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| Welcome
to Game of the Week! Each week there will be a
new featured game on this page. The game may be good,
average or diabolically bad, it really doesn't matter!
Just look at the pics, read the text and enjoy the nostalgia!
:-) Game of the Week! is open to contributions so if you
would like to contribute
a game article for this page you're more than welcome
to! Every article we receive will be considered! |
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Dickys
Diamonds
1983 Romik
Software
Programmed
by Brian O' Shaughnessy
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| Most
text of the present article comes from the review published
in the sixth issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(October 1985). |
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DICKIE'S
DIAMONDS
Atlantis,
£1.99 cass,
joystick or keys
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Originally released by Romik at a considerably higher
price and quite some considerable time ago, Dickie's
Diamonds is an odd sort of game, seemingly inspired
by the old arcade game Amidar. It's a sort of
rub-em-out where you have to go over the white lines
of a maze and turn them all black.
You
take the role of Dickie the Owl and you've got to collect
diamonds from the maze; well, it's not really a maze
but a web which a spider (!) draws out at the beginning
of each screen and every time you lose a life (aargh)!
This spider trucks about after you and is fatal to touch,
he also rubs out all the good work you've done.
Luckily
you can move faster than him so it isn't too hard to
cover the web. If you do manage to do so then the web
will collapse, quite splendidly, and the diamond in
the centre of it will drop to the floor for you to pick
up. Any web that you've previously turned black cannot
be walked over again and so it must be flown over (something
owls seem quite good at). Each time Dickie does this
it costs him a 'flight' and he only has a limited number.
The number of flights available decreases with each
increase in level and when Dickie can fly no longer,
then unfortunately it's just tough luck and he'll end
up at the mercy of Stephen, the ferocious spider, if
he's not careful.
That's
it really, screen after screen of the same web with
nine speeds and later two spiders on the web to challenge
you (Stephen's friend, Cecil, comes to help). There
are some options to change the game slightly though,
such as infinite flights, and being able to start on
other levels. Also, any high scores attained can be
saved to tape for loading at a later date.
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.
Okay, so the graphics
are pretty basic-looking, and the game is based on an
old one, a sort of 'painter' type, and it's true that
you aren't probably going to play it forever, and there
is more exciting software at the price around
now, but I still
enjoyed a few games and I suspect others will too. There
are always new young computer owners coming along, and
Dickie's
Diamonds is not a bad
starter game.
.
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Presentation
55%
Good instructions (with hints) and options but
annoying delay as Stephen draws up a web each
time.
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I
quite liked this game when it first appeared early
last year. Trouble is, that was a long time ago,
and with the way software has improved since then
. . . well, Dickie's
Diamonds
has aged considerably. I confess to having a couple
of enjoyable games on playing for the first time
in ages, but nothing more since there isn't really
much in the way of variation and the whole thing
is rather dated. Even though this oldie has been
re-released at a budget price, it doesn't really
match the quality current budget range.
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Graphics 31%
Animation sparse, colour poor.
Sound
51%
Reasonable version of Fugue.
Hookability
39%
A few plays and that's about.
Lastability
23%
Nine
levels if you can stand playing it for that long.
Value
For Money 42%
Not much for the hardened player,
better for youngsters.
Overall
22%
Better games available for the
price.
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Htmlized
by Dimitris
Kiminas (1 May 2003)
SID added 15/6/2003. Ripped by Warren Pilkington
Other
"Games of the Week!"
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