WE'RE obviously not in the UK here, since one of the things that menaces your toober in this coin-op conversion ( can't say tuber ' cos that is a potato) is an alligator.
Mind you, as you float nonchalantly downstream you do get attacked by munching skulls and sea snakes, so it could be just about anywhere. And for Biff and Jet, the supercool tube dudes, this is too uncool to be real.
Some forward-
Fishermen and airgun fiends on the bank also respond to the old Budweiser treatment, but your ammo is strictly limited to what you can pick out of the water.
Your tube is a bit like AmigaDos - it needs to be patched from time to time. These patches are, in effect, the number of lives you have..
There are a few other useful objects floating about. There are bonus beach balls and treasure chests, and once in a blue moon you might happen upon a patch or two. Unfortunately there are far more rocks and branches in the water than there are bonuses, so you've got to be really careful with the steering.
For extra points you could try going though some gates for a bonus of up to 1,000 points. If you bounce off a gate, the bonus halves and the gate widens for you to try again. These, you might think, are just a slight interlude in the game. Actually, if you are legging behind and the big bad alligator is on your tail, negotiating a gate is the only way of shaking him.
Toobin' has been promised as a conversion for a very long time. This reviewer thinks it hasn't been worth the wait. Sure, there are some bits that aren't completely dreadful - every game has some good bits - but the whole isn't particularly great.
The title does have a good example of colour cycling in a fairly neatly waterfall, but the rest of the graphics are small and slow moving. Even though the screen is nearly full height, it's nowhere near wide enough, ad the scrolling is dead slow and stop.
It's got a nice tune, but then these days what hasn't? The stereo effects has been used well, with a great steel band sound throughout: it's certainly the only lively thing about the game.
The twin player option also suffers from the screen moving at the rate of the slowest player, at which rate the game gets naff PDQ.
The whole thing smells badly of a rush job. The original arcade game has plenty of potential for conversion, which the programmers have completely failed to take advantage of.