The One


Seymour Goes To Hollywood

Publisher: Codemasters
Machine: Amiga 500

 
Published in The One #47

Seymour Goes To Hollywood (Codemasters)

Obviously not wanting to keep all its eggs in one basket, Codemasters has created a couple of new stars to take up the mantle should the all-conquering Dizzy ever fall from grace. Steg the slimy slug turned up a couple of months ago, and now we have Seymour, a character who seems to bear a striking resemblance to Dizzy. Okay, so he's buck-toothed and slightly less egg-shaped, but basically this is Dizzy with a weight problem. The game itself isn't much of a departure from the usual Codies fare, consisting of the sort of platform action that Dizzy would be quite happily at home in.

As if you couldn't guess, the story has out new-found hero Seymour travelling to Tinseltown to become a big star in Dirk Findelmeyer's latest blockbuster. Only problem is, the film's been sabotaged! To succeed, poor old Seymour's got to find a way to retrieve the scripts from the closely-guarded studio safe. Getting them back should be a familiar task to anyone - walk and somersault around the static screens, collect objects and use them elsewhere to solve the simple puzzles. It's a combination of basic platform dexterity and some rudimentary mindwork. Oh, and some map-making skils for the maze-like studio wouldn't go amiss either.

Virtually indistinguishable from any Dizzy game you care to mention, Seymour Goes To Hollywood succeeds for many of the same reasons. Its simple unpretentious, bright, colourful and fun. It's by no means an epic, but it's the sort of game that's ideally suited to a budget price point and it really does offer good value for money. Methinks that if it's satirical comment and sideswipes at Hollywood you're after, you'd be slightly better served by going to see The Player or something. But if it's a slice of reasonably-priced platform action you're after, this knocks anything that Robert Altman could come up with into a cocked hat. 'Nuff said?