It must be difficult coming up with fabby new ideas for games, and even more difficult trying to create a new character that the gamesplaying public will take to their hearts and embrace with great fervour. We've already got eggs, moles, mice dragons and slugs - which only goes to show how under-represented fish and bison are. Beyond Belief, however, have completely ignored this sorry state of affairs and chosen a chimp as their new flag bearer.
    Okay, so there aren't many games that have chimps wandering around but that's only cos nobody's picked up the PG Tips licence. When they do, we'll have chimps in racing cars and chimps in shoot-'em-ups. But for now there's only one chimp that matters. He's called Biff and he's pretty darn cute!
    
Chocs on trees
Biffs cuteness has no effect on his mother. Despite the fact that he blinks very sweetly, she has still chucked him out of the tree house. Chimps are not known for their neat ways, as you'll know if you've ever watched them having a tea party, and Biff is no exception. He left his room in such a mess that his mum just flipped. So Biff is wandering around the jungle, trying to think of how he can get back into his mum's good books. And then... Eureka! Of course, he'll give her some chocs and chop some firewood. Hurrah!
    The only trouble is, there's no convenient corner shop in the jungle. So where d'you get your Milk Tray from? Well, they grow on trees. You have to find the chocolate seeds, plant them and pick up the box of chocs. Smart, eh?
    Biff, as you've probably already gathered, is quite similar to a certain series of games that chronicle the adventures of everybody's favourite egg. Like the Dizzy games, Biff has you trotting around a multi-scrolling screen avoiding various nasties and picking up all manner of strange objects. Before too long it becomes obvious what you need the Access card and the old boot for, but at first it can be a tad confusing. As you collect and use more objects, the larger the area you're allowed to walk around in. There are so many odd things lying around that it's difficult to know what to pick up first. Luckily, there are on-screen hints and, here's a hint, you should always pick up the flashing object.
    Biff is not the most original of games to drop through the Shed letterbox but it is jolly good fun. As long as you have the patience to blunder through the first couple of screens a few times to work things out, you should have a few rewarding hours ahead of you. The graphics are clear and bright, the controls are smooth and the game itself is interesting enough to keep you playing. The only problem with our copy was that when Biff jumped from the top of a tree, he ended up on the opposite end of the screen than expected. Hopefully, this bug (which isn't actually that bad, or annoying, as bugs go) won't scuttle across your copy. Buy Biff anyway, it's alright!

Ratings given by other magazines

8/10      7/10

Info supplied by the SPOT*ON database

YS Cross-references
		Biff/Beyond Belief	YS75	PRE