Producer: Gremlin Graphics
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Machine code
Author: S. Hollingworth
This is Gremlin Graphic's Spectrum follow up to Monty Mole. Originally released first on the CBM64, Potty Pigeon on the Spectrum is quite a different game and in a way more complex. The pigeon owns a nest in a tree with three ever-hungry chicks in it. What they want is worms and loads of them. Here and there across the linked screens there are heads up above ground, worms sticking their silly heads up above ground. Potty has to go around and collect them, one at a time, and fly them back to the nest. This costs him a lot of energy, which is replenished by catching the mayflies, not an easy task as dart about. Although if he walks his energy level also goes up.
Life would be just too easy for Potty if it weren't for those little hazards that make life interesting. In this case these include a busy helicopter, snap dragons, frogs, angry red birds, spiders and cars on the road in some screens (it was the cars that made up all of the CBM64 version). The landscape itself also poses problems as objects cut up the playing space, forcing Potty to fly dangerously close to some hazards. His sole means of defence is a natural function which pigeons have a habit of using all the while. It stuns the nasty for a few moments!
COMMENTS
Control keys: Q/W left/right, P/L up/down, N to SYM SHIFT to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2
Keyboard play: responsive, well laid out
Use of colour: good
Graphics: quite good, smooth and detailed
Sound: above average
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
Screens: 11
Monty Mole was hard to follow, Potty Pigeon is a good game but not in the super League! Generally the graphics are good, but are not all that exciting. The collecting theme here is not a new idea - it is alright but not very addictive. Potty Pigeon will not be remembered as much as Monty Mole, once a standard is set it has to be kept up to. Good but uninspiring.
Potty Pigeon is similar to the CBM64 version in name only. Feeding your chicks is no easy feat. The first load of screens are simple but on later levels it really gets hard. The graphics are good, though some of them are a bit small. The game itself is extreme fun to play and produces many thoughts such as, 'I've got to do better next time.' Potty Pigeon is a worthy successor to Monty Mole and I'm sure many people will like it enormously. Overall, it offers a good challenge to games players of all sorts and it's worth having in your Christmas stocking.
Potty Pigeon is a novel but simple idea, just collecting worms. It couldn't be easier could it, except for avoiding the odd helicopter, hawks, triffids and cars - even frogs are dangerous, but then again, it's all in the every day life of Potty the pigeon. Sounds thrilling, well I can assure you it gets very tiresome, repetitive and boring, and quite often frustrating. Frustrating for the simple fact that for no reason whatsoever, every now and again, you lose you hard-earned worm. Graphics are quite pretty, colourful and detailed, but I can't really say that there is a terrible amount actually moving and going on to keep you interested. They say it's the early bird that gets the worm, but sometimes it's the early bird that gets the bullet - in the back.
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