Code Masters
£2.99
Everyone's favourite computer game character has returned again with another action packed adventure from CodeMasters. Yes it's Dizzy the egg in Fantasy World Dizzy (or Dizzy III). Somehow Dizzy has acquired himself a family of little yolkfolk, and they're all in the game to help him along, except one. Daisy, Dizzy's girlfriend has gone and got herself kidnapped in the fantasy world of evil dragons, ferocious alligators and magic spells galore. She's kept in the cloud castle, and it's poor old Dizzy's job to rescue the damsel.
There are two ways of completing the game, as in Treasure Island Dizzy. First of all you can collect all the gold coins littered around or you can use objects in the correct places and risk your lives jumping alligator's noses (!) to rescue Daisy from the castle. All the cute sprites, colourful scenery and excellent sound add to the cartoon atmosphere and are totally addictive. There's even digitised speech to greet you when you've loaded the game up, and all the usual excellent Code Masters spit and polish.
All the puzzles in the game are set at just about the right complexity so anyone can play and get enjoyment out of the game without having to be an absolute genius. In fact it's worth buying just for the cute graphics! Richard and I just can't stop playing it, as each time we play we get just a little further. Definitely one for all you mappers out there.
The Dizzy games have earned themselves quite a cult following, and Dizzy III is set to be another success. If you don't get your copy today you'll never know the true meaning of playability and addictiveness.
BARGAIN BASEMENT
A bit short of the readies? Low on the folding stuff? Totally borassic? Then pop down the Bargain Basement with Marcus Berkmann, and see what goes "Cheep!" (Eh? Ed).
Code Masters
£2.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann
Barely has the Clinic stopped receiving anguished letters from Spec-chums stick on Treasure Island Dizzy, then those varmints the Oliver Twins have bunged out another of their splendid little games. Dizzy fans should know the score by now, and will no doubt be delighted to learn that this one is well up to scratch - assuming, of course, that you've got the itch. For his third adventure, the Diz ventures forth into an enchanted forest for a quiet walk with Daisy, his bit of All Right. "Snog city!" I hear you cry, but sadly not, as Dizzy, with he spectacularly bad luck, finds that his girlfriend has unceremoniously blagged by the Evil King's trolls. Sheer carelessness, of course, but at least it means another adventure for everyone's favourite egg-based lifeform. As before, this is in traditional arcade adventure mode, Diz has a number of gamesnags to iron out (he's still the greedy little git he always was) and recapturing his luscious young lovely. First, though, he has to escape from the king's dungeon. What has he got to help him? A bejewelled scimitar? A bazooka? A Sherman tank? No - an apple. Ber-rilliant... Still, he can do it with your help, and with the Oliver Twins' no traditional high standards of gameplay and design you should enjoy it as well. Neil Adamson's graphics are appropriately clear and decorative, and while the game hardly pushes back any great barriers it's still a highly enjoyable romp. Not quite a Megagame, but thoroughly recommended all the same.
Label: Codemasters
Author: Oliver Twins
Price: £2.99
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins
I thought I could probably review this one without actually playing it (as certain computer magazines do, hem-hem no names mentioned.) So let's give it a go and see how it comes out.
"Heeeeey! It's that whacky egg-shaped loon Dizzy, the avoid oddity who's always getting into zany scrapes. Join him in the third Dizzy adventure, sequel to the Oliver Twins' Dizzy and Treasure island Dizzy, as he searches for lots of bits of something hidden throughout dozens of crazy loopy backgrounds. Pick things up! Put them down! Avoid things! jump over things! And do it before the timer runs out, or you'll be a scrambled egg. Richard Darling sez it's tremendous!"
Well now, let's see how close we got. Yes, Dizzy's in it, but so are the rest of the Yolk Folk family. Daisy, Denzil, Dylan, Dozy and GrandDizzy, each of whom has a whacky, zany personality of his (or her) own. You'll meet them scattered throughout the game, and they'll give you helpful hints and items. Yes, it's full of zany scrapes. Dizzy's tying to rescue Daisy from the clutches of the evil wizard, and has to adventure his way through the Fantasy Land to find her.
Yes, you can pick things up and put them down, using a Magic Knight-type interactive menu system, and you can use objects to solve puzzles like impassible flames, locked doors, crocodile-infested rivers and the like. But there's no timer. Oh, and Richard Darling says it's "fantastic", not "tremendous".
Dizzy is his old lovable self, scuttling along the ground and spinning through the air like an Edwina Curry reject. The backgrounds are nice and colourful, there are big objects like food, (drink, coins and tools to pick and there are nice little touches of animation like rippling streams and flickering flames.
So Dizzy III, Fantasy World, is very much the same menu; as before; but there's more of an interactive adventure element to it than usual. For instance, on the opening screen, you pick up an apple, put it down in front of the troll guarding a door, and you get a series of dialogue boxes; "Ooh, for me, how generous, I'd like to let you through the door but the king would torture me. But you can use that jug of water to put out the flames." So with the aid of that little hint you get through to the next chamber. What with ravenous rats, fierce flames, callous crocodile, and other alliterative adventures to survive, Dizzy III is more entertaining than it sounds. Obviously the Oliver Twins have had enough experience in the graphics, animation and game design fields to give the whole thing a very professional finish; it might not be the most original game in the world (in fact it might be the least original) but it's a perfectly good little pot-boiler, or egg-boiler if you prefer.
JIM SEZ: 75% "Cor blimey, it's the same as all the others. Still, they were OK weren't they?".
Spectrum £2.99
Other than using the word 'simulator' as much as possible, those darling Code Masters have made a hero of a little wiggling egg called Dizzy. In this, his third game, his girlfriend's been kidnapped by a dragon (no, I'm not accidentally re-reviewing Ghosts 'n' Goblins) and is being held in a cloud castle in the heart of Fantasy World. Dizzy runs and jumps through flick screens, avoiding dangerous creatures and surfaces, and collecting coins and objects.
Background graphics are bright and detailed but there's colour clash. Sprites are cute and characterful but Dizzy himself is just too nice. Audio highlight is the digitised intro speech.
In a way, I think it's a shame that Dizzy games are popular (Fantasy World is his third adventure), because that stupid egg is a naff sprite. But you can't knock the quality of his games. His latest arcade adventure can be completed in two ways, either just collect all the gold coins you can find or use objects you find to solve puzzles. Either way you play, difficulty level is set just right so you progress that little bit further each time, ensuring you try again. Playable and mappable, Fantasy Worlds the best Dizzy game yet.
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