These
games were completed and reviewed in magazines but are
nowhere to be seen today. Did you had any of them? If
so contact
us, and your name will be placed in this same page
for the glory of the C64! :)
Do
you have actual C64 screenshots of a game that, although
released, is nowhere to be seen? Then please contact
us with the relevant info and screenshots in order to
be included in the present column.
DAFFY
DUCK
(C) 1992 HI-TEC
This
arcade adventure needs no intruduction. It was reviewed
in ZZAP!64 issue 87, receiving a massive 94%. The game
is multi-load, loading each of the seven colorful cartoon
levels separately. It probably takes up one disk side.
The first level portrays 'The Film Studio' as a horizontally
scrolling corridor with enemies to jump over or temporarily
stun and includes doors that lead to various rooms and
film sets. Some of the characers encountered can be
talked to: a menu of set phrases enables you to say
'hello', ask what they're doing and if they have any
helpful tips. They sometimes give you useful items,
but only if you bring them a requested object.
The
second level takes Duffy underground to 'The Sewers'
under the film studio, past gushing pipes and mutant
fish as he searches for an exit key. Several electric
force fields stand in the way and must be turned off
by finding and flicking the right switches.
Level
3 is 'The Desert'. Here you meet Road Runner (just try
having a conversation with him!), Wile E. Coyote and
Speedy Gonzales, who (for some reason) requires a detonator
and rocket parts. These are scattered all over the barren,
horizontally scrolling landscape with many huge crevasses,
crossed by jumping on moving platforms. Like most cartoon
characters, however, Daffy can take a lot of punishment:
even if he falls down a ravine, all he loses is a bit
of energy -- which is just as well, because he only
has one life.
Level
4 is 'The Farmyard', where Daffy has to dodge squirrels,
birds and falling accorns, while looking for eggs to
take to Foghorn Leghorn, the large white rooster. Water
also causes problems as Duffy, despite being a duck,
can't swim and has to hitch rides on friendly alligators
and frogs.
Level 5 is 'The City' where Daffy faces more dangers
before progressing to Level 6: 'The Forest', in which
he has to help a pygmy bake a cake!
Finally,
in level 7, Daffy Duck leaves this planet and goes to
Mars, where he has to defeat some alien invaders!!!
You
can see the amount of work that's gone into creating
Daffy's cartoon world with some superlative backdrops
and most of his friends making cameo appearances. Of
course, Duffy himself is the star of the show, perfectly
drawn and animated. He even wears different costumes
to suit each level, eg a hard-hat with lamp in the sewers!
Indeed, all the sprites, both animated and stationary,
are masterpieces of computer art.
Equal
attention has been shown to gameplay. There's nothing
revolutionary, but it's excellently implemented with
each level having a distinctive flavour. With simple
controls and easy-to-use speech menus, the game's easy
to get into and very compulsive. The seven levels are
mainly collect-'em-ups, with a small amount of problem
solving thrown in for good luck.
Presentation
87%: Neat
intro, long levels make multiload tolerable.
Graphics 94%: Colorful backdrops are superb.
Daffy is perfect.
Sound 85%: Jolly tunes aren't cartoon style but
still good.
Hookability 93%: Jumping around collecting objects
is compulsive.
Lastability 89%: You only have one life to explore
varied levels.
Overall Strike: 94% SIZZLER!
This
article heavily based on the ZZAP!64 review of the game
(August 1992).
************
In
the same issue of ZZAP! a competition was held where
the winner won 30 Hi-Tec games, including Duffy Duck,
and 10 runners-up got a Hi-Tec game of their choice.
Since Daffy Duck was heavily praised in that issue,
probably most runners-up requested a copy as their game
of choice. We wonder if any of those persons actually
received a copy of this game, so we present here a list
with their names, hoping that someone may be able to
track them:
Winner:
Terence Honeyford, Buxton, Derbyshire.
1st
runner-up: Emily
Hall, Maidstone, Kent
2nd
runner-up:
Garreth
Jackson, Barry, S Glamorgan
3rd runner-up:
Ian
Rude, Taunton, Somerset
4th runner-up:
Nicole
Haynes, Camber, Co Down
5th runner-up:
Murray
Hamilton, Cannock, Staffs
6th runner-up:
Robin
James, Kingsteignton, Devon
7th runner-up:
Craig
Deans, Kilsyth, Strathclyde
8th runner-up:
Marc
Cobell, Bournemouth, Dorset
9th runner-up:
John
Friend, Northfleet, Kent
10th runner-up: Stephen Ryan, Stretford, Manchester
Following
newsclip appeared in ZZAP!64 issue 89 (November 1992):
HI
AND DRY
Hi-Tec, famous for their high-quality cartoon licences,
are having a spot of bovva! Severely affected by the
recession and the spectacular fall of the Amstrad CPC,
the boys from Sheffield are currently looking for financial
backers.
'Our biggest problem was financial structuring,' said
Hi-Tec supremo David Palmer in an interview with CTW,
the computer industries' leading trade paper. 'We were
heavily dependent on our banker's support. We did very
well though, our Premier range sold very well.'
So there we have it -- if you've got a few hundred grand
to spare, buy 'em out. If not, grab a copy of the brilliant
Daffy Duck instead -- companies who produce software
of this standard shouldn't be allowed to die!
************
Anyone
knows names of programmers or people associated with
producing this game? Pls contact us!
Anyone
has reviews of this game in a different C64 magazine
of the era? Commodore Format perhaps? Pls scan it at
115dpi and send
it over so any new information/screenshots are added
to the present article.
On
to MURDER
And
the Others...
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