Commodore User


The Krypton Factor
By TV Games
Commodore 64

 
Published in Commodore User #55

The Krypton Factor

How the hell do you turn The Krypton Factor into a computer game? I mean, just how do you include such classic rounds as the Minnesota dexterity test? Well obviously TV Games thought the same thing - and then came up with the answer. Easy. They left it out.

There are six rounds and they all load separately - because the game is "too long", to quote the manufacturers.

You begin by selecting a digitised picture of a competitor, such as a guy called Mike who's a bank manager in Sutton. With a face selected you go into the first round of The Krypton Factor which, everybody knows, is the Mental Agility. A series of numbers flash up at random and you have to type them back in numerical order. No problems there, except there's a time limit and if you make a mistake typing them, it's tough toenail.

The Krypton Factor

From there it's onto the Observation Round. A still screen appears and a trail of text scrolls across the screen full of obvious details like colours and times. When it's all over you do it again, watching this time for the changes. Entering them correctly, again with a time limit which is beyond me. Irritating.

The one section that might have been well represented in The Krypton Factor is the assault course. We've all seen Combat School so we know it can be done. However, TV Games give you a top-down view of a figure who just seems to run over a lot of obstacles as if they were drawn on the ground. You're supposed to press a few keys to give you extra strength in arms and leg and extra stamina where it's needed. A travesty.

Next we have the Intelligence Round, the one everybody sits back for. I mean, how do they reconstruct those tortuous puzzles? The computer version is much easier, but by the time you've actually fiddled with the keys and put a few squares together its time is up.

Finally, it's General Knowledge and this is represented in the time-honoured home computer fashion of scrolling questions and then the answer. Did you get it right? the computer asks. Of course I did...

The Krypton Factor is a waste of time. An idea for a TV game licence that should have been ditched. What next? Busman's Holiday?

Mike Pattenden

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