Personal Compuer Games


See-Saw
By Quicksilva
Commodore 64

 
Published in Personal Computer Games #14

See-Saw

According to the blurb on the cassette cover, the Evil Lord has imprisoned the members of your brotherhood in his castle, and it is your job to rescue them.

It doesn't actually say what you and the rest of your kind are but by the looks of things I'd say bald hedgehogs come close.

Anyway, on with the game! A quick press of the old fire button presents you with an attractive 3D view of a two-turreted stone castle with a front of coloured bricks, and the lord's grinning henchmen (er... they're frogs...).

See-Saw

The Evil Lord wanders up and down at the top of the castle behind the bricks. Occasionally he stops to push a brick, which moves with a realistic grinding sound, and topples over the battlements onto the see-saw below.

You, poor hedgehog, are situated upon the aforesaid see-saw. You must not only dodge the falling bricks, you must also avoid being catapulted into oblivion as they strike the see-saw.

Provided you manage to keep out of the way, you then have a chance to get your revenge by shifting the fallen bricks on the see-saw so that when the next one falls, it may - if you're clever - catapult another up into the air, taking one of the Evil Lord's henchmen with it.

See-Saw

The basic idea is to knock a gap in the row of henchmen guarding the lord (who grab hold of everything that passes them, including you!) and catapult yourself onto the battlements, causing the cowardly lord to flee.

Although simple in concept, See-Saw is infuriatingly difficult and involves enough logical thought and fast actions in manoeuvering the bricks around (you can only move two at once, and some are twice as heavy as others!) to make it playable and compulsive.

Bob Wade

The implementation and strategy of this simple game make it very enjoyable to play and extremely difficult to win.

See-Saw

The crunching, scraping sound effects definitely enhance the game, as do the little hopping henchmen. However, some people may find that with only this one basic challenge, the game lacks depth and won't hold your interest for very long.

Catapulting yourself up onto the castle is fun though and particularly effective 'sees' (or is it saws?) will have you flying off the top of the screen as well!

Frazer Marshall

See-Saw's most striking feature is the castle which looks fit for a King, never mind an evil lord. Through clever shadowing, the towers are given a very convincing 3D appearance. The other graphics, however, are dreary one-colour sprites.

The blurb says that you play the part of a Grand Master but, to my mind, you bear a closer resemblance to the lowly flea. And the grinning, green ghouls look like Kermit's relatives.

Nonetheless, See-Saw shows great originality despite its shortcomings.

Jeremy Fisher

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