Despite the
title, this is in fact
the third game to be
based around the sailor and
spinach junkie, because as
well as Don Priestley's
colourful puzzler there was an
unconverted arcade original
(which gobbled a few of my
10ps in its time, fact fans).
Anyway, in
Popeye 2 (or
3, if
you see what I mean) Brutus
has kidnapped Olive Oyl
(again) and as ol' Chubby
Chinney himself, you have to
work your way up a vertically-scrolling scaffolding
arrangement to rescue her,
avoiding everything your rival
throws at you. Lots of games
make the claim, but this is one
of the few that really are of
"cartoon quality". The basic
idea, involving platforms and
ladders, barrels, bombs,
blow-torches and
fireballs, is like a loonier
Donkey Kong, but when
you add some
wonderfully detailed
graphics and the
kind of gameplay
that's as smooth
as Captain
Picard's head
then you come up
with something that's
corkier than a room
full of wine
waiters. Using
the licence to the
full, all the
Popeye characters
put in an appearance - Wimpy
won't let you pass unless you
placate him with hamburgers,
the Goons pop up for a biff or
2, Swee'pea crawls around
falling off things, and the Jeep
- well, it seems the authors
couldn't quite remember what
Eugene was famous for, cos
he just hangs about not doing
much. Mix in bouncing
springs, re-igniting bombs and
heavy weights that drop on
you if you stand around
thinking too much, and you've
got the funniest game since
Cliff Hanger. And the best bit
is, if you do manage to get to
the top and rescue Olive,
there are another 3 levels
to beat. At full price this
would be a borderline
Megagame - as a
barg you'd have to
be stupider than 2
short planks who'd
just failed their
CSEs to miss it.
| Ratings given by other magazines |
| |
6/10
|
|
7/10
| |
|
| Info supplied by the SPOT*ON database |
