Big K


Them
By Virgin Games
Oric 48K

 
Published in Big K #4

Them

A witty and inventive "paranoid fantasy" - so sub-titled, it seems, because "they" are out to get you. Sure, that just gives it something in common with about 95% of all other arcade games, but in this one "they" are fiendish indeed: taunting demons, homing bombs and - worst of all - question marks that follow you around. Add to this some devilishly awkward controls - IJKM for up-down, left-right movement *and* firing direction plus further keys for shields and bullets - and it all adds up to the kind of game that can send you scuttling off to your first nervous breakdown. In short, it's horribly difficult.

Good job, then, that it's got a sense of humour. You, for example, are a dippy-looking smiley face. The question mark's a laugh too. So is the rather melodramatic fourth stage (actually, like the second, a bit of a doddle) in which you're trapped on a "Conveyorbelt To Doom", like a scene from an old Vincent Price movie, until you blast the "nightmares" in the time-honoured fashion.

Even the fifth level, where you must match up pairs of funny bones with yet more smiley faces, looks like it might be a giggle but I've only got there a few times and am thus still thrust into a state of panic and confusion whenever I do!