Fronkensteen!
I wonder how many got that? Anyhow, let's kick off the new year with cool box art from my collection. I bought Frankenstein for a couple of quid and instantly fell in love with the comical artwork that reminds me of Young Frankenstein. Plus, I don't own anything else by Zeppelin, so it's a sweet addition to my collection.
Released in 1992, this horror-themed game draws inspiration from a variety of games, including Warlock and Horror Zombies. We're a slave to the bad-tempered doctor who needs several chilling items that should help him regenerate life into a dead corpse. A good twist on the expected storyline, I'm sure you'll agree.
The cover is excellent, let's now take a look at the back of the box and the contents...
Nice style around the back, too, I thought.
Here's the floppy disk. Exciting stuff, right?
And finally, the manual. It's more of a pamphlet that opens out. Not bad, I guess, for a budget game...
Egor - Half man... Half creature... All idiot!
Yes, we are Egor. A fella who, not only has a hump the size of Texas, but is also the doctor's unappreciated lackey. He suffers from the demand to find several gruesome items. To complete this, he needs several oddities, ranging from a pillow to a hanged man's body, which is left abandoned in the woods. Very B-movie!! This is a game all about following orders. Your orders come from the doctor who needs different parts for his "experiment". You're nothing more than a number, so follow his orders and seek everything.
The play area is huge, and you begin in the mad doctor's castle, but we are free to explore everywhere. That includes the dungeons, a spooky forest, and the local village with its creepy morgue. There are many creatures along the way, like spiders, skulls, wolfmen, ghosts, rats and even animated body parts.
Here is an animation that should give an idea of how the game plays...
Climb trees, dodge bats, spiders, zombies and more. A fantastic night out!
Things that go bump in the night
Egor isn't exactly the bravest guy and hates creepy things. There is a fright-o-meter that displays his current state of mind. This ranges from "okay" to "panic" and degrades each time he touches a nasty. Once a blithering wreck, Egor will abandon his belongings and rush back to the Doctor. He loses a life when a 5-ton weight is dropped on him while he’s being verbally abused. And then he gets punched in the face!
Yes, it's a harsh being the servant of Doctor Frankenstein. However, it's rumoured that a young serving wench is the one kind soul who may help to reduce his anxiety issues. Ahem...
No platformer is worth its salt unless the controls are smooth, precise and responsive. It always saddens me when a potentially great platformer has been ruined by bad movement and controls - just look at Chuckie Egg II as a cruel example of how to spoil an 8-bit classic! Thankfully, Egor's walking speed is just right, and he also jumps with effortless ease. What a joy! Spot-on perfect joystick controls, I say.
Just look at that iron maiden and the broken arm hanging in the chains. Superb!
Big tips
This is a simple game at heart; it really is a case of finding items scattered about the rooms. So, why not have a dry run and explore the entire map first, rather than jumping straight in? I would recommend making notes of all item locations, too. So, if you stumble upon something that can be carried, make a note of the location.
For those with even more spare time on their hands, I would recommend the above, but also go a step further. Because of a nasty time limit (I hate timers!!), why not collect as many items as possible that are located only in the most distant places? Bring them over to the doctor's castle and leave as many as you can here.
However, this depends on you having lots of spare time. If not, maybe play something else? ;)
Fancy a cheat? Hmm, it will ruin the game, but if you're sick and tired of getting scared, then enter this code as a high-score “J4Z”. Now start a new game, and you will never get scared!
Watch yourself out there, you're no hero, so keep an eye on the fright-o-meter.
Aesthetics
Graphically, this is a mixed bag for me, as each screen has an extraordinary cartoon-like style, especially in the 'Spooky Forest' with scary trees, ghosts, bats, and funny zombie men. I am constantly amazed by the attention to detail, and throughout, we have excellent animations for all. Hey, I love that Pitchfork guy.
The game uses a push-scrolling technique which is too slow and I feel flick-screen would have been a much better option. It's the only quibble I have because push feels too sluggish.
Sound effects are good but limited to collecting items, bumping into monsters and strange lightning weather. This lightning will get more frequent as you progress, obviously. Towards the end, it's really sinister!
Well, here is my high-score for a game using no cheats. No sir. Honest... (Can you beat it?)
The CryptO'pinion?
This is a cracking platformer with progressively challenging gameplay as you go on the hunt. I adore its spooky theme, and each screen is incredibly detailed without ever becoming impossibly hard. I spent hours exploring its huge map, which constantly reminds me of my 8-Bit days playing games like Chiller, Chuckie Egg 2, etc.
A positively simple platformer that doesn't push the Atari ST, nor does it need to. The gameplay is on top form and great fun, which is what matters. Give it the time it deserves, as this is one of the best platformers.
