Fronkensteen!
I wonder how many got that? Anyhow, let's kick off the new year with awesome
box art from my collection. I bought Frankenstein for only a couple of quid and instantly fell in love with the comical artwork that reminds me of (
you guessed it) Young Frankenstein. Plus I don't own anything else by Zeppelin so it's a sweet addition to my collection.
This platformer was released in 1992 and is, of course, horror-themed and feels like it's taken ideas from a selection of games, like 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 obviously excellent, let's now take a look at the back of the back and the box 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 his demand to find several gruesome items and to complete this he needs several oddities ranging from a pillow to a hanged man's body which is left abandoned in the woods. Absolutely brilliant stuff and very B-movie too - love it!!
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 out everything he needs. Easy, right?
The play area is huge and you begin in the mad doctor's castle but we are free to explore wherever we choose. That includes the dungeons or going outside into a spooky forest and into 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 a little animation I made a while back 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, believe it or not! There is a fright-o-meter that displays his current state of mind. This ranges from "okay" to "panic" and will degrade each time he touches something nasty. Once he's a blithering wreck, Egor will drop whatever he's carrying to rush back to the Doctor. He loses a life by getting a 5-ton weight dropped on him whilst suffering verbal abuse. And then he gets punched in the face! What a life, uh?
Yes, it's a harsh life being the servant of the insane Doctor Frankenstein. However, it's rumoured that a young serving wench is the one kind soul who may help to reduce his anxiety issues... hmm saying nothing...
No platformer is worth its salt unless the control mechanics are smooth, precise and responsive. It always saddens me when a potentially great platformer has been ruined by controls that don't feel quite right - just look at Chuckie Egg II right here on AtariCrypt 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 such 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 just a case of finding items scattered about many rooms. So, why not have a dry run and explore the entire map first, rather than jumping straight in? I would also recommend making notes of all item locations too. So, as 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. This will save a lot of time.
However, all 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 an high-score “J4Z”. Now start a new game and you will never get scared again! (sadly, the timer remains unaffected)
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. Don't get me wrong, each screen has an extraordinary cartoon-like style, especially in the 'Spooky Forest' with scary trees, ghosts, bats, and funny zombie-like 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 a little too slow and I feel flick-screen would have been a much better option. It's the only quibble I have because push feels unnecessarily 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 through the game collecting items. Towards the end, it's really sinister!
Well, here is my hi-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 each time. I adore its spooky theme and each screen is incredibly detailed without ever becoming impossibly hard to conquer. I can spend 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 technically 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 and I love it!!
