Skyhigh 19 Game reviews

Game Reviews



OK, and here is issue 19's Game Reviews chapter.
And what lovely morsel do I have for you this time?

Well, I begin with one of this years most promising
looking games, and I guess by the end we will have
found out if the game lives up to all the original
expectations, or whether it is just a dissapointment.

Yes, I start with:


WALKERZ
WALKERZ

(copyright Electric Boyz Entertainment Software,
a New Entry production)

As you may know, I had promised this game for
review for the last issue of the magazine, but due
to a very untrusting Russ Michaels at EBES, I did
nt get it until a few days after the deadline, which
unfortunately meant you had Sword of Honour
instead.

But, here it is this time.

As you may remember, I gave you a little review of
the preview before, and I said the game was looking
very nice, and it was (notice the word "was").

But, I will start from the start.

Upon opening my large package from EBES, I found
in there was Sword of Honour (I bought the game on
3.5 inch disk, after reviewing the game), but there
was no Walkerz to be found. So, I opened up the
Sword of Honour box. And there was Walkerz, in a
small plastic bag, with the instructions shoved in
the disk envelope. Of course, it was half hidden
under the lavish presentation of Sword of Honour,
but, it was there all the same.

So, upon tearing open the cheap plastic bag, which
was the kind you normally expect to get meat in,
and not computer software, I found the cheaply
printed instructions, obviously just printed out from
a C64 then photocopied. Mark the packaging down.
I dread to think what would have been done if I had
not had Sword of Honour in there, I would have
maybe just got a little piece of cardboard to keep
the pack rigid. If I was lucky.

So, I convinced myself that even with this dreadful
display of packaging, that I would find a good game
hidden in there.

Just in case you do not know, there is a detailed
plot to Walkerz, but it is much like the plot in the
old classic "Quarx", where the plot gives you some
rubbish about saving the world, then admits the
plot is a load of rubbish. But, the basic idea of the
game is that lots of little blokes walk around the
screen, and there are holes in the walkways, and
you must fill the holes with your one platform, so
they can safely walk across, and not fall to a
messy end. Hey you, at the back, yeah you, the one
who said "That sounds a bit like Lemmings", you're
wrong, Lemmings was original at the time...

I happily put the disk in my drive, and pressed F3,
expecting a nice directory. Great, a small sign saying
Walkerz Pal, a main file, and a lot of numbered ones.
And what is this? Oh, that's nice. One of EBES's
public notes about cracking their games, just above
the wholly unprofessional "184 blocks free" sign.
That is very nice (NOT!)

Anyway, I loaded the main file, and was surprised
by a nice Electric Boyz logo coming up, nothing fancy
but just in case I had forgotten who had taken
six pounds of my money, it was handy..... All the
(For the readers, and for you Paul... If you're talking
about that 'round' EB logo in the beginning then I, Biz
Kid did that logo!!! - Surprise eh!!    -ed!)
All the same, it does show that little bit of effort
has been put in there, and is nice to see.

Just wait for a few "Dah dah dah" effects, and up
comes the game, looking very nice, with some very
good looking graphics, but considering this is from
the team that brought us the stunning Arc Doors, I
expected nothing less. The credits roll on nicely,
and I hit fire, expecting a long loading time, but no,
the IRQ loader kicks in, and in seconds the first
level is upon me. That is always a major bonus for
me, as I love fast loading games.

I start playing the first level, bopping along to the
enjoyable soundtrack. And I carry on playing the
first level. And I play it some more. And finally I
finish it. I had to save 50 Walkerz, which takes quite
a while, and pressing up and down for a few minutes
is rather tedious, it must be said.

Anyway, level two loads in, with the IRQ loader
kicking in again. Hmm, I now have 3 spaces to fill.
I play on, and on, and on, and finally die with about
3 Walkerz left to save. So, I wait for the password
for that level to come up. It doesn't. I enter my
name in the high score table, still waiting for my
password to pop up. It still doesn't, and jumps back
to the title screen.

So, I have to play through level 1 again. Oh goody.

I play through level one again, and complete level
two the second time, and go onto level 3, still happy
with the IRQ loader. I die. By now, the challenge is
quite high. But I have to play through level 1 and 2
again, just to get back to where I want to! In an
action game, like Narc, or Midnight Resistance, that
is fine, but in a virtual puzzle game, that just sucks.

So, I carry on, and on my fifth game, I am just sick
of playing through the same levels again and again.
So, I give up.

Then, I decide it is time to look at the game from a
critical point of view, and here we go. If you look at
the levels of the game, you will soon see that
although the graphics are impressive, they are
very cluttered, and can often cause a lot of
confusion when the Walkerz blend in (which, after
playing thrugh level 1 five times, they soon start to
as your eyes go funny...) On new levels you actually
lose a Walker or two before you realise there are
holes in the ground in certain places.

The next major thing I have about the game is that
it is rathe too difficult. You can only have 5 Walkerz
die, before it is game over. That is scandalous,
especially when there is no password system for
you to start again. To put it honestly, you will die
every time you get onto a new level, and after game
over, if you can be bothered playing through all the
same levels again, you will jst advance one level at
a time. Something tells me the boys at New Entry
could have done with finding a few people to test
their game for the difficulty level before they
decided on 5 lives.

But, all this time there is a nice soundtrack in the
background, which doesn't irritate you too much,
although it could in the long term.

My overall impression of Walkerz is that the game
is nice for a game costing only six pounds, but it
couldn't have cut the cheese a few years back, not
even with a superb loading system, and nice music.

I found the game had a diabolical problem with no
password system, and that ruins the game overall.

Anyway, time for my final words on this game:

GRAPHICS 79%
GRAPHICS 79%
(Nicely drawn, and nice animation on the Walkerz, but
they are cluttered and confusing)
MUSIC 85%
MUSIC 85%
(Two impressive tunes, both of which fit the game
very well)
PLAYABILITY 87%
PLAYABILITY 87%
(Very easy to start playing, with no instructions to
be read, or anything like that)
LASTABILITY 61%
LASTABILITY 61%
(A criminal lack of a password system cripples long
term play of this game)

OVERALL : 76%
OVERALL : 76%
(worthwhile for puzzle fans, or action fans, but a
few silly mistakes ruin the game)


STOP PRESS!
STOP PRESS!

Recent rumours state that EBES have raised the
price of Walkerz to 9 pounds 99 pence, but are not
telling anyone until they order the game, and are
then demanding 4 pounds from people! Rumours are
that this isa deliberate con-job by Russ Michaels,
although I don't know yet. Apparantly the Trading
Standards Office has been informed of this, and they
are about to set up an investigation into EBES. More
on that when I hear some more gossip (hehehe, I'm
worse than an old woman....)

OK, unfortunately I have had no other software this
month that deserves reviewing, other than the long
awaited Zinj Complex, which was reviewed in the UK
mag Commodore Format a long time ago, and received
a good review. It really isn't worth reviewing, as the
game is truly dire, just grab the AFL version of it
and see for yourself.

OK, that's it for this month.


Shuze/AFL'70


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