| |
|
|
|
 |
|
| Welcome
to Game of the Week! Each week there will be a
new featured game on this page. The game may be good,
average or diabolically bad, it really doesn't matter!
Just look at the pics, read the text and enjoy the nostalgia!
:-) Game of the Week! is open to contributions so if you
would like to contribute
a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
|
|
Freak
Factory
1986 Firebird
Programmed
by S.W. Sorsbie
|
| |
| Most
text of the present article comes from the review published
in the seventeenth issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(street date: July 21st, 1986). |
| |
|
|
 |
|
FREAKY FACTORY
Firebird,
£1.99 cass, joystick only
|
|
|
This game has all the elements of a Victorian melodrama.
It stars an evil Professor who spends his days shut
up in a laboratory making all kinds of nasty and gruesome
creatures. You play a dashing young hero, out to save
the world from these meanies. Agent One of the Galactic
Police Force is your status, and your mission is to
penetrate the prof's factory and destroy the five monster
machines which are located in his maze of monster infested
dungeons.
The
factory is entered by travelling in a lift which takes
you to the first floor. From there you must make your
way through the caverns, avoiding the gargoyles which
try to suck out your energy when you pass them. There
are also spiky platforms and laser beams which deplete
your energy in great quantities when touched. Fortunately,
there are several energy rods lying around which can
be collected to boost your energy.
Each
laboratory consists of a pseudo platform game, and it
is here that the professor's assistants lurk. You can
avoid their touch by jumping over them, but if you come
into contact with one you must fight it to the death
by waggling your joystick as fast as you can.
Progress
through the platform game is hampered by the machines
which produce the nasties, and steam-driven generators
pumping out jets of smoke which hurtle you back from
whence you came. An assistant can be found on each floor,
and once they have been disposed of you can proceed
to the next platform level via a hole in the floor.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
.
The
main fault with this game lies in the instructions
which are very obscure and only give a very rough
outline of your objective. The caverns take ages
to get through because the gargoyles rip away
your energy far too fast. These can only be overcome
by moving between them one at a time before their
eyes glow, making the task very laborious. The
platform game is quite fun, mainly due to the
fact that there is a reasonable amount of action.
The graphics are generally blocky and not appealing
at all, and the diabolical tune which drones on
and on only makes things worse.
.
|
|
|
Presentation
42%
Obscure instructions make the game unplayable.
Graphics
40%
Blocky sprites and bland backdrops.
Sound
39%
A few tunes, but none of them are
inspiring.
Hookability
35%
Trying to work out how to play
the game is offputting.
Lastability
23%
Too slow and boring.
Value
For Money 32%
Even at two quid it didn't freak
us out.
Overall
28%
Give it a miss.
.
|
|
|
|
Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (4 Oct 2007)
Only the first of the above screenshots existed in the
original review.
Other
"Games of the Week!"
Home
|
| |
|
|
|
