Zzap


4 Quattro Megastars
By Codemasters
Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Zzap #87

The Codies are well known for releasing four-game packs, most of 'em brilliant, but what's the latest offering like? We gave Mark Caswell an elephant's trunk, an umbrella, a big foot and fiery breath (although he had most of them already!)...

4 Quattro Megastars

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Four games for less than a quid each sounds great value for money, but the only real goodie here is CJ's Elephant Antics. Columbus Jumbo is the pachydermal hero who's been kidnapped and is even now being transported to England from his African home. But, unknown to his captors he leaps out of the plane somewhere over France, and using an umbrella floats to the ground. Although the way home is fraught with many pitfalls and dangers, CJ's armed with plenty of peanuts and bombs. The graphics are great and the multi-directionally scrolling platform action's compulsive, especially in the novel simultaneous two-player mode.

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Next up is Sky High Stuntman where you become a budding Colt Seavers acolyte. Your name is Super Stuntman and you've been hired to star in the latest Steven Squealburgh movie. There are four scenes to be filmed, and you can bet your bottom dollar the stunts needed are only for the insane or suicidal. In a range of vehicles you're bombarded by the enemy forces, and only your skill as a stuntman can save you. Lights, camera, and action. It sounds spectacular but turns out to be just another B-movie standard vertically scrolling blaster. And a very difficult one, to boot...

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Bigfoot isn't a game about yours truly, but concerns one of them big hairy creatures like Chewbacca the Wookie from Star Wars. And the Bigfoot in question is having as many problems with women as me. His girlie has been kidnapped (who'd want to nab an eight foot tall Wookie lookalike is beyond me!). It's up to Mr Bigfoot to rescue her in a mediocre flickscreen arcade adventure.

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And finally, we have Little Puff. Dragons may be mythological in our world but in this game they're everywhere. The game starts with Little Puff's mum telling him not wander too far from home. It's Sod's Law that this is precisely what he'll do, and now he's lost. So Little Puff has to find the four parts of a pass to get into Dragon Land, whatever that is. These are in four envelopes, scattered around a barren, flick-screen play area with the odd object to pick up and use.

I'm sad to say that 4 Quattro Megastars is a bit of a letdown. It goes without saying that CJ's Elephant Antics is (expletive deleted) brill, both graphically and in the playability stakes. CJ is a cute character with a pile of problems (and problem piles judging by the way he walks!), and the game's so ace it's worth the three quid price tag alone. However, the rest of the games are less than satisfactory. Bigfoot and Little Puff are graphically poor arcade adventures that barely make the grade, while Sky High Stuntman is graphically competent, but the problem lies in control of the plane and the rate at which enemy bullets fly at your craft.

Mark Caswell

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