Crazy Seasons logo

IDEA SOFTWARE/THE SOFTWARE BUSINESS * £25.99

Have you ever watched Quantum Leap? You know, where Sam Beckett's time-machine has gone bonkers, and he whizzes around in the fourth dimension putting things right, where they have previously gone wrong. Well, Crazy Seasons is nothing like that.

Your time-machine has cacked up and sent boxes of 'time fluid' all over the simple drawn world. Your job, as a strange blue blob, is to bounce around the platforms putting the boxes back into alignment, while avoiding an abundance of nasties that will kill you with the slightest touch. Compared with recent platformers this is way behind the times, but fortunately very playable. Three years ago this would have been a great game, now it's an enjoyable diversion.



Vier gewinnt!

Crazy Seasons logo

Was kommt dabei heraus, wenn zwei vergessliche Wissenschaftler mit einer Zeitmaschine herumspielen? Chaos, Weltuntergang und Regenwetter? Genau, es sei denn, die Jungs bringen die Sache wieder ins Lot.

Dazu haben sie in Ideas putzigem Plattformspielchen 50 Level lang Gelegenheit. Es verhält sich nämlich so, daß die beiden Forscher einige Behälter mit hochexplosiver Zeitflußigkeit in den verschiedenen Jahreszeiten vergessen haben, weshalb nun ein bzw. zwei Spieler das Zeug zurückholen sollen. Warum sie das allerdings in Pinguingestalt tun müssen, verstehe, wer kann...

Pro Abschnitt sollen vier Behälter nach Vorgabe des Rechners zusammengeschoben werden, beginnen kann man im Frühling oder Sommer. Doch Vorsicht: Wer versehentlich einen Kanister von der Plattformen stößt oder an eine Mauer schiebt, kann ihn zwar an seinen Ursprungsort "zurückbeamen" und es erneut versuchen, aber das kostet Zeit, und die ist knapp.

Hinzu kommt der in höheren Stages verzwickte Aufbau der Bilder mit all ihren Rutschen und garstigen Gegnern - die fünf Leben und drei Continues reichen also nicht für die Ewigkeit. Immerhin können die Feinde mit den Behältern kampfunfähig gerammt werden, was Bonuspunkte oder Extras wie praktische Pistole bringt.

Crazy Seasons spielt sich ein bißchen wie "Bubble Bobble" und sieht auch so ähnlich aus: Niedliche Sprites flitzen durch knallbunte Szenarien, Scrolling gibt es keines, dafür ein nettes Intro. Man kann zwischen Musik und FX wählen, die Steuerung geht auch in Ordnung - ein wenig mehr Abwechslung, und das Game wäre rundum gelungen, so erscheint es trotz des mitgelieferten Posters doch etwas überteuert. (rl)



Crazy Seasons logo

Crazy Seasons is a cutesy, colourful platform puzzler set in the near future. In the near future scientists will not be human - they will be small, pot-bellied penguins. Luckily, there will still be seasons. (Phew!)

Two of these bird-brained scientists have almost finished building a time machine when something goes horribly wrong. You see, the all-important 'time fluid' is contained in little boxes which must be placed together using extreme delicacy and much skill.

When these boxes move out of their rightful positions the universe is in danger, because with the time fluid all over the place the whole solar system could easily find itself being sucked viciously into a black hole. Yikes! There's nothing else for it - donning a birdy costume and whistling merrily you fly off to put all those blocks in the right order and thus save the universe.

As a platform game this is pretty straightforward - simply push the blocks into the assorted crabs, birds and other feathery or furry cuties that make up the enemy. This'll kill them and you can them pick up the bonuses that they leave behind.

Of course, there are some meanies who are nigh-on impossible to avoid, in this case it's a sharp-nosed bird with a Dracula fixation. He'll follow you around the screen and do this darnedest to send you crashing to the ground, and you're at a disadvantage 'cos penguins can't fly.

So that's all peachy swell, ('Peachy swell'?! - Ed) now we come to the puzzley bit. At the bottom of each level there's a pattern of four blocks. These blocks are placed around the screen and you've got to put them in the right order in a nice neat row (it's a bit like Pengo, actually).

Simple, huh? Well, either I'm incredibly stupid or else my intelligence is different from everybody else's. I suspect the latter. Some of the blocks just refused to go where they should, and I could not see anyway of fitting them in, no matter how long I stared at them. Yet still I wanted to go on, and still I failed. Maybe I AM incredibly stupid after all...