Round the Bend!


by David Sanders, David Sowerby, Gareth J. Briggs, John Carlyle
Impulze
1991
Sinclair User Issue 119, Jan 1992   page(s) 28

Label: Impulze
Memory: 48K/128K
Price: £10.99 Tape, £15.99 Disk
Reviewer: Big Al Dykes

Round the Bend as a children's TV series is certainly entertaining and more than a little wacky. Unfortunately the only wacky thing about this computer game is when you whacky the joystick offy the wall in sheer frustration!

Round the bend's characters are Doc Croc, publisher and editor of the RTB comic, Lou Brush, the artist, Jemima Wellington-Green and Vince Vermin, fluffy teenage terrors. As the sprites are either rodents or a crocodile the game, rather aptly, takes place in a sewer (watch out for gutter humour).

Lou has invented a new printing press which has inexplicably been blown up by Doc Croc along with an entire issue of their comic (eek!). Our furry heroes must recover the parts of the printing press and the missing comic pages before the printing deadline elapses. Strikes me that the game should have been called SU Crew as we seem to go through this problem every month, the only difference being that our 'old croc' is known as Doc Sumpter.

Round the bend is difficult to play mainly because the control is slow and the background screens are too cluttered to allow accurate judgement of your character's movements. Unfortunately the plot isn't too inspiring either and I can't understand why each sprite makes an unfunny farting sound as he or she jumps. Not what I call riveting entertainment.


GARTH: A pile of old croc's droppings. I've had more fun racing slippery kippers along a tight rope. What are you doing Zeppelin?.

Graphics: 57%
Sound: 53%
Playability: 51%
Lastability: 61%
Overall: 48%

Summary: Not Turtles, not Gremlins, not even Noddy goes to Toytown, in the Garthmobile. This game had potential but none of it was realised. Only get it if you like being frustrated.

Transcript by Chris Bourne

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