Commodore User


Super Pipeline II

Publisher: Taskset
Machine: Commodore 64

 
Published in Commodore User #21

Super Pipeline II

The type of game that gets dug out of the cupboard time and again, even after the novelty has worn off, is the one which is playable right from the odd even by us MENSA rejects. The scenario has to be absolutely transparent without the aid of eight pages of ifs, buts, hows and wherfores.

Last summer Super Pipeline opened up many a wallet, shot Taskset to prominence and caused umpteen joysticks to waggle as we tried to fill the barrels. As the foreman we had to intercept saboteurs, escort a plumber to blockages in the pipeline and protect him by frazzling Venutian spiders and lobsters, thereby keeping the water gushing. Screens rolled by to the accompaniment of a fair old soundtrack.

This all proved so popular that Taskset have gone for a second bite of the cherry. The theme is the same but there's more to see and deal with. The gameplay has been polished... there's leaks instead of blockages and the barrels move along a conveyor belt; there's also umpteen fresh baddies, cartoon interludes and your SID chip receives a pounding again. Tactics now come into play but the game still retains its simple appeal.

An improvement on a justtifiably popular fun-game but you need to be keen to pay out £10 to replace your copy of mark I.

The departure of top-notch designers Tony Gibson and Mark Harrison was a blow to Taskset. But Super Pipeline II is proof that there is plenty of programming talent left in Bridlington.