| ★ AMSTRAD CPC ★ GAMESLIST ★ DIGGER BARNES (c) CABLE SOFTWARE ★ |
Popular Computing Weekly |
Easy prey Even though this is only a rehash of the ageing Panic arcade game -run up and down ladders, bang holes in platforms so that the pursuing monsters fall in, etc, at first sight this looks like quite an attractive buy. The game is not exorbitantly priced, has a witty title -playing on the Dallas character of the same name - and well-designed cassette inlay and graphics. The monsters, especially, are particularly nasty looking and very fast. The background is less impressive, though, with simple straight lines for platforms, ladders and little else. It looks absurdly simple when compared to the likes of Virgin Game's Sorcery. Unfortunately the game is let down completely by the keyboard control. The actual choice of keys is quite good but they just will not respond, particularly the up/down controls. Not only is it irritating sitting at the bottom of the ladder tapping away at the letter 'A' waiting for Digger to pull his finger out, but it makes you easy prey for the nasties, and makes the game unplayable. It's a complete reverse of the normal situation - for once there are a lot of very nice touches, but the basic algorithm that drives the game is flawed. If it could be rewritten to increase the frequency and efficiency of keyboard scanning, even at the cost of the speed of movement of the monsters, it would be a much much better game. Tony Kendle , Popular Computing Weekly
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