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| Welcome
to Game of the Week! Each week there will be a
new featured game on this page. The game may be good,
average or diabolically bad, it really doesn't matter!
Just look at the pics, read the text and enjoy the nostalgia!
:-) Game of the Week! is open to contributions so if you
would like to contribute
a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
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Popeye
1986 Piranha/Macmillan
Ltd.
Programmed
by ?
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text of the present article comes from the review published
in the fifteenth issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(street date: June 12th, 1986). |
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POPEYE
Macmillan,
£7.95 cass, joystick or keys (redefinable)
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There's only one thing that Popeye loves more than spinach,
and that's Olive Oyl (though Heaven known why -- probably
because the two look and taste very similar). Unfortunately
-- for Popeye -- Olive isn't sure whether she fancies
being driven off into the sunset by a pipe-smoking advert
for machismo, or not. So, being the blue veined male
that he is, Popeye decides to try and win her over by
collecting the 25 flashing hearts scattered around town
and delivering them to her door. Some of the hearts
are stuck on walls and are within easy reach, while
others are behind locked doors that can only be opened
with the corresponding keys.
The
spinach munching, Olive Oyl loving, Bluto biffing
sailorman hero -- Popeye, surveys his task from the
dubious safety of the lighthouse.
However,
it is a well known fact that true love never runs smooth
-- a hulking great brute by the name of Bluto has also
got the hots for the lissom femme fatale and doesn't
take too kindly in the sailorman's galavanting. To make
matters worse there are several other nasty creatures
about town, such as a fire breathing dragon who roasts
Popeye on sight, a large blue bee that patrols the top
of the local lighthouse, and the Hag and her evil bird.
Just
one of the problems, the broomstick whizzing
F one-eleven Witch.
Popeye's
venture in love begins outside Olive Oyl's house and
it is here that the hearts must be deposited. The locations
flip from one to the next and although they are flat,
characters can move in and out of the screen. This means
that it is possible for Popeye to walk behind the scenery,
and to pass Bluto and certain other characters without
getting biffed. Whenever they meet, Bluto knocks Popeye
senseless and it takes a tin of spinach to revive him.
Only one tin is provided at the start of the game, so
others must he picked up along the way. Any objects
in Popeye's possession are shown to the right of the
playing area, but as strong as Popeye is, he can't carry
more than eight objects at once.
To
the far right of the screen there is a love meter, which
slowly ticks down as Olive's love for Popeye diminishes.
If this reaches zero then the game is over.
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.
As
a great fan of Popeye
the cartoon, I was pleasantly surprised to find
that the binary version of the spinach guzzling
sailors' antics isn't that bad. As games-of-the-cartoons
go, Popeye
has to rate quite highly. Graphically the style
is a bit strange and doesn't look even vaguely
64ish, probably due to its Spectrum origins. It's
also quite strange, but clever, as absolutely
no sprites at all are used; but as a result the
game slows down somewhat when virtually the whole
cast are on the screen at the same time. As for
the game itself -- well, it's fairly good fun
and playable. The puzzles are a little too simple
to class Popeye
as a true arcade adventure, but they are fun to
solve nevertheless. A nice game that deserves
the attention of any ardent games player.
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Presentation
80%
Immediately attractive in traditional cartoon
style.
Graphics
93%
Pretty backdrops and big, colourful
characters which are well drawn and animated.
Sound
41%
Poor version of the Popeye theme
tune, but the FX are OK.
Hookability
81%
Simple and enjoyable enough to
get into.
Lastability
75%
Not much variety, but pleasantly
playable all the same.
Value
For Money 76%
Sensibly priced.
Overall
78%
Nicely put together, unusual and
well above average game that's more relaxing than
arduous.
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Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (8 Jan 2006)
Can
anybody rip the SID tune out of this one?
Other
"Games of the Week!"
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