The Games - Review of Boing

Right! Hands up who thinks that Dizzy was (and still is) one of the most inspiring and brilliant character around? He had style, grace and personality. And yet, he was a bouncing egg with boxing gloves. But we love him, don't we, readers? Apart from the people who dispise him appearing for the seventh time on the small screen. Now let's take the SAM version of a new hero... A green blob.

Well, he bounces around a bit, but that's about it. So, we have got ourselves a basic character of unDizzy status, but we shouldn't write off the game due to this. But we are bound to have many people who will compare this to Dizzy on the Coupe, and for the moment it is the nearest thing to it. But at the same time, it's not like that! The plot is usually a good laugh on the SAM, so take it away...

Collect three pieces of a time machine and 20 potions, then find the exit and escape from the crazy planet infested with nasties of varying weirdness.

We've seen it all before, eh? But this game is of an incredibly fun calibre in terms of playability. You control this blob (no name!) through a flip screen enviroment of well animated nasties bouncing on a set course. You have to pick up objects and use them on certain screens to achieve certain results. Aha! Just like Dizzy! The only real difference is the energy bar which is used instead of an "instant death" situation from the Dizzy games. This bar can also be refilled to it's peak by hearts.

The programmers seem to be asking for trouble with this easy situation. But, however many times you'll play this, that energy bar will still decrease whether it is your fault or not. Jumps sometimes need to be pixel perfect, and some points in the game are incredibly frustrating to achieve. The graphics are more than adequate, but not totally mindblowing though credit is given to the incredible fluid movement of the main sprite, even though it takes a bit of getting used to on your first few goes. The music is brilliant (as always from the Masters Of Magic) and the sound FX are good, too (you can control the sound from the menu). Also the baddies are well animated, with several different types. The game itself moves very well indeed in terms of speed, with no slow-down, and the game size is as big as the early Dizzy games. Let's go back to Dizzy for the gripes. I have three main gripes for this game...

1. The game reloads every time you die, which is very frustrating and seems completely unnecessary to fuel the front end demo (which gets boring after a while, even though there is an impressive border scroll which I don't know how they did!).
2. There seems to be a definite Dizzy influence, but there is a very small amount to do in the way of objects. Most of the game involves running from one end of the game to the other.
3. It's too easy. Experienced gamesplayers like myself will finish this very soon - I finished it on my 4th go. As a game for the younger inexperienced player, it is a great purchase for them. The energy bar is fair enough for a younger player, but this is it. I feel that Boing is not the instant classic that the programmers probably hoped for. The challenge seems large, but you end up finding it too easy. A first go score is 1 piece of the Time Machine and 12 potions.

Also, the objects are too easy to find and use on screens. Younger players will find object placing hard, but the titles of the screen actually give the game away. So, Boing is a good but not good enough attempt at a fulfilling game. As a collecting adventure, many experienced players may be disappointed, but it is worth a look anyway.

Overall - 69%

Scrapbook Hosted by: Monochrome "Scrapbook" Graphical Design: Morse Design This page last modified: 19991005-17:42.29(BST)