Thoughts by Elwood (10 00 2010) – PC (DOS)
Being a demi-god might sound like a great thing, but it’s far from being holiday at the beach with ambrosia and hot young priestesses swarming around you. In fact… it’s hard work! After all that demi-god status is somewhat annoying – annoying in the sense of… why only demi-god?! We’re talking about a great hero here after all – you! So, off you go to achieve the status of a full god.
Of course there’s several monsters, puzzles, ladders and all that between you and your goal, but can that hinder a demi-god like you? Of course not!
Zzzzzap – a jump in time for about 2.500 years: We’re not in ancient Greece anymore, but somewhere in northern Germany. It’s sometimes in the early 90s and here’s… me. I’m standing there with my friend Frank and maybe Miguel. One of us just got his hands on the new Bitmap Brothers game. It looks great, plays great – it just IS great. There cannot be another opinion – it’s a Bitmap Brothers game after all!
And well, being older now, wiser maybe – and of course having seen lots more games I would still rank this game very very high. It’s probably best described as an extremely good looking Jump 'n Run with adventure elements. It’s not “run through it, shoot everything that moves” (which of course also is advisable), but also “collect things on the way and try to use them”. And it’s not like just pulling every lever you find would do the trick – often you have to go back to put a lever back, to use an item somewhere and so on. Of course it’s not a full-blown adventure game – the game’s center is the action-elements. No question there. But it’s just… more.
The game manages to create a great atmosphere right from the start. It’s neither too easy nor too hard – you can usually push your way through many of the obstacles in your way, but usually there’s also a way around them without getting hurt (and in the long run that’s the path you’ll want). You just have to think and try out some things. Nice about it is, that the game gives you hints in which direction you should think every now and then.
If you’re even remotely into this type of game this one’s a definite must, you’ll hardly find a better game in the Jump 'n Run category.
