GRIBBLY'S
DAY OUT
Hewson
Consultants, £7.95 cass, joystick only
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O Colourful, addictive arcade game of great character
O
16 scrolling landscape areas, excellent control
feel |
This
is one of the most original, cute and playable games
to hit the 64 this year. It features a tremendous new
character in Gribbly Grobbly, and lots of ingenious
ideas.
Gribbly's
task is to rescue, one at a time, eight baby 'gribblets'
from the surreal landscape, and place them in the safe
haven of a cave. If he succeeds he tries again on a
new piece of landscape -- there are 16 in all, each
one much larger than the size of the screen picture,
which scrolls smoothly to follow the action.
Gribbly
has one big foot, two bulging eyes and a big mouth.
He can hop relatively safely around the ground, or levitate
and float about. The gribblets are located on flat stretches
of land and Gribbly has to find them and pick them up.
The pieces of flat land are often very small or hard
to get at, and can float unsupported in mid air.
Gribbly
survives on his reserves of psi energy which are depleted
every time he collides with one of numerous hazards
about. The jagged landscape is one of the biggest difficulties
because, while levitating, you can run into any rough
surface, trees, bushes, cans or pools of water.
Another energy-sapping danger is the triangular web
which occupies large areas of the screen. However Gribbly,
by careful manoeuvring over special switches, can turn
on and off sections of the web, and on some levels this
is essential to open up areas of the screen. The web
will also disappear completely when you only have one
more gribblet to collect, allowing you free movement.
This is a mixed blessing in that a dangerous, crab-like
creature called Seon is also released and he quickly
homes in on you.
The
layout is different for each level and finding the cave
isn't always very easy. What's more, the caves on later
levels are tricky to get into. Interesting landscape
features like waterfalls, which you can fly through,
and tall rocks also appear.
The
other inhabitants of the game mutate through several
stages before trying to grab a gribblet and carry it
off. They start as sycamore-like seed pods floating
to the ground, where they turn into topsies. These are
worm-like creatures with a suction cup on each end to
flip over along the ground.
If
they find a gribblet they flip it onto its back, exposing
its brain. After a while they turn into a chrysalis,
which produces a stomper. If one of these encounters
an inverted gribblet, it transforms into a winged creature
and carries away the unfortunate gribblet.
In
the first three stages of their lives, you can destroy
the creatures with bubbles from Gribbly's mouth. In
the fourth stage you can only turn round the stompers,
while bubbling a winged beast will release the gribblet
it is carrying. As they fall they release a heart-breaking
scream, but you can catch them in mid air or allow them
to fall safely onto flat ground -- but a landing on
anything else will result in their death.
Psi-grubs
are also to be found and, if landed on, give you more
psi-energy which can be added to the bank at the end
of a level. If you don't save at least six gribblets
you have to repeat a level, whereas if you rescue eight
you can advance three levels.
Control
is incredibly easy, with a lovely bouncing action and
great inertia and gravity when you're flying. The graphics
are really cute, with Gribbly smiling when you do something
right and scowling when you goof up. The gribblets are
also superb, occasionally flipping about in the air
as they enjoy the sunshine.
The
colours on each level are different and often garish,
but merely add to the cuteness of the game. There is
a title tune plus some nice bounce and bubble sound
effects.
BW
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