Magic Pockets

Title		Magic Pockets
Game Type	Platform
Publisher	Renegade
Company 	The Bitmap Brothers
Players		1
Compatibility 	A500 + A1200
HD Installable  No
Submission 	Chris Burns (bitmapkid@yahoo.com)

Review
  Probably the least liked of the Bitmap's formidable games roster, you
play the ultra cool Bitmap Kid, a shades wearing, backturned-baseball cap
adorned youngster who always keeps his hand in his pocket (for reasons
which will become clear!). Kid has bottomless pockets in which he keeps
his toys; there are also various creatures in there which have now stolen
his toys and have the nerve to play with them!!!  Kid must travel through
four worlds (caves, jungle, lakes and mountain), each of which contain
many sublevels, to retrieve his bike, boxing glove, diving helmet and
space hopper.  Oh, and he has to also prove that's he's the coolest on
each toy to all the creatures and get back to the 'real world' in time for
the all-night rave!

   Kid has a different weapon on each world; he can create and throw
whirlwinds on the cave level, clouds on the jungle levels, ice cubes in
the lakes and snowballs on the mountains.  In each case, he produces the
weapon from his pocket and the more he jiggles his hand around in there
(!), the bigger the weapon gets.  A 'big' weapon will trap a monster and
Kid can get a reward by then walking into it.  They have other properties
too - Kid can walk into a big whirlwind and be catapulted onto higher
levels or into monsters, killing them; a big cloud will produce a raindrop
which will make certain plants grow, creating more platforms while
icecubes will freeze the top of lakes allowing Kid to walk across the top
of them.  There are bubblegum machines scattered about which Kid can use
to blow bubbles and float around! With Kid being so cool, he can't be hurt
once he has retrieved his toy so you can ride about on the bike or squash
baddies on his space hopper etc to your hearts content. Brilliant stuff.
Be careful though!  If Kid doesn't hotfoot it to the exit, a bubble will
come and trap him, while taking away any powerups he's collected.  You can
kill the bubble for a 5000 point bonus however..

   Of course, in the Bitmap tradition, the game is full of powerups,
bonuses, neat animations, detailed graphics and secret rooms.  One thing
that happened while I was playing it (only once) - I killed a snowman,
which produced a jelly baby 'reward', and the jelly baby ran off!!!  Very
cool!  Also, when monsters are hit with a weapon, they look stunned and
stars circle their heads cartoon-like!  Not to mention the groovy Betty
Boo 'Doin' the Do' music and Kid's gleeful 'Yeah's and 'Wow's when things
go well.

   In short, this is a very clever game and I would recommend it to
anyone. You've really got to see it! However, there are two criticisms
which I would level against it: one, the pace is quite plodding which
doesn't suit the cutesy style (although it IS better on an A1200). Too
much going on, on the screen? Two, there is no password system (on the
Amiga, though I've heard other platforms do have one) which means you have
to replay the whole thing (quite laborious) if you get killed late on or
figure out the rather obscure method of teleporting levels.

  It took me 8 weeks to finish it because it is quite hard so there's a bit
of longevity there, especially if you take the time to explore the secret
rooms.

Alphabetical list.