This aging American game by Sierra-on-Line has now been licensed to Software Projects and imported to Britain. The cartoon-style action takes place on a landscape which constantly scrolls right to left.

Cute Chick is being held by the hungry dinosaur and you, as Thor the caveman, must set off on your stone-age mono-cycle to try to rescue her. This means successfully negotiating nine separate stages of increasing difficulty (see panel).

Using the joystick you can get Thor to jump, duck, accelerate or slow down - and as usual in this kind of game, timing is of the essence.

Crossing the pod needs careful timing. The two central turtles are submerged, and the evil woman is about to swing that club.

Any mishap along the way naturally causes Thor to come crashing off his stone wheel. But he has a total of four at his disposal and can continue each time disaster strikes from where he left off.

Once the course is completed, the whole thing is repeated, but at a higher minimum speed.

Much of the appeal of the game is in the graphics which were very original when it was first released. Although the backgrounds are fairly unsophisticated, the sprites are large and well defined, nicely capturing the character of their cartoon counterparts.

However, sound is unimaginative and repetitive, and had me retching, sorry, reaching for the volume control.

GP
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Nine stages of hazards

Stage one is simply a matter of leaping over rocks and holes in the ground. In stage two you also have to duck to avoid overhanging branches.

Stage three requires crossing a river. Here the evil Fat Broad pounds the ground with her club, urging you to cross the river on the backs of turtles with the encouraging words, displayed in a speech bubble, 'JUMP SUCKER'. Success is a matter of timing your passage to avoid submerged turtles and Fat Broad's club.

Next Thor must climb a rock-littered hill down which boulders are rolling. At the top more jumping is required to clear yet more boulders to try to keep pace with a Dooky Bird flying overhead. If timed correctly the Dooky Bird will carry Thor over an otherwise impassable lava pit - but only into more problems.

He must build up enough speed to jump a lake at the bottom of the hill, leaping holes and rocks on the way down. Once over the water he must slow down to avoid the falling shower of rock from a volcanic eruption.

The turtles make another appearance and this time it's a dinosaur that thwarts Thor's attempts to cross the stream. At last he reaches the final screen, jumping and ducking stalagmites and stalactites to eventually receive a kiss from his loved one.
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The original cartoons were very funny, and Thor's wheeling animated form captures some of that humour. After that the game becomes disappointing. The repetitive nature of the sections makes it boring after a few plays as you bounce over the same old obstacles.

Htmlized by Dimitris Kiminas (28 February 2001)

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