The first D-Rimanovsky thrower of the extremities, who tried to conquer the hearts of Snes holders in the era. Let’s see if there was something to conquer them.
Hello, my good! I planned, it means that I pushing two games with my foreheads: PLOK from the infamous Software Creates and Dynamite Headdy from Treasure. Despite the deep class differences-PLOK went to SNES, and Dynamite Headdy appeared 16-bit from the Sega,-there is a lot in common between them. First, both games are platformers. Secondly, both main characters can throw their limbs. Thirdly, both games appeared on the shelves of stores a little earlier. Fourthly, each of the games offers its unique mechanics and does not repeat the opponent blind. It is important to note that I do not set the goal to somehow belittle Reiman or to compare it with his predecessors, looking for plagiarism with a magnifying glass. I just want to show how different game designers developed the same topic and what means used for this. Well, just draw attention to two games that remained in the shade, of course.
In the process, however, I had to divide the publication into two parts, each of which will tell about its hero. In my opinion, such an implementation will look much more adequate than the previously planned monster Frankenstein, in which two completely different games would try to fit. But stop talking to no use – the first part is ready for your trial, and she will tell you about the game called PLOK!
A game was born in 1993 by the joint efforts of the Pickfords brothers and Software Creations Studios. Both of them managed to post a lot of games for the spectrum and others like that by that time, as well as attach their hands to some notorious projects, which were subsequently published by LJN and gained wide fame thanks to one well-known YouTube Chairman. Suffice it to say that it is Software Creates that are responsible for creating the Silver Surfer game for NES. On the other hand, they are also responsible for a very good game about Tom and Jerry for the same console, as well as for cool isometric puzzle-platforms Solstice and Equinox, so you can expect anything from their "novelty". Oh, how long did the first acquaintance with the game take place, it is scary to dive again in it.
And immediately I would like to dwell on local music. Why so? All issues regarding such a decision will disappear immediately after you see the names of the super -brothers of the follics who managed to write a number of stunning soundtracks by not one game in 1993 and far from one platform. In principle, only the title topic that combines the labial accordion and an unusually realistic guitar by the standards of the capabilities of the capabilities is enough to approximately assess the scale of the work that the composers did. A special mention is worthy of the longest track of the game – Akrillic, which plays to a repeat four minutes. Starting with an uncomplicated melody and straight as a rail of the rhythm, it eventually reveals into an epic progress.Rock-fraudulent with atmospheric solo in the second half. There is such a feature of some compositions of follics – at first they sound simple and even primitive, but gradually reach the climax of impressive scale.
Only a nuance – the soundtrack as such accelerates for too long. Before you hear all its diversity, you will have to go through seven of the same stages, in which the same composition Cotton Island plays, completely devoid of any variations. It is not bad in itself, diverse and to some extent funny, however, with such annoyance it quickly bothers. On the other hand, when, after a series of identical tracks, the boss’s theme for the first time bursts into the game, the feeling that a guitar combination exploded nearby nearby. In contrast to everything that sounded earlier (and, perhaps, everything that will sound later), the villainous theme is a real aggressive mess, which, with a slight processing, would completely go beyond the solo of some EBM artist. It’s just amazing.
She looks very bright and saturated. https://blockspinscasino.co.uk/ I can recall a similar degree of colorfulness and cartoons on the console only in the famous Yoshi’s Island, released two years after PLK. Let the game and do not please the effect of parallax with a thousand layers of the rear background, the usual background picture and a change of time of day was enough to make the eyes pleasant. As if in contrast to the expressive front plan, the background is often made in soft colors and is almost devoid of sharp color transitions. If he had also been screwed with a multi -layer, it would have turned out to be a fairy tale. To the disadvantages of the appearance, I would only record an interface – the upper panel with glasses and lives is painfully fatty and blocks a considerable part of the screen, but this is rather a nit -picking. As for the literary background of such a rainbow world, then.
The story is this: there is a polyester archipelago in the world somewhere, on one of the islands of which a mysterious creature named Plok lives a calm life of an ordinary lazy person, whose appearance causes associations with kuhlx-plane and with a medieval executioner at the same time. In order to somehow diversify his everyday life, a pilament on the territory of the whole island placed flagpoles with flags named after himself a beloved and now tirelessly monitors their safety. And then one day, ordinary in the morning, our hero notes that his favorite flag hanging right above his house disappeared somewhere. Without enduring such a familiar attitude to his person, Pilament went to the adventure in search of a lost relic. But who would have thought that the stolen flag is only a bait to make a true villain out of the shadow and capture the island in the absence of his main and only defender?!
Viva la Absurdo, what else to say. It is worth noting that the local script is presented in the form of an honest intra-game text, and not printed entirely somewhere in the user instruction. There is nothing more to add to the foregoing – the game sincerely fools, without claiming any laurels. Well, finding the traces of the flag on the neighboring island, I found my adventure.
At first PLOK – to the brain of the bone platformer. The character needs to get to the opposite edge of the screen, collecting shells scattered everywhere and trying not to get damage. The purpose of the shells is similar to coins in games about Mario-so much collected and received an additional life. But the main feature that makes the plane a plane is his ability to throw his own and legs into enemies. And without unnecessary scope: pressed the button – and the shell is already flying forward. The protagonist is not limited by any specific limb and can use everything at once, but they fly back to the owner not as fast as from him. That is, the pill risks for a while to stay literally with a naked torso. This does not paralyze it in one place, of course, but will create certain problems with moving, since the legless version of the hero will be able to move only with the help of jumping on the ass. It is worth the lost parts of the body to return to its rightful owner – the situation is normalized in an instant, but it is still not highly recommended to hammer the attack button – sharp changes in the control of the character can play an angry joke. By the way, the physicist of the notorious Mario works on the slopes – if you sit down on such (or even without legs, which is also an option), then it will be vigorously rolling from it.
After winning the first boss and returning home, the game will open from a completely different side. If earlier it was simply necessary to reach the right border of the screen intact and the safety, now the creators decided to make diversity and put before the player the following prerequisite: "Kill all enemies of a certain type at the level". The stages themselves also underwent changes and from the usual strip with obstacles moved to multi -story and even some nonlinearity. It seems that the problem is small, but the hero will now have filthy fleas, who are not only that, as it should be filthy fleas, jump on the screen in all directions, and also require three hits for killing.
And with hits in this game, a separate story. I don’t know what the developers thought when they added temporary invulnerability to opponents, but this not only hits the nerves, but also unjustifiably stretches the duration of the game. Imagine the situation that you pressed one flea against the wall and are ready to overthrow the accumulated anger at it, throw it with all the limbs, and she gets only one blow and safely represents it far away. Or right on you. And this despite the fact that a flat can attack only strictly right in front of him, no verticals and all the more diagonal him are unknown. At the initial levels, such a restriction was slightly strained, since the enemies were often at the same level with a pile, but with the advent of opponents, which can be almost any point of space relative to the hero, the seeming very good game abruptly gives the brakes.
Local rols are called to come to the rescue, which are huge gift boxes. In them, the brave defender of the flags can find one or another special equipment, ranging from boxing gloves to the rocket launcher, shooting at the same time at all eight sides. Such improvements have one very pleasant and one very unpleasant property. Nice: Having received damage from the pumped plane, the enemy practically does not flas it and can be literally crushed by a powerful one. The unpleasant property lies in the fact that such joys of life last a few seconds. But they are often given out for a reason, so they really help to clean the next location from fleas.
Another equally important check is a magical amulet that the hero receives in the second third of the game in the plot. By pressing al and r, the hero will begin to throw out the shells collected earlier and gradually go into the berserker regime. In this state, a pilate in a jump turns into a circular saw that causes damage to everything that will touch. And damned fleas, if you catch them in the air, one hit is enough. The problem is that turn consumes shells-the only resource for mining lives, which complicates the game by order.
. Which you can’t call it already simple. A huge strip of life at the Plok here is even worse than in Megamen. Seriously, she just teases you, because almost any attack on the hero shortens her almost a quarter! But in the bosses it decreases correctly: one blow is equal to one or two divisions. In this situation, the rapid losses of lives are inevitable, and after they are all over, the player is waiting for the strangestly realized Continue that I have ever seen. Firstly, from the very beginning you have continued exactly zero; To earn them, you need to collect the word PLOK. The letters are issued at the end of each level and are occasionally located in the form of bonuses. But, even having earned a sequel, do not flatter yourself, because after losing all lives, it will return you to the level where you lost, but to the one where you received this continued. In other words, this is something like a one-time sie of Steite.
The game is already quite long by the standards of a 16-bit platformer, so it also inserts such sticks into the wheels. But not everything is so bad. It provides for two super-durations that are activated automatically after passing the first and penultimate boss, respectively. And if in the last section you still waste all lives, you will not start again, but with the same section. The game still remains difficult, but thanks to these two preservations, it becomes at least adequate. But not only this developers stored for the player. In the world of polyetes, you can find secret WARPs that allow you to jump part of the levels. They are the most strange way of possible – you need to beat local health enforcement agencies with your hands and feet. After the first two strokes, they will become more and more efficiently, after the third they will either break or transfer the hero to a bonus level, for which he will be rewarded with teleportation through the game. It is impossible to determine such a healing outwardly, so you have to double -check each and remember their location for subsequent replaying.
The last way to simplify the game is to enable Child Play mode in the settings – radical to the limit. Formally, this is just a “light” level of complexity, making the main character stronger, and enemies are slower and more fragile, but here he goes further and cuts out part of the levels, making the game much shorter.
Interestingly, the brothers Pickfords do not forget about the plane and years later. Although the rights to the game still belong to Nintendo, and without its direct permission, there can be no question of any reprint or portion, the red-yellow extremity thrower was reborn in the comic book format. Yes, this does not apply directly to the game, but it is still worth mentioning. I would not call the comic book a comic book, but it is quite funny in it that the hero who overslept for 20 years is trying to wedge into modern video game trends and tries to at least just comprehend them. Previously, a comic could be found on the website of the Pickford brothers, but now there is nothing on it at all. Praise to Sardeli for the existence of Achive.Org!
Here, in principle, everything that can be told about the game. Bizarre, not successful in everything, but definitely worthy of attention thanks to a good appearance and truly amazing soundtrack. If the gameplay had not been so strongly stretched due to the presence of temporary invulnerability in ordinary enemies, it would be just a candy.
And let the review end at this, but the story of the pre-Rimanic throwers of the extremities does not end! And is Dynamite Headdy so well from the notorious Treasure-you will find out in the same cardinalych-time on the same cardinalych channel!