Commodore Free 31/Commodore_Free_Issue_31_2009_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/manky

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 5KB | 179 lines

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       Game new review MANKY
    Review from Richard Bayliss
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http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3
A//www.lemon64.com/reviews/view.php%3F
id%3D928

Downloaded this game to check it out
and I decided to write a review for
it. First of all the game is frozen
with the Action Replay cartridge, as
it was programmed with an Action
Replay cartridge M/C monitor. It is
quite interesting that people are
actually still using machine code
monitors in Action Replay rather than
assemblers or cross-assemblers, but
that does not really matter to me. We
have a choice. Anyway, on to the
game.

First of all you are presented with a
cyan screen with large writing that
says Manky with a sprite of a gorilla
right in the centre above the name.
There are also some game options you
can choose from. You can select to
play from keyboard or joystick then
press space bar to play the game, or
just press 'I' to read the
instructions.

When I read the instructions (After
pressing 'I') the screen's colour
turns grey and with white writing.
The game instructions look extremely
untidy. To my opinion there should
have been two paragraphs. The first
paragraph should read

"Guide Manky through each level
collecting keys, eggs and grain.
Avoid chicks and other nasties and
don't fall off the platforms. Collect
all keys and six or more eggs.
To get more points, collect grain
only if Manky's skin is white."

Then a new paragraph which should
read:

"When the toilet wall is open, guide
Manky to the toilet then sit on it to
move on to the next level. You must
make it before the time runs out.
Good luck!"

After pressing the space bar to
return to the options screen, you can
go on to the game. After pressing the
keyboard or joystick option key,
which can be annoying. I would prefer
the options to be automatically
highlighted before playing the game.
Now it is on to the game.

The first game screen starts with
Manky at the bottom left of the
screen, with various ladders which
the poor chap has to climb to grab
the keys. Also in the game screen,
there are various enemies which are
trying to stop you. They are the
chicks (looks like sprites ripped
from Chuckie Egg by A&F Software) and
also bats. Looks like a fun game a
bit like Chuckie Egg (One classic
game that I really enjoyed in my
childhood memories).

When I control Manky with a joystick
in port 2, he moves left, right, up
and down okay, but when I try and
jump, using the fire button. The jump
moves are terrible. The player
appears nowhere from the top of the
screen and then lands to the ground,
which games like Chuckie Egg makes
the player jump up and down. This is
the major drawback to the game. So if
you tried to jump over obstacles, you
would find it virtually impossible to
do that. I find it impossible to go
to the toilet, due to the poor game
play implemented caused by the
jumping. Also why does Manky not fall
straight to the bottom and die?
Animation of the death (Or maybe a
white Manky with a halo floating up
the screen after falling or collision
with bad things would do the trick.)

Basically the game itself is just too
hard to play, and addictive level
would unfortunately be extremely low.
Probably one or two plays of this
game would put people off. No matter
how hard I try to complete a level
without cheating, it is literally
impossible. Even on a real Commodore
64. Therefore game over is too quick.

On the graphics front, the game looks
like a very 1984/1985 platform style
game. The chicks look as if they were
ripped from Chuckie Egg (EDITOR
COMMENT see the amendment at the end
of this text)also the design for each
level is quite interesting.
Presentation is terrible, the front
end is extremely basic, but it is
good that the player can choose from
the game options to have keyboard or
joystick control.

Sound? Well, there is not much sound,
just an annoying noise for when the
player is moving. The sounds are very
basic. I would have loved to hear in
game music, but not the basic kind.

Overall, this game is really
difficult lacking presentation,
sounds, music, and game play. The
major flaw to this title is of course
the jumping controls and the lack of
animation, like deaths, and also lack
of proper game actions. Manky feels
literally unfinished. It probably
might have been a nice game if the
jumping control was fixed. If this
game was going to released
commercially way back in 1984/1985,
software houses would say No thanks.

It would be very nice if the author
of this game, updated this production
to allow the player to jump and also
fall properly and also add a death
sequence (Manky floating up screen
like an angel) and also update the
sound effects. If he manages to
perform this task, then this game
would probably be much better to play.

AMENDMENT
I apologized to him about the Manky
review where I said that his game's
chick sprites were ripped from
Chuckie Egg. After I got a response
from him, I realized that I made a
big mistake. All work was done by
OMEGA120. He originally hand-pixelled
the sprites, before he turned it into
computer data.

Please feel free to reprint the
review if you like, but please add at
the end about my mistake (The
sprites) and also that he's working
on improving the game, including the
jump routines

Regards Richard

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