Play It Again Sam 9 Review
By Crispin Boylan (E4W)
Title: Play It Again Sam 9
Available From: Superior Software
Price: £11.95 (£6 for 8BS members)
Type of Game:
Four games In Compilation:
Spycat: Graphical Adventure
Camelot: Arcade Adventure
The Life Of Repton: Action puzzle/strategy
Steve Davis Snooker: Sports
Well, I'm back again for the umpteenth time, and this time it is Play It Again
Sam 9 which has fallen into my clutches...
There are four games on this compilation, so I will review each one separately.
I will start with probably the funniest Superior Software Game I've ever
played, Spycat.
Spycat
------
You are Spycat, a member of the covert branch of law enforcement, MI4.5, and
after 50 years loyal service you have been retired from duties, with an
extremely small pension. Therefore, as any loyal spy would do, you have
decided to steal the three secret documents and retire to Greenland to write
your memoirs.
The basic game is very much in the mould of Citadel, Castle Quest and all those
other great favourites on the beeb, in that you as the central character have
to go around solving visual puzzles and using the right objects in the right
places. There is also a bit of enemy negotiating to be done, as you have to
escape from the mad machines of Doctor 'Q', cunningly named Clive Amstrad! The
controls are more complexed in this game from previous games in the same genre,
in that you have a six button panel which is operated with the cursor keys,
this can be used to pick up and drop objects, use them, enter doors, and
control the sound. Whilst this may seem a good idea in practice it is somewhat
fiddly to be controlling the character with the Z,X,: and / keys, whilst
simultaneously controlling this panel. It is lucky then that this game does
not require a great deal of fast movements.
The graphics in the game are very smartly presented, in the Mode 2 screen,
which gives a nice palette of colours to display, and also allows fast flowing
graphics. The animation on this game is simply the best I have ever seen in a
game of this type, one of the nicest touches is the fact that the character
does not simply flip over when you want him to move the other way, but actually
turns, it is simple but makes the game a lot more attractive. The game does
not suffer from the dreaded flicker that animated objects in some games do.
The gameplay is exciting and fun, the whole Spy genre has a lot of room in it
for a good game, and also provides a few laughs along the way. It is also
difficult, but not so much that you feel frustrated. The only bad thing about
this game is the sound, it is hardly inventive, merely functional. Not a bad
attempt from the masters of this genre really!
Camelot
-------
It may seem a bit foolish to put two games which do not seem all that different
on the same compilation, but once you get into it, this game actually differs
quite a lot from Spycat. For one thing, it focuses a lot more on the Arcade
side of the Adventure genre, really the thinking mans shoot-em-up to put it
bluntly. The plot of this game is a bit thin on the ground, but it goes like
this: you have been thrown out of the kingdom of Camelot, for generally being a
bit of a bad king, and you have to convince the people of the kingdom that you
are indeed a worthy ruler. So, as is usually the best way to prove you are a
bit tough, you have to kill things and find things, and basically be a bit of a
royal bully!
The objective of the game is to gain 3000 points, most of this will come from
the six bags of gold which give you 450 points each, and also from shooting and
killing the various enemies which lie in wait for you around the castle. There
are witches and soldiers, witches are harder to kill but gain more points. You
can also cast spells, which are strewn about the castle, and these produce
various effects. There are also various objects, such as keys to be collected,
there are 5 of these. To make the game harder you have a time limit, and a
limited amount of energy, a certain amount of this is lost every time you fire.
The game is quite large, and although not as difficult puzzle-wise as some of
the more famous games such as Citadel or Castle Quest, it is certainly a
challenge.
The graphics are good in this game, with some high res mode 4 graphics. These
produce a nice overall effect, it is a wonder that the author (Tony Oakden, of
Quest and Star Port fame) managed to fit all of them in as aswell as some of
the tasks you have to accomplish! The colours used in the game are nice and
bright, and don't clash, but the animation is not really up to the standard of
the aforementioned Spycat. Sound in this game is a replica of Tony Oakdens
other two games, beeps in appropriate places, no music, but still you can't
expect everything!
The gameplay is just what the doctor ordered if you are into the shoot-em-up
and adventure genres, if you have problems with the puzzles on dedicated puzzle
and adventure games, then this is the game for you.
Steve Davis Snooker
-------------------
Created back in the days when the record collecting cue master was at his peak,
Steve Davis snooker was probably one of the first licensed games ever. Now
however, Steve is well past his best, and this game can bring you all the
satisfaction of playing against the real person, it certainly does have a high
level of intelligence. Playing alone against Steve, or with another Human
player, you basically have to beat your opponent at snooker. Standard snooker
rules apply, with fouls and replays all included.
The game is certainly very hard against the computer, and I think the control
system could have been improved a bit. For example, in stead of a length
adjustable line which is pointed in the direction you want the ball to go, all
you get is a cross hairs which you place on the screen in the direction you
want it to go. This makes it a lot harder to line up the shots, and frequently
results in the cue ball missing the coloured balls all together!
The graphics in this game are to be frank, quite dull, and not very interesting
at all. Instead of green you get a black baize, the black ball is really a
white unfilled circle, and the brown ball is a red ball with a green circle
around it. Perhaps they could have used shading? Another fault of the game is
that when you hit the ball with maximum power, as the cue ball strikes the
target ball, it sometimes takes a while for it to register. This sometimes
looks very fake and disappointing.
So, not a hugely brilliant game, but then again licensed games never have been
known for their outstanding success. Not surprisingly this is the only game
that has not actually been written by Superior themselves, but by CDS Software.
The Life Of Repton
------------------
In the fifth of the seven Repton games, you have to play through 40 screens,
five specific areas each with 8 screens. These are really just new levels and
graphics sets for the original Repton 3, but they are interesting nonetheless.
You have Baby Repton, Schoolboy Repton, Teenage Repton, Work Repton and OAP
Repton. This provides a nice variation in the graphics every 8 levels which is
just what is needed. The game also features the often praised game editor,
which allows you to create many levels for the game, which you can either play
yourself or give to your friends (or maybe enter in a Repton competition?!) The
best thing about the editor is that you can design whatever you want about the
game, right down to each individual graphics picture.
The gameplay is the same as it has been since Repton 3, this is very varied,
and there are many different puzzles which can be completed. Dodging through
rocks, collecting keys to turn safes into diamonds, guiding Spirits to their
cages to turn them into diamonds, killing monsters. It is all in there, and
very interesting and thought provoking to play. In addition to collecting all
the diamonds on the level, you have to collect the Crown, and diffuse the timb
bomb (all you have to do their is after collecting all the diamonds and the
crown, walk over it) there is a time limit, which can be extended with the
time-capsules. In addition to the monsters and spirits, another enemy is the
Fungus, this is a special type of square, which spreads over the screen and
blocks off objects. It is essential to stop this from spreading by surrounding
it with rocks, or it will block off a diamond! This is all great fun, and one
of the best gameplay ideas ever.
The graphics in this game are up to the usual standards of the games with nice
fast graphics, and very colourful and detailed sprites. The different graphics
sets give a good wide range of different graphics, so you never get fed up of
staring at the same graphics. The sound is the usual Repton tune, which is
good but annoying after a while. The only minor gripe is that the ting of
collecting the diamonds is very high pitched, luckily this can be turned off
though!
Overall Score For PIAS 9
------------------------
88% - Definitely one of the best compilations in the series, it has a mixture
of games, and only one of them won't be on the screen regularly. For four
quality games, this would be cheap at twice the price.