Zzap


Dynamic Duo

Publisher: Firebird
Machine: Commodore 64

 
Published in Zzap #48

Dynamic Duo

In the furthest reaches of a magical realm, one unfortunate soul has become trapped in the evil Night House. His only chance of escape is to find the hidden Calculation room and solve its puzzle. The task is daunting but he has help. He's got a duck.

Together they make the Dynamic Duo (honest), helping each other to search the house, but to be frank (Carson? Sidebottom? Bough? Maybe not!), we didn't see them put on their tights and capes. Haha! OK, suit yourself...

To find the Calculation room, the duo must unearth ten key pieces, hidden in treasure chests throughout the Night House. The duck can fly around the house much faster than the man can walk, but only the man can open the chests to find the keys, so team work is needed to search the whole house efficiently.

Dynamic Duo

Whenever they separate, two different screens show the positions of man and duck so you can tell if trouble's on the way. The human half of the team carries a map which is viewed when the duck is perched on his shoulder. Once the key pieces have been collected, certain rooms are shown on the map, but they may not be the right ones so the Duo have to investigate.

A whole load of nasty, ghostly creatures are intent on doing in the hero, but luckily both man and bird are armed wth ghost guns which can dispatch the ghoulies (oo-er) and move boulders to crash through walls giving access to other rooms.

While the monsters advance, the hero stands firm and says, "I've got a duck and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Gordo

Dynamic Duo

Yawn! Another arcade adventure that takes place in a mystical realm or a haunted house! Thing is, this has absolutely no redeeming qualities about it whatsoever - no, that's a lie, it has got one... the "Game Over" message!

The programmers seem to have realised that the objective is extremely simple, so they've made the enemies encountered so nasty that it's almost impossible to survive for very long at all.

Presentation, sound and graphics aren't exactly overwhelming and as for the naff instructions - 'refer to your computer manual' is not my idea of helpful loading advice.

A couple of games of this and you'll definitely have had enough.

Maff

Whilst Dynamic Duo was loading, I decided to read the instructions so that I would know what was going on when I played the game. What an experience that was!

Whoever wrote them didn't exactly have a full grip of the English language, since the whole thng is filled with nonsensical sentences and appalling punctuation.

Maybe it was written by the same person that programmed the game, since that's equally confusing. The graphics are poor with badly drawn sprites and bland backdrops, the control system ses an atrocious player swapping method, and the sound consists of a nauseating tune and some horrible spot effects.

After one game I found myself drifting off and thinking of somethng else - anything except this game! Not an experience I want to remember... well, only to remind me never to play it again.

Verdict

Presentation 25%
Shoddy appearance, very limited options and a horrendous control method.

Graphics 31%
The sprites and backgrounds are very bitty and don't create any atmosphere at all.

Sound 33%
A repetitive tune and some squeaky sound effects.

Hookability 20%
The first game is so user-friendly it lasts about thirty seconds...

Lastability 14%
The second game lasts about forty.

Overall 19%
Less of an arcade adventure than a test of stamina - which we all failed.