ENTERTAINMENT
SOFTWARE SECTION situations.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood is yet
another in an endless string of Brit ish-produced action games which shamelessly ape Epyx's classic Im possible Mission. Once again, Anglo designers have concocted a scenario in which a player-surrogate moves through a seemingly infinite series of corridors and rooms. As usual, the rooms contain clues
— sometimes out in the open, some times hidden—which the player must collect. Some of these objects must be interfaced with other devices lo cated elsewhere within the game. For
instance, a videocassette can only be played on a VCR, and a computer disk must be booted on a compatible micro system. Frankie Goes To Hollywood pulls out all the stops in terms of game gimmicks. It adheres faithfully to the philosophy that "more is better." Many British computerists believe that the more rooms, puzzles, and re quired tasks a game contains, the bet ter value it is. In a sense, this is true. Unfortun
ately, it doesn't say much about the quality of the games which this quan tity-oriented approach generally pro duces. Those who want a really sprawling action-adventure, even at the cost of inventiveness and origin ality, should enjoy this. A fair example of the "kitchen sink" approach used to design Frankie Goes To Hollywood is the murder. Near the
ing from Impossible Mission, Frank
nored in the documentation, are well-
ie does demonstrate some inventive
drawn, but the symbolism is a little
ness. The player must try to make the
murky. The cross obviously repre
leap from "Mundanesville," an appro priately ordinary suburb, to the arcadelike Pleasure Dome. The computerist can't go to the Dome without first becoming a complete person by collecting four types of
sents religion, but what does the hypo
pills which, when consumed, either double pleasure to halve pain. These Pharmaceuticals, combined with ac
7373).
The idea that pills, represented by icons which resemble a ribbon, a hy
podermic needle, a heart, and a cross, make people more "real" is fairly re markable. Frankie Goes To Holly wood is supposed to be controversial, but its seeming advocacy of widespectrum drug-taking may be going a little far. Parents may well want to use discretion or. at the least, discuss the theme of the program with young
Clues concerning possible suspects
might inform the player that "Miss Blofu is a vegetarian," or that "Capt. Klack is illiterate." Elsewhere, the game provides information about the
killer like "The murderer left behind a cookbook: '50 Ways To Prepare Penguin." " The player must correlate the various pieces of information to pinpoint the criminal. Despite the nagging sensation that most of this program's "original*' ele ments are cleverly disguised borrow
but after a few hours of seeing and doing it. the thrill is gone. Firebird Licensees, P.O. Box 49,
Ramsey. NJ CT/446 {phone: 201-934-Bill Kunkel
Reviewed Next Month: • Ultimate Wizard • Financial Time Machine • Macbeth
• The Arc of Yesod/The Nodes of Yesod • Battlefront 300 Baud Modem
C64, VIC20 POWER SUPPLY
$29.95
computerists. Another problem is that it takes an eternity to reach the Pleasure Dome. Adding salt to the wound is the fact that Frankie can't be saved, which means the player must retrace the same tortuous route each session. A much worse drawback is that the challenge during the entire tour of Mundanesville. The player simply moves from room to room, searches for objects, and takes them. The only decision for the computerist is which
suspects and the murderer.
conflict in the long introductory se
units" and announces the player's new status (i.e.: "The player is now 20% a real person.")
upon a dead body. Thereafter, clues move through the corridors. These
Frankie Goes To Hollywood is a game with a lot of promise, all of it sabotaged by the lack of any genuine quence. There's plenty to do and sec,
gamer doesn't face a single serious
clues contain information about the
less flagrant image might have been a better choice.
tual experiences, increase the play er's status as a "real person." Frankie Goes To Hollywood (the group). which acts collectively as the game's deity, periodically grants "pleasure
start of the game, the player stumbles appear as the character continues to
symbolize? If the needle is supposed to stand for health or medicine, some
item to discard when the character can't carry any more. There's no time
*
mf
Joystick Extension
ForC128
S2.OO
Surge Protected Power Outlets
IBM PC/XT CLONE
640 MOTHERBOARD WITH
256KRAM 4.77MH. 6 SLOTS. 360K DlSKDR /E. COLOR GRAPHIC CARD. 150 WATT
limit or hostile force which impels the player to keep moving and work fast, yet this scavenger hunt is too simple to require the gamer to pon der each move for more than a few
seconds. Where are those killer ro bots from Impossible Mission now that we need them so badly? The graphics delineate every on
screen object in marvelous detail. The icons, which are virtually ig-
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Reader Service No. 165
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