| ★ AMSTRAD CPC ★ GAMESLIST ★ THE TRAP DOOR (c) PIRANHA ★ |
Amstrad Action |
Based around the new children's show of the same name this game shouldn't be written off as just for kids: it's got a lot more to offer. Besides the cute graphics, humour and good animation, there are some interesting tasks to complete. You won't master them easily. The game concerns the attempts of a hapless Berk to please the Bad-Tempered Thing - upstairs, never seen - that orders him to do various tasks. Berk inhabits the lower floors of a dingy castle and has to deliver objects to the BTT using a dumbwaiter lift. Berk himself is a large, blue, cute-looking cookie monster shambling around the screen at precisely the speed befitting a fat lump like him. There are two types of Berks: Learners and Supers. The Learners have to complete four tasks; the Superberk has to do five and also cope with some additional hazards. The trapdoor is in the floor of Berk's starting room. When he flicks the lever to open it, out comes a creature. One of them is essential to the completion of a task but the others just have to be got rid of again. They each perform an action that you'll need and although it may not be immediately apparent what it is, you'll appreciate their animation and humour.
Berk is wonderfully animated as he waddles around the castle - one long wraparound corridor with a single cellar room below. The corridor has several staircases that Berk can climb to reach balconies and walkways. The playing area isn't very large; even so, there's quite a lot of hard work to do to crack the game. The castle itself is quite dull but the creatures within it are most entertaining.
Berk can pick up many objects, most of them containers, and tip the contents from one to another. Some objects are too large to carry and have to be pushed around to get them into position. You'll have to be quite imaginative in your use of them. Just to illustrate why, here's an example of one of the tasks. The BTT has asked for fried eggs so logically enough, Berk needs to get a bird out from the trapdoor. Once out, it flaps around doing nothing in particular, so how does Berk get some eggs from it? Well, not to put too fine a point on it, he needs to give it a bit of a surprise from beneath - catapult something into it. I won't tell you any more except that when Berk succeeds, the look on the bird's face is hilarious. Each task has to be completed within a time limit or poor Berk will catch hell from you-know-who. Throughout the game a little yellow spider hops (?) around making a nuisance of himself. A skull can come in handy for giving advice on what to do. Another problem is getting rid of an unwanted creature or a ghost that came through the trapdoor when you didn't want it. Children will certainly appreciate the graphics, humour and tasks, which correspond closely with the TV show. The tasks will be a bit beyond younger children - but most parents will enjoy playing the game with them. Trapdoor should appeal to all ages, although hardened gamesplayers will probably manage to crack it quite quickly - still great fun while you're trying. BW, AA FIRST-DAY TARGET SCORE : 2,000 GREEN SCREEN VIEW : Everything except Berk is clearly visible. This is a crying shame as you will miss out on some marvellous animation - Berk's facial movements are priceless! RpM |
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Page créée en 153 millisecondes et consultée 2838 fois L'Amstrad CPC est une machine 8 bits à base d'un Z80 à 4MHz. Le premier de la gamme fut le CPC 464 en 1984, équipé d'un lecteur de cassettes intégré il se plaçait en concurrent du Commodore C64 beaucoup plus compliqué à utiliser et plus cher. Ce fut un réel succès et sorti cette même années le CPC 664 équipé d'un lecteur de disquettes trois pouces intégré. Sa vie fut de courte durée puisqu'en 1985 il fut remplacé par le CPC 6128 qui était plus compact, plus soigné et surtout qui avait 128Ko de RAM au lieu de 64Ko. |
