8BS Games Review
DETAILS ~~~~~~~
Game title: Clogger
Available from: ProAction
40 Honiton Road
Romford
Essex
RM7 9AJ
Price (inc all charges): £5.95
Price to 8BS members (for a limited period): £4.00 inc p&p
Type of game: Repton style strategy/puzzle game
Scenario (taken from instructions): In a strange and mystical land there lives
a peaceful race of beings called the Cloggers - unusual creatures with three
feet and no head. They have powers which allow them to percieve their
surroundings in a way that is incomprehensible to man. They also have a great
love of art, and the ambition of all Cloggers is to reach the status of Master
by proving their appreciation of art in a series of cunningly conceived tasks.
In these they must reassemble various pieces of artwork which are
scattered around dangerous landscapes in the hidden valleys of Clogland. Now
you have a chance to reach this status.
To become a Master Clogger you must complete the 18 landscapes without
using passwords - you have 5 lives with which to do this. Each landscape is
progressively more complicated with increasing numbers of individual tests of
initiative.
Can you become a Master Clogger?
Size of game: 3 sets of 6 levels each = 18 levels in all.
Gameplay: On each you have to gather 21 pieces of picture and push them to the
finish area where they must be placed correctly to build up the complete
masterpiece. You must also eat all the cakes and when both objectives have been
achieved the level will end and you can move onto the next. You will be given
the password for the next level so that you can practise without having to
repeat lower ones.
The finish area is always seven objects wide by three high but can be
anywhere on a particular level. You'll find it full of earth which you will
need to remove before the pieces can be inserted.
There are a number of objects which can be used to help you achieve your
objective:-
Cakes: Increase your score and time. Time is increased by 30 seconds per
cake but they have no effect on time if you have more than 9:30. All cakes must
be eaten to complete a level.
Apples: Increase your score.
Drills: These face either left or right. When you get behind them and push
them they will destroy the first three objects in their path and then
disappear. You can push them in any direction but they will only destroy
objects to the side they point to. They are used to release inaccessible areas
full of cakes, pieces of picture etc. There are two drills per level - one
pointing left, the other pointing right.
Buffers: Used to solve problems caused by gyroscopes, mentioned below.
Lawnmowers: Used to cut Cloggrass, mentioned below.
The following things hinder you:
Earth: This gets in the way. Walk over it to remove it.
Cloggrass: Fatal on contact. Can be destroyed by a lawnmower.
Springs: Walk into these from 3 out of the four sides and you will bounce
off. Approach it from the other direction and you can munch it.
Gyroscopes: These fly off when pushed and come to rest against the next
object in its path. If it hits a spring it will come back to where it started.
If it hits another gyroscope it will stop and the hit gyroscope will fly off as
before.
OPINIONS.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~
Graphics: The animation is pretty smooth, with none of the flickering or
jerking suffered by Repton devotees. The objects are fairly chunky, but easily
recognisable. The map screen is excellent, complete with flashing boot to
indicate where you are. The only real sprite is you walking, and that is very
neat and almost perfectly smooth. Try killing yourself as well - the way you
sink slowly into the ground is very clever. Other sprites, such as the
lawnmower mowing Cloggrass, are crude but effective. 5/5.
Sound: There is a background tune which is quite nice, but a volume control
would have been good, as the tune comes out full volume. Not so bad for some,
but my BBC's speaker is very loud. I always switch it off. The other sounds are
mostly effective - along with the Repton-style tings and beeps as you pick
score-increasing objects up, there are crunches for the drill, grinding noises
for the lawnmower, and a nice touch, footsteps as you walk. But the noises made
when you switch to the map screen, the status screen, or the picture screen,
are truly horrible on a speaker like mine. It's a very high-pitched ting that
goes right through my head. 3.5/5.
Gameplay: I challenge any programmer to come up with more brilliantly original
ideas for a game than those Gordon Key has had for Clogger. The gameplay is
complicated, retains interest and is always exciting. The sheer number of
things that can happen and you can do in this game would give some modern PC
games a run for their money. Brilliant. 5/5.
Value for money: The game represents good value. For your hard-earned cash you
get an easy-to-use interface, simple controlling keys and plenty of levels.
4/5.
Conclusion: Not to be missed. 4.5/5.
Andrew Medworth D7Y
PS See enclosed hints file for a few spoilers (passwords, built in cheats etc).