Zeppelin
£3.99 cass
Reviewer: James Leach
1912 was a pretty bad year for ocean travel. Loads of rich people set sail for America, and, spookily enough, they never actually got there. Mister Iceberg got in the way.
Up until now, people have left the grand ocean liner pretty much alone (except for those guys who went to visit it in a weird little diving bell), but Zeppelin have decided it's the place to set a ghostly platform game.
Which brings us fairly neatly to Blinky. He's a troubleshooting, nice sort of ghost who, instead of haunting people and being really scary, helps those who ask him nicely enough. And Mr Arthur J Hackensack is asking nicely enough.
Which brings us fairly neatly to Arthur J Hackensack. He is an incredibly rich old guy who's had a burning desire to raise the Titanic. Now he's managed to get the money and the heavy lifting equipment to do it, so up it comes. However he's forgotten something pretty important.
Ghosts. Hideous, terrifying ghosts. Of coarse there are bound to be loads of spectres wandering its flooded decks. When ArthurJ Hackensack realised thism he got on the phone to Blinky.
Which brings us rather raggedly to you. You have to guide Blinky all over the ship, eradicating the ghosts and making the place fit for human habitation once again. Its a tough job, you can bet your bottom dollar on that, 'cos the ships pretty darn big.
ARE THERE CREEPY CRAWLIES TOO?
Oh absolutely. As you can imagine, if you leave a large ship at the bottom of the sea for 80 years, a lot of slimey, smelly fishy things are going to move in and make it their home. Snails (special underwater ones, presumably), flapping fish and sea birds (above the waterline) have all taken up residence.
So what we've got here is a large platform game with loads of monsters and places to explore. What you have to do is collect notes. You drop these into the funnel, and when you've got enough you can get diving apparatus to explore the underwater levels.
Fine, but the question on everybody's lips is "What happened to Lord Lucan?" (No it isn't, it's "Is Titanic Blinky any good?" Ed) Oh yes, that's right.
IS TITANIC BLINKY ANY GOOD?
Well, the answer to that is yes, mon petit chickadees. Yes, it's pretty spunky, and here's why; the game is very quick, responsive and smooth. It's cram-jam packed with details, the backgrounds are filled with bits and bobs which, no doubt, were seen on the real Titanic, and all the creatures and stuff that you meet look pretty darn spiffy as well.
The only thing with Titanic Blinky is that it's pretty tough. He's a big sprite and there really isn't much space on the screen so you keep getting killed.
Although he's a big character and keeps on bumping into things, the collision detection, unlike the original Titanic, is very good. I'm glad it's not a port from the Amstrad, so I don't have that sinking feeling, and it's also big enough to play for ages. Here you can just see the tip of the iceberg. Yes, it's cool and hard, and I hope I'm not going overboard when I say it deserves 88°. Cos it does. Great gags, eh?
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