Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum (Sega Master System review)

Developer: Tec Toy
Publisher: Tec Toy
Released: 1997

Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum is an action game that was only released in Brazil.

+ There's a variety of locations on offer and each screen is basically a puzzle-like mini-game, which is a neat core concept.

- However, none of the gameplay types are fleshed out and you're left with basic scenes that fail to provide any excitement.

- Certain areas rely on luck over skill, such as the burger making game where you blindly click drawers to reveal items.

- Poor collision detection, resulting in simple platforming tasks (e.g. jumping from numbers 1-12) being super frustrating.

- Final level has peculiar speed up, followed by extreme slowdown, almost as if the game engine is confused.

- Characters walk at a snail's pace and their run ability takes forever to gain momentum, making it hard to avoid damage.

- Graphics are comically bad for a 1997 release, and the lack of tile art in the sprites and backgrounds is amateurish.