Eggs never get a rest do they? One minute they're being put out of a job by health ministers and the next they are starring in their very own game. This is the second eggy adventure from Code Masters with my mate Dizzy in it. Called Treasure Island Dizzy it is (surprise, surprise) set on an island full of hidden treasure.
Dizzy booked himself on a round-the-world cruise but somehow ended up in a spot of bother with the captain, Long John Silver. All his fellow passengers turned out to be pirates and he was in a right pickle (you could say he was a pickled egg!). He ended up walking the plank but just managed to scramble onto a nearby island (groan).
The graphics on the island are all cartoon-style with an impressive amount of colour and great detail. The Dizzy sprite is the same as in the original game with all its jumps and cute little rolls. It's this cuteness coupled with the playability that makes it so addictive. The puzzles in the game are just at the right difficulty level but there is one aspect that I found annoying, you only get one life! Poor Dizzy can be going along nicely and if he just puts one foot wrong - he's omelette.
There are two ways to complete the game. One is to collect all the gold coins (some are really well hidden), and the other is to find some way off the island and back to the friendly Yolkfolk. Either way I guarantee you will get hours of fun out of this game, a must for everyone's software collection.
BARGAIN BASEMENT
Another trip to Lowprice Lane with the king of the skinflints, Marcus Berkmann!
Code Masters
£1.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann
Regular readers of this page will be only too aware of my usual reactions to Code Masters games, which generally have more to do with those pesky Darling bros than the games themselves. From now on, though, I pledge to review the actual product, rather than those two stupid grinning faces (Get on with it. Ed). And why not, 'cos Treasure Island Diz, the follow-up to the hugely successful Diz 1, is not bad at all.
Written by the Oliver twins (seen Dead Ringers yet boys?), it's more than a mite like their Sport Aid game, The Race Against Bankruptcy. Diz wanders about on the island, picking things up and using them to get further in the game. The poor little chap's quite marooned y'see, but he can escape if (a) he can find a way off, or (b) he can unearth 30 pieces of gold - clearly not exactly un morceau de gateau, as in an hour's playing I only managed eight.
The graphics are neat and clear, and the gameplay is ruthlessly logical. Of course it's hardly the most innovative game in the world, but even I have to get some sort of R&R from Total Eclipse, I have enjoyed it thoroughly - to the extent that I'm actually going to have another game now. So please do not adjust your set - service will be resumed as soon as possible...
Label: Codemasters
Author: The Oliver Twins
Price: £2.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Captain Bob
Har Har! Ha ha harrr! Well shiver me anchor and splice the sails, me hearties, if it ain't old Dizzy's Treasure Island. Aaar! An' wot does yer old mate Jim lad think of it all then? Well, ee told me that ee thought it were 'opeless. But I think 'is brain's been addled by the 'ot sun, so I've taken a little looksee meself.
This Dizzy boy is an egg y'see. Not the stomach churnin' disease-ridden rotten eggs you may of heard about recent, like. (Well. - GT) Oh no. E's a real cutie. Anyways while 'e was aboard me ship, 'elpin' out in the galley, there was a terrible accident and 'e inadvertently was pushed overboard. Now, since all eggs float he swam like a goodun and finally got washed up on a desert island.
Now, being a resourceful sort 'o' fellow ee sets about escapin' from the island after lootin' it fer all the treasure ee can. Haa harr!
You control Dizzy with yer joystick an' on top of left an' right ye can somersault either way. Once you've 'ad a bit of an explore, you'll find that you'll need to start usin' the goodies you've collected for fiendish and cunning purposes.
Now. Once ye've got the hang of the controls - they're quite smooth an' ole Dizzy tends te roll around a bit - you'll get more an' more inventive an start learnin' to avoid the traps an' that.
Aar! Ye'll either be the sort of bloke that loves these games what need an object to get an object to use the other object to get the other object, they're called Cause and Effect games, or you'll be the sort wot hates em.
Personally, I hate 'em. They're neither involved an' tricky to make the puzzles interestin' or excitin' enough to excuse the pretty poor graphics There b'aint even a "run-'imthrough" option often as not.
Dizzy is rife with colour clash too. Now, I can put up with some washy colour like any man, but only if the graphics are fab enough to excuse 'em. Poor ol' Dizzy changes colour every time he walks in front of a tree or any other bit o' landscape.
I found them problems wot I came across were more infuriatin' than interestin', an' I quickly decided that I didn't really give a weevil ridden biscuit whether Dizzy escaped, drowned, cracked or starved. It's not great to look at, it's average to play an' the lead character isn't the most luvvable shipmate in the seven seas.
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