Big K


Grabber

Publisher: Microdeal
Machine: Dragon 32

 
Published in Big K #8

Grabber

A review for people who don't like reviews: Don't buy this. For those who desire details, read on.

Grabber is a poor relation of the Pac-family. A novel idea presents you with a split-screen featuring two mazes ('maze' is a generous term for these ultra-simple layouts). There are four treasures and two 'power-pills' in each maze, and also four centre boxes, one for each treasure. Using the grabber, you move around a maze and, collecting them one by one, return each treasure to an empty box.

Monsters materialise in any box and chase you, also taking any treasures from the boxes if possible. If you are caught, you lose a life, get a 'power-pill' and you kill the monsters. Alternatively, pressing the Fire button transfers you to the other maze to follow the same process. You can switch mazes when you like to avoid trouble, although the monsters in both mazes continue undoing your efforts whether you are there or not. Successfully placing all eight treasures in the boxes moves you to a different pair of mazes.

Good idea, isn't it? Unfortunately, the documentation is inaccurate, the graphics pathetic, the joystick response suspect and the music awful. Ho hum.