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MEGAPACK MEGAPACK is a collection of ten original games, all of which were developed and previously published in Europe by Gremlin Graphics. The package is being published for the first time in America by Mastertronic and distributed here by Virgin Games. MEGAPACK is available only for Commodore 64/128 machines, at the bargain price of $34.99. The ten games have these titles: BULLDOG, JACK THE NIPPER II, NORTHSTAR, THING BOUNCES BACK, MONTY ON THE RUN, REBOUNDER, TRAILBLAZER, KRAKOUT, COSMIC CAUSEWAY, and FUTURE KNIGHT. All are arcade games, although some require strategy; all look and play reasonably well on the Commodore 64, although some are better than others; all have multiple levels; all require a joystick, although a few can also be controlled with the keyboard. There's even another version of ARKANOID (as if one ARKANOID isn't already one too many). The average price of a single game these days is around $40, which makes the MEGAPACK, at least at first glance, a great bargain: ten games for less than the cost of one. It could be argued that the games that form the collection aren't worth $3.50 apiece. Indeed, some of these programs could have been omitted without upsetting anybody. Then again, if MEGAPACK comprised only four games (THING BOUNCES BACK, COSMIC CAUSEWAY, FUTURE KNIGHT, and KRAKOUT), it'd still be a great bargain. CAUSEWAY and THING are good enough to have been published and marketed as single games. While it's not certain how either would have fared as commercial products in the U.S. marketplace, both at least deserved the chance to compete with VIGILANTE, SKI OR DIE, and all the other mediocre packages now taking up valuable shelf space. MEGAPACK comes with two copy-protected, double-sided disks. Each disk side offers three games; THING BOUNCES BACK has disk-side four all to itself. KRAKOUT is the only game with an option to return to the C64's Ready prompt; there is no way to return to the menus of any of the other three sides, so whenever you want to play a different game, you'll have to reboot. What we'll do here is look at each game in turn, starting with those that aren't so good, and then determine whether or not $3.50 per game multiplied by ten games comes out to thirty-five bucks. BULLDOG Much like A.L.C.O.N., BULLDOG is an arcade shoot-'em-up that offers good graphics, multiple levels, and joystick control. The goal of BULLDOG is to maneuver your ship through enemy defenses in order to reach the POLON Mothership, which you must destroy in order to be teleported to the next level of enemy defenses. The C64 screen display consists of a vertically-scrolling alien landscape, over which you maneuever your ship. Square blocks form the POLON defenses: Trajectory X7 installations fire bullets straight at you; Fast Trajectories fire fast bullets straight at you; Shielders fire wide bullets; Straights fire four bullets, two horizontally and two vertically; and Homers fire bullets that seek out your ship. There are antenna, tanker, radar jammer, and control tower installations, as well as four types of walls. Other blocks are marked with letters or symbols that will, when flown over, upgrade or downgrade your ship. The upgrades are extra fire power, autorepeat fire, ship speedup, bombs, and indestructability. The downgrades are drain, which removes all accrued bonuses, and reverse, which pushes the ship backwards. Another downer halts all vertical ship movement and, for a short time, allows only lateral movement. The joystick controls BULLDOG: the stick moves the ship in the cardinal directions (the landscape continues its vertical scroll); the button fires. While BULLDOG is straight-on arcade action, there is nothing new going on here; it's just another version of an old idea. Like most games of this type, the way to win is through trial and error: Enemy actions are patterned, and when you've figured out the patterns, you've figured out BULLDOG. I realize this isn't a good start for MEGAPACK, but BULLDOG could have been skipped. JACK THE NIPPER II Subtitled Coconut Capers, JACK THE NIPPER II is a strategy/arcade game much like RICK DANGEROUS, or the arcade version of INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE. JACK offers okay graphics, lots of traps, and joystick control. Jack the Nipper is a diaper-clad child whose naughty antics brought on his family's deportation from Australia. En route from Down Under, Jack bails out of the plane, using his diaper as a parachute. He lands in the jungle, followed by his angry dad. The C64's scrolling screen display consists of jungle, ruins, vertical and horizontal passages, and ropes and ladders, as well as many puzzles and traps, such as moving spikes, pools of water, and falling boulders. The goal is to guide Jack through the landscape, collect weapons and "naughty" items, and beat the traps, all the while avoiding angry natives and odd creatures. The screen display scrolls in the cardinal directions according to Jack's joystick-controlled movements: Left and right move Jack likewise; the three forward stick movements make Jack jump; the three downward stick movements let Jack pick up items; and the button fires the current weapon. Weapons include bags of coconuts and clips of explosives; weapons are finite but can be replenished. "Naughty" items include grease, honey, and onions; pick up a naughty item and it will replace the one you've been carrying. Natives and creatures knock off Jack-lives (he has ten); if Jack fails to beat a trap, he'll melt into a heap and then resurrect for another chance. The object of the game is to get through the jungle, either for high score or maximum naughtiness (as indicated on the counter and "Naughty-O-Meter"). The actual point of the game, however, is more elusive. As you get deeper and deeper into what seems to be one endless, forever-scrolling screen display, the same stuff keeps happening over and over. Like BULLDOG, JACK THE NIPPER II could have remained in Europe without devaluing the package. NORTHSTAR If we overlook its science fiction theme, NORTHSTAR is a run/jump/punch arcade game, similar to martial-arts epics like VIGILANTE or RENEGADE. NORTHSTAR offers good graphics, bonuses, and joystick control. In 2499, Planet Earth is devastated by overpopulation and starvation. The Northstar Project, begun by the four Earth-Lords, concerns a space station that would not only serve as a new home for thousands of people but would be able to produce high-nutrition foods. Shortly before the project reached completion, a ship carrying cargo to Space Station Northstar disappeared. On reaching Northstar you discover it's been overrun by aliens. Your goal is to destroy the aliens and reactivate the life-support systems in the center of the space station, and thus rescue the human population. The C64 screen display consists of the left-right scrolling landscape of the space station. Alien soldiers come at you from both directions, and if they touch your character, he'll fall off whatever he's walking on (floor, platform, catwalk), losing a life in the process. At the start, your only weapon is a robotic arm that you use to punch the aliens. Pods float around, carrying score, oxygen, and weapon bonuses. One of the additional weapons is a smart bomb. The joystick controls NORTHSTAR: the stick moves the character left and right, and lets him jump and crouch; the button punches and uses weapons, with the exception of smart bombs, which are detonated with keystroke "S". NORTHSTAR looks fine and moves fast and smooth but, like the martial-arts epics it most resembles, it comes across as a clone of all the other run/jump/punch games we've seen (in abundance, I might add). While I suppose someone out there might enjoy NORTHSTAR (just as somone might enjoy BULLDOG and JACK THE NIPPER II), basically, it's another of the MEGAPACK ten that just takes up disk blocks. REBOUNDER An arcade game that offers okay graphics and joystick control, REBOUNDER, with its ridiculous plot and graphic similarity to BULLDOG, is the worst game in the package. It seems that while you were asleep, you were transformed into a tennis ball, and the goal of the game is to bounce your way through the fortress of the Overlord (who's responsible for your Kafka-esque state) and defeat him. The C64 screen display consists of the BULLDOG screen display, except it scrolls horizontally rather than vertically. The squares are marked with symbols that will, when rolled over or bounced on, add points and energy, let you jump long distances, or provide (good or bad) mystery bonuses. Some squares are really walls that must be jumped over or otherwise avoided. The Overlord's alien attackers include faces, crackle terminals, pulsars, zipperz, and waves; these creatures will either kill you outright or reduce the air pressure of the tennis ball, one hiss at a time. Square "F" gives firepower; square "A" provides armor; and the Pumping Stations here and there will re-inflate the ball. The joystick controls REBOUNDER: The stick moves the ball in the cardinal directions and the button fires the current weapon. REBOUNDER is a dumb game. It's not amusing and it's not fun. Let's just pretend it isn't even in the MEGAPACK. MONTY ON THE RUN MONTY ON THE RUN is a strategy/arcade game that offers okay graphics, nifty animation, and either joystick or keyboard control. Monty is a criminal who has escaped from Scudmore Prison. To avoid the forces of law and order, now in hot pursuit, Monty seeks refuge in the criminal underworld, which consists of hideouts, safe houses, and an underground lair. The goal of the game is to make your way through the secret locations and reach the cross-channel ferry that will take you to freedom. All you have to help you is a Freedom Kit, a collection of 21 items that includes compass, rope, laser gun, passport, gas mask, telescope, and a bottle of rum. Only five of the items are necessary to complete the game, and it's up to you to figure out which ones they are -- and where and when to use them. The C64 graphics display consists of the hideouts and secret locations, which are actually single-screen rooms packed to the hilt with strange creatures, mechanical gizmos borrowed from THE GOONIES, and platforms of varying sizes. There are ropes to upper and lower levels. Gold coins are scattered here and there. Monty looks like Winnie the Pooh suffering from manic depression, and what you must do is figure out how to get him across to the left side of the screen, at which point the next roomful of Spielbergian contrivances appears. The joystick moves Monty in the cardinal directions; the button makes him jump and, in conjunction with a directional move, perform a somersault. The creatures and devices have definite movement patterns. As for the Freedom Kit, the only way to use it is through trial and error. You can select any five items from the Kit (on the title screen); when you get to a puzzle that requires an item, all you can do is hope you picked the right one. If you didn't, you'll have to restart the game and select that item in order to have it when you return to the puzzle. MONTY ON THE RUN is goofy and inventive in a childlike way; it might even be fun. Creatures and devices move like clockwork, and even the slightest touch knocks off one of Monty's five lives. The problem with MONTY is its precision timing: Monty's every jump, somersault, and left/right movement has to be thought out in advance and then performed with absolute perfection. After a few screens of this, the game becomes too much work, bringing on stress and tension. The best course of action is to let Monty finish his prison term. In fairness, I should point out that if MONTY were a single game in a package all its own, I'd suggest a playtest. THING BOUNCES BACK THING BOUNCES BACK is a strategy/arcade game that owes much to Nintendo's SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, a game it sort of resembles. One of the goofiest and fastest-moving C64 games around, THING offers fine graphics/animation/sound, 11 levels (each equivalent to 12 full screens), and either joystick or keyboard control. The object of THING is to prevent a goblin from producing evil toys. This task is accomplished by collecting four items: a disk, a tape, a RAM chip, and a program listing. These items allow the goblin's computer to produce the toys, and when you've collected them, the computer will shut down. The C64 graphics display consists of series of underground pipes. Thing cruises around the pipes until he reaches an exit to one of the 11 levels, which in turn comprises 12 full screens that scroll in all directions. Each level consists of square blocks that form walkways, and lots of the same terrain that Mario's head smashes into for extra points and bonuses. There are doors, slides, exits, and conveyors. There are lasers, bounce blocks, time delay blocks, door delay buttons, blowers (which push Thing either up or down), and a bunch of aliens: Gerald the Gremlin, Stoney, Punky, Sputnik, Froglet, and Rivlet. There is also a Leg Less, which is actually a pair of legs minus everything else. Thing is a helmeted head -- think it belongs to Leg Less? -- mounted on a spring, and the joystick controls his movements in the cardinal directions. If Thing is standing still, you can make him bounce by pulling the stick back and then releasing it. Push the button while Thing is moving left or right and he'll leap. While in the pipes, the button reverses Thing's direction. There are keystrokes that will substitute for the joystick. THING BOUNCES BACK has at least as many contraptions as MONTY ON THE RUN, if not more. Devices leads to other devices, sometimes on another screen, and when Thing gets caught in a loop, the screen scrolls at light-speed in all directions. What's more, it seems as though there are hundreds of different sounds. There aren't, of course; but it seems so because each event has its own sound effect and one event follows another so quickly that it's tough to keep track of everything. Whenever I played THING, I had only the vaguest idea what I was doing. But the game is so much fun to watch and listen to -- and there are 132 screens -- that it doesn't matter if you know what you're doing or not. THING is one of the four games that make MEGAPACK an excellent bargain, and it just might be the best game in the package. KRAKOUT Yet another variation of the venerable BREAKOUT, KRAKOUT is ARKANOID with a different name. The game offers good graphics, 100 screens, bonuses, and joystick control. This is the only game of the MEGAPACK ten that allows a Warmstart back to Commodore BASIC. The object of KRAKOUT is to destroy a configuration of bricks. Clear one configuration and a new one will appear. The joystick controls a bat that moves vertically, and if the ball gets past it, you lose a life. When three lives are gone, the game ends. Some bricks, when hit, flip over to reveal letters; hit the lettered brick before it disappears and that bonus is added to the bat: (G)lue grabs the ball and holds it until you press the button; (S)hield erects a barrier behind the bat; e(X)tra provides an extra life; (E)xpand doubles bat size; and (D)ouble puts up another bat. Each new bonus replaces the current bonus. The joystick moves the bat vertically; the button speeds up the ball. Before the first screen appears, you'll see an options menu: You can start with the bat on either the left or right side of the screen; music and sound effects can be toggled; and colors can be changed. KRAKOUT _is_ ARKANOID; the only difference is the title. If you're familiar with ARKANOID (or BREAKOUT), you're automatically familiar with KRAKOUT, and if you enjoyed one, you'll enjoy the other. TRAILBLAZER TRAILBLAZER is a strategy/arcade game that offers excellent graphics, fast animation, practice mode, two-player option, and joystick or keyboard control. Written in 1986 by Shaun Southern, TRAILBLAZER became COSMIC CAUSEWAY (coming up next) in 1987. The 21 courses of the game are constructed of colored squares that form a roadway along which you guide a soccer ball. Each course has built-in obstacles that must be dealt with before the timer runs out. Each of the colored squares has a different function: Blue squares bounce the ball up; Purple squares bounce the ball backwards; Cyan squares reverse lateral movement; Green squares accelerate the ball, and Red ones slow it down; White squares warp the ball to somewhere else on the roadway. Black squares are not squares; they're holes into which the ball will drop, wasting time. The joystick controls TRAILBLAZER: left and right move the ball likewise, forward accelerates, and backward decelerates; the button makes the ball jump (only seven jumps per course are permitted). If you prefer the keyboard, there are keystrokes that replace the joystick. The one-player arcade game pits you against the courses and time limits; time unused on one course is carried over. The two-player arcade game is identical but more competitive, in that you must beat both the timer and your opponent. The two-player match option lets you pick three courses, each with a 99-second time limit. The one-player trail game lets you practice any one course, again with a 99-second time limit. The two-player robot option is identical to the two-player match option, except that you'll compete with a computer-controlled opponent. TRAILBLAZER's graphics are bright and colorful, animation is fast and smooth, and the joystick works well as a controller. The sole drawback occurs when the ball falls into a hole: It seems to stay there longer than is necessary before reappearing on the course, thus lopping valuable time off the clock. This is the only problem -- it won't be a problem if you stay on the roadway -- in an otherwise fine-looking and well-playing game. COSMIC CAUSEWAY Written in 1987 by Shaun Southern, COSMIC CAUSEWAY is a revised and upgraded version of TRAILBLAZER (written by Mr. Southern in 1986). This fast-moving game offers excellent graphics and animation, 24 levels, bonus icons, and joystick control. At the end of each section (four levels), you'll be confronted by a dragon that must be destroyed before you can enter the next section. Scores earn ratings: There's one called Abysmal, another called Hilarious, and yet another called Skoda Owner (which must be an example of European humor). Whereas the roadways of TRAILBLAZER were suspended in a starry void, the roadways of CAUSEWAY cover the entire screen -- there is a starry background -- thus transforming the road into a field over which the ball moves. What it is isn't of great importance, because no matter what you call it, it looks great. The colors are bright; animation is as fast and as smooth as you can ask for; and the game plays perfectly, without flicker or screen glitches of any kind. Some courses have obstacles, such as trees and boulders. Both TRAILBLAZER and CAUSEWAY bear a resemblance to SPACE HARRIER (or maybe, based on the copyright dates, it's the other way around), and both are excellent pieces of work. FUTURE KNIGHT FUTURE KNIGHT is a strategy/arcade adventure that offers fine graphics, 20 levels, and joystick control. You play Randolph the Hero, and your goal is to rescue your beloved Amelia from Siegbott the Terrible. You've donned your attack suit, charged your plasma rifle, and been teleported into Amelia's starship, which crashed on Planet 2749 of the Zragg System. You must make your way through the ship, battling all kinds of creatures and finding various useful items, in order to reach the planet's surface, where you'll then battle more creatures. The final level is Siegbott's castle, where Amelia is guarded by something called the Henchodroid. The C64 screen display consists of the ladders and platforms of the SS Rustbucket. There are many exits to other levels, as well as all kinds of alien creatures: Some are organic, some mechanical; some are landbound while others are airborne; there are sorcerors, lethal balloons, and moving lava puddles. Collectively, the aliens are called Berzerka Security Droids. Certain objects, such as bombs, must be used when required; other items, such as the spells and keys, can be used whenever you have the chance. The Destruct Spell is needed in order to deal with the Henchodroid. The joystick controls Randolph: The stick allows him to walk left and right, jump in three directions, and climb ladders. The button fires the plasma rifle, and the Spacebar uses objects. FUTURE KNIGHT immediately reminds me of MAINFRAME, also a game of ladders and platforms. Although MAINFRAME looks and plays better, KNIGHT isn't all that bad, and has an abundance of items that provide adventurous action. Screen glitches, unfortunately, make KNIGHT less than what it should have been: The middle portion of the action display flickers and breaks apart constantly, eventually wreaking havoc on your eyeballs. The screen glitches might've been due to a scrambled disk, so I'm inclined to give FUTURE KNIGHT a thumb's up, if only in relation to the not-so-good MEGAPACK games. MEGAPACK BULLDOG, NORTHSTAR, REBOUNDER, MONTY ON THE RUN, and JACK THE NIPPER II could have been eliminated from MEGAPACK without reducing its value. BULLDOG is playable but it's too repetitive and hardly original; NORTHSTAR and REBOUNDER come across simply as duds; and JACK THE NIPPER II is pointless and unamusing. MONTY requires lots of thought and precision timing, perhaps more than anyone is willing to invest, although watching a punchpress smash the morose Monty into four pieces that take off like rockets is definitely worth $3.50. THING BOUNCES BACK, COSMIC CAUSEWAY, KRAKOUT, and FUTURE KNIGHT make MEGAPACK an outstanding bargain; THING and CAUSEWAY make MEGAPACK well worth its price. Despite my feeling that ARKANOID was a waste of time, it does enjoy great popularity, and KRAKOUT (which is ARKANOID) will either become an obsession or put you in a room with rubber walls, or both: It's one of those games where you keep muttering "I don't believe this, no one can play this bad," but keep playing anyway. FUTURE KNIGHT is a good game, too, although the screen flicker and breakup produced headaches. Even if it were eliminated, as well, MEGAPACK would still be a great, three-game bargain. Colorful and fast-moving 3D graphics make COSMIC CAUSEWAY one fine piece of work; its predecessor, TRAILBLAZER, isn't bad, either, and you might just as easily prefer it. I found CAUSEWAY more fun simply because of its wide screen format and the SPACE HARRIER-like obstacles. THING BOUNCES BACK is too wild to be believed. There are a zillion sounds and a zillion contraptions; the screen display scrolls at top speed, especially when Thing gets inside a network of pipes, and there is no flicker or breakup of any kind. THING is similar to MONTY ON THE RUN, in that there are many devices, but the difference between the two is like night and day. Like COSMIC CAUSEWAY, THING BOUNCES BACK was published in Europe as a single game; had it been marketed in the U.S. as a commercial product, I for one would've at least tracked its progress. None of the games in the MEGAPACK is worth thirty-five bucks. It can be argued (and it has been) that no game currently on the racks is worth its price. Still, games cost what they cost, and I firmly believe that CAUSEWAY and THING should have been priced high and given the chance to succeed or fail on their own. The bargain-priced MEGAPACK, even with only four good games (five if we include TRAILBLAZER, three if we drop FUTURE KNIGHT), can't be beat. The only single-price multi-game packages that come close in value are those Mindscape occasionally released. If you have a Commodore 64 or 128 machine, and especially if you have a bunch of kids running around the house, MEGAPACK will prove to have something for everyone. Even the bummer games might amuse some players. Best of all, MEGAPACK won't break the bank. MEGAPACK is published and distributed by Virgin Mastertronic.