Computer Gamer


Movie
By Imagine
Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Computer Gamer #12

Movie

Ok blue eyes, so maybe you've seen The Godfather but this is the real thing. Movie is based on those old gangster films where all the man have names like Chico Spaghetti, wear stripey suits and raincoats with turned up collars.

The game (which was written in Yugoslavia, just outside Liverpool), adopts the increasingly popular style of 3D graphics first seen in Knight Lore, but which has been copied by other companies since then. You play the part of a private eye attempting to locate a cassette tape which is hidden in a Mob leader's hideaway. Your search will take you though various streets and buildings and along the way you will encounter some of the mobster's henchmen. Most of these will try and 'rub out out', especially as you get closer to the hideout, but occasionally they may be able to give you some information, such as passwords for getting into buildings. At some point you'll meet a woman who is one of a pair of twins; if she's the good twin she will lead you to the hideout, but if she's the evil twin then you could be led into a trap!

As well as the excellent graphics, Movie has added one or two features to the Knight Lore/Sweevo's World format. These are present in the form of an icon menu which allows you to perform actions such as firing a gun, punching an opponent, and also creating speech balloons in order to try and communicate with them.

Movie

This icon system allows you a greater variety of actions than has normally been available in this type of game, but Movie doesn't really capitalise on this as well as it could, since the problem-solving element of the game, though challenging in places, isn't consistent throughout the game.

The locations that you move through are full of finely detailed objects, many of which can be pushed around, or weapons such as guns and bombs which can be used to wipe out anyone who stands in your way. I can't help thinking though, that a lot of memory has been taken up by graphics for objects that don't seem to serve much purpose. Unlike Knight Lore or Sweevo, the rooms don't really contain many obstacles that you have to find your way around, but many of them are cluttered with loads of items of furniture that are just decoration and don't seem to add to the gameplay. The women are placed randomly, but since you begin the game in the same location each time, wandering through the same locations at the start of each game can get a bit boring.

My one real criticism is that you only get one life, and considering how many gunmen are wandering around just waiting to shoot you full of lead this simply isn't enough to allow you to play the game properly. After wandering around for a couple of hours, I found it incredibly irritating to get deep into the game, only to get shot or collide with an object just once and have to start all over again.

I hope I haven't sounded too critical, since Movie is an enjoyable and fairly addictive game. The graphics are excellent, and the icon system is an impressive addition to this type of game. It's just that my first impressions of Movie were very favourable indeed, but after playing it for some time I felt that it only partly fulfilled its potential.