Commodore User


Street Surfer
By Entertainment USA
Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Commodore User #39

Street Surfer

There must have been a time in everyone's youth when they've donned their pads, and oiled up their Krptonites and gone down to the bowl to burn up some lame dude.

Those of you who didn't understand a word of that, are more than likely the "lame dude" in question. Because this is a game for skateboarders! I expect most of you self-respecting delinquents have probably owned a skateboard at one point in life. You did, I know you did.

Mastertronic seem to be pretty keen on skateboarders and have a rather idealistic view of what they do in their spare time. You see, the object of this game is for the skateboarder to pick up as many empty Coke bottles off the side of the road as possible. Whether Mastertronic are trying to enforce the "Keep Britain Tidy" law on thirsty gamers is anyone's guess. My feelings though, is that a large Coke... whoops! I mean Cola manufacturer has added Mastertronic to their over-budget advertising campaign, could this be because they failed to get Tina "Middle-aged" Turner? Who knows?

Street Surfer

The game is a bit like the run of the mill racing simulations, the road in front of you swerving in all directions, a la Pole Position. The object is to pick up as many empty Coke bottles as possible, but this is complicated by people who don't seem to agree with what you're doing. Pretty sadistic people they are too, catch you and they'll mow you down.

You control your skateboard via the joystick; using left and right as the directional controls, and forward to crouch down on your board and speed-up. Fire will let you jump in the air, which is very useful for avoiding the chickens, and the oil slicks along the way.

Not all of the drivers you meet are against you, some will ask you nicely to get out of their way before you get knocked down. And, as if that isn't nice enough they will leave out a bottle of the world's most popular soft drink, on their bonnet, so you can guzzle it and keep the empty for your bonus.

At the end of each level you reach a bottle bank into which, your empties are chucked and your bonus added. The length of your game depends on your health and you lose a proportion of your health every time you are hit - though knowing the rotting capabilities of the stuff, perhaps it should have been teeth that you lose.

Graphically, this is very drab - using that unoriginal racing-game type view. The sound on the other hand is a funky little ditty which helps you to persevere with this. Street Surfer is reasonable fun but like most cheapos popularity will quickly start to slide.