Winter Wally (Atari 8-bit review)

Developer: Steven MacIlwee

Publisher: Alternative Software

Released: 1987

 

Winter Wally is a multi-screen platformer from the same developer as California Run (1988, Atari 8-bit).

 

You control a penguin called Percy who has fallen into a cave while out on a morning stroll. There's nine stages in total and the objective is to collect any stray items, avoid all enemies and work your way to the exit. Each stage is unique and you'll be avoiding flying ice blocks across multiple levels, and timing your jumps to reach new platforms. They're all fun to play and the controls are solid and responsive. The difficulty is uneven though as Stage 2 features some tricky platforming as you jump onto a moving ramp, shuffle your way to the end and attempt to leap to the exit while being pushed backwards; it's the hardest stage as it takes real skill and precision. In contrast, Stage 3 is a breeze and simply involves jumping onto an iceberg and riding it to the top. Later stages challenge you to reach a mid-air object to transport to the exit, as well as making pixel perfect jumps while avoiding falling icicles. An ending screen would have been nice as you simply loop back to Stage 1 after completing everything; there's also no noticeable difficulty increase so the only reason to keep playing is to rack up a high score. My main issue is the inconsistent collision detection; the majority of times I lost lives was because Percy fell straight through a platform despite landing on it with tons of space to spare! It's an unfortunate annoyance but at least the title screen gives you the option to select any of the stages from the get-go. The music consists of a short loop with only three notes and a crappy sounding snare drum; there's also a programming bug as it frequently loops the same part without finishing the sequence. The graphics aren't anything special but I like the facial animation when Percy walks.

 

Winter Wally won't hold your attention for long but it's a fun little platformer and I appreciate the effort that went into making each stage unique. It's undoubtedly lacking in content and has a few technical issues but if you're just looking for a quick game to kill a few minutes this one is ideal.

 

 

 

Random trivia: The game was also released on the Micro Designs label, although the exact year is unknown.

Castle Top (Atari 8-bit review)

Developer: Steven MacIlwee

Publisher: DBM Software

Released: 1985

 

Castle Top is an action-platformer from the same developer as Speed Run (1988, Atari 8-bit).

 

It takes place in the year 1502 and your mission as a noble Knight is to rescue your childhood sweetheart Jessica from the clutches of Frederick, Lord of Alconbury. To do this you must climb the castle battlements, jump across platforms and avoid the projectiles and enemies that block your path. Things start off on a bad note as the first screen is extremely tough; here, you need to jump over four gaps while avoiding flaming arrows. This is easier said than done as like many Steven MacIlwee games on Atari 8-bit computers there's a distinct lack of polish. Similar to Leapster (1988) and Winter Wally (1987) the collision detection is atrocious and you can fall off ledges despite having multiple pixels in front of you. Even tapping the d-pad once to turn yourself around usually results in you falling into a pit! It's massively frustrating and you'll die repeatedly as there's only one specific pattern of arrows that will allow you to reach the other side; waiting for this can take forever but at least there's no timer! Afterwards the difficulty decreases slightly as rolling boulders enter the fray but eventually guards start to reside beneath the platform gaps and try to stab you as you jump over them. At times, I did find myself slightly enjoying the brutal challenge as beneath the technical issues there's a really fun action-platformer; it's just a real shame that the game is hampered by the developer's limited programming skills as you'll also have to contend with slowdown and freezing. The graphics are basic with a garish colour scheme and the animation is poor. There's no music to speak of and the only SFX are some terrible ambient white-noises that are supposed to resemble arrows being fired.

Castle Top is a great idea but it never really stood a chance due to insufficient programming skills from its author. In the right hands it could have been a solid action-platformer but instead most people won't be able to stomach the severe difficulty and annoying technical bugs.

 

 

 

Random trivia: The game was later republished by Alternative Software in 1987.

Monkey Magic (Atari 8-bit review)

Developer: Steven MacIlwee, Roy Lynch, Richard Skelhorn

Publisher: Micro Design

Released: 1987

 

Monkey Magic is a multi-screen action game that was developed by the same team as Leapster (1988, Atari 8-bit).

 

You play as the Monkey King who's been commanded by the powerful Buddha to collect Holy scriptures from India. To do this you have to complete two screens with differing gameplay types. First up is a static action-platformer where you must collect six peaches by jumping onto ropes, climbing ladders and avoiding enemies. It's simple in principle but what makes it challenging is the shoddy programming. Due to dodgy collision detection you'll suffer an abundance of unfair deaths just by jumping towards a rope; it's bizarre and seems like pot-luck as to whether you grab on or mysteriously die from touching it! Climbing ladders is always an adventure too as you need to be lined up just to the side rather than dead-centre. Once you've collected all the peaches you gain a Magic Cloud and the game transitions to a side-scrolling shooter where you have to defeat 18 creatures that swoop in from the right-hand-side. The problems are many with sluggish controls that make your character move at a snail's pace; you can also only have one bullet on screen and there's a lack of danger as enemies can't fire. It's utterly boring and far too easy to beat. After defeating the necessary amount of creatures the game loops and you're taken back to the action-platformer screens; however, there's never any variety in enemy / peach placement or the difficulty. The graphics are one of the better aspects as there's some great pixel shadowing, parallax scrolling and impressive walking animations where you can even see your character's hair moving in the wind! The music is also good with some nice oriental themes (including a snippet of Turning Japanese by The Vapors!) that suit the action.

 

Monkey Magic would have benefitted from more variety and a greater emphasis on polishing its gameplay quirks. Even if you give it a fair shot there's really not much to see and after a couple of minutes you'll likely pack away the tape in a drawer and forget about it.

 

 

 

Random trivia: The game was later re-published by Alternative Software, although the exact year is unknown.

Leapster (Atari 8-bit review)

Developer: Steven Macilwee, Richard Skelhorn, Roy Lynch

Publisher: Alternative Software

Released: 1988

 

Leapster is an action game where you navigate four stages in an attempt to make it to school on time.

 

These stages consist of four screens and the objective in each is to collect three objects against the clock. First up is the Town and as objects appear in the house windows you must jump onto a car and then leap to collect them. To make things more difficult you also have to avoid balloons and arrows that kill you with one-hit. Unfortunately the action is tedious as there's large periods where no cars enter, yet they're your only method of reaching the objects! Also, on many occasions items either don't appear or flash for less than a second, giving you no time to obtain them. It's frustrating how little influence you have over the action and it seems like pot-luck is needed to succeed. There's also a few bugs including ones that kill you immediately upon starting the game, and another where gravity doesn't exist and you just keep floating! In the Missile Base your job is to collect three objects while climbing ladders and avoiding guards and projectiles. It plays slightly better than the first stage as it's more fast-paced and you're in complete control of the action rather than waiting around for things to happen. Climbing up ladders can be a bit problematic though (as they don't always respond to your buttons presses) and inexplicably some of the top ladders blend into the white background! Next up is the Graveyard stage where you avoid bats and zombies and try to collect small crosses by jumping between tombstones. Again, it works okay but the collision detection is off and sometimes you'll jump onto a platform and fall straight through. The final stage is inside the School and you need to avoid paper planes, arrows and springs; there's no items to collect and overall it's quite dull to play.

Leapster is an interesting concept with some unique stage settings but it's still a weak take on the action genre. The gameplay just isn't strong enough and the ill-advised first stage and careless technical bugs leave a bad taste that's hard to shake.

 

 

 

Random trivia: Steven Macilwee programmed several other Atari 8-bit games including Castle Top (1985), Monkey Magic (1987) and Winter Wally (1987).