C&VG


The Flintstones
By Grandslam
Amstrad CPC464

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #79

The Flintstones

It's "Yabba-dabba-doo!" time again. Fred and Barney are back in the second computer adventure of The Flintstones, and this one is even better than the first game, which, as you'll remember, appeared on ASP under the title Yabba Dabba Doo! (Helpful historical note).

All the features of the cartoon are there; the catchy music, the cute animations, even some of the sampled sounds! The plot's pretty familiar too; Fred and Barney want to go to the Bedrock Bowling Championship, but Wilma's mother is coming to stay and the living room of the cave has to be painted. Darn! Out with the paint pot, splosh, splosh, splosh - Fred's got to finish before Wilma gets back from the Bedrock Women's Institute.

So, for the first stage of the game you have to move Fred around the cave, filling up from the paintpot shifting the ladder to reach the top of the wall, and picking up baby Pebbles who escapes from his pen and scribbles graffiti on the painted sections. Here's a hint; paint the top half of the wall first, so that Pebbles' vandalism to the lower half is easier to deal with.

The Flintstones

If you finish in time, it's off to the game in the old boneshaker. Fred and Barney steer the car along the rocky road to the Superbowl, jumping up to avoid boulders. Hit one, and you'll lose valuable time as Fred has to jack up the car, change the wheel and then jump back in.

The poorest section of the game is the bowling tournament itself. You set the curve and speed of the shot, and hit the fire building site.

Fred and Barney compete to leap to the top of the building, collecting protective clothing on the way. Falling girders and bolts, gusts of wind and other building workers threaten to topple you from your precarious perches on the girders.

So what we have here is basically four variations of old favourites - Painter, Moon Buggy, Bowls and platforms-and-ladders - cobbled together into one game. The graphics and sound are good, and the cuteness quotient very high. I particularly liked Fred's paintbrush - it's a squirrel which scampers away every time he picks up Pebbles to return her to her pen.

I don't think that cuteness is enough to sell a game at £19.95, but this is a polished and professional product which deserves to be seen.