettest friends a guy could have! So but this game, you'll go far, for Rupert is this month's Screen Star.