RESTLESS ANDRE
puzzle genre of games that will have you playing for a good while. It will also have you pulling at your hair at some points though, in a good way.
Paul Davies
CRITICISM
• Sedate, tile-based puzzlers are the perfect thing for a rainy Sunday afternoon; the roast is in the oven and you just want to slouch and not overly occupy your adrenal glands during a minigaming session. BlockZ is just the ticket for that.
From the outset, this taxing little title does not hold your hand — one mistake and it will cost you a retry life. In the aesthetics department, it’s
not the prettiest thing to look at but everything is very functional and it’s clear what each block’s characteristics are. Each level doesn’t really change in appearance all that much so you pretty much have 50 levels of similar puzzles to solve. It is in this that it gets a tad repetitive for me as there is no sense of progress beyond ‘yet another level’. I did find the time limit to the level both enjoyable and frustrating.
Gordon King
COMMENTS
Control keys:
Q, A, O, P / Defineable
Graphics: A good smattering of colour
Sound:
128K tune and effects
General rating: A clever, but fiddly puzzle game.
Use of Computer Graphics: Playability:
Getting started: Addictive Qualities: Overall:
70% 60% 75% 75% 70% 73%
Publisher: ESPECTROTEAM
Authors:
Jaime Grilo, Pedro Pimenta Filipe Veiga
Memory: 48K
Released: 2020
It only took a lifetime to build up the courage to return to the open water. Jaws achieved irreparable damage for keen oceanic swimmers, convincing the world of the dangers that lurked within its realms. 40+ years on, and this scarred reviewer is about to dip his toe in the ocean again; along comes Restless Andre to remind me that there truly is a threat to life if I dare venture into this aquatic frontier.
Restless Andre is a top-down, single-screen affair in which you control Andre, who begins the game as a nutter of a swimmer tasked with navigating the maze of harbour walls to collect a variety of items within the landscape in order to progress to the next level. Of course (and back to the Thalassophobia), there are the creatures of the deep to avoid at all costs, as they are fatally dangerous. A number of them rove in a predetermined fashion, while others are as random as a plate of jelly on the Waltzers.
There are sharks, sea-urchins, and stingray to contend with that make completing a simple collect-em-up task a dire challenge.
Fortunately for those who don’t like it wet, the game progresses onto dry land upon which our fidgety hero drives cars over various terrain, avoids desert hotrods and metropolis traffic.
Then in true ‘I’m bored with this!’ fashion, he even flies an aeroplane to satisfy his adrenaline addiction (and lack of attention span).
Each of these themes help to inject some variety into what is otherwise the same core game of 20 levels.
CRITICISM
• Overall the game is charming, and it genuinely looks good and plays rather well. It’s accompanied by a really excellent 128K tune that is sure to be an earworm in my head. The main issue I have is the bloody difficulty
— is it just me, or have my evasion skills in games declined greatly as I approach the wrong side of 40? I thricefold died before I barely set foot in the water; the random movement of some of the baddies made it hard for me to gauge timing in such small confines.
Perseverance paid off and I managed to escape the clutches of the water and made it to the land and skies... and died some more. Clearly, I enjoyed it enough to want to see more — and I’m glad I did, but the game has no real staying power. It’s ultimately very repetitive hiding behind the veneer that is a variety of graphical changes throughout the game.
Gordon King
CRITICISM
• The game is nice and colourful with some neat animation on our protagonist and particularly on the sharks you have to avoid. It’s a nice challenging little puzzler requiring some expert timing in order to progress to the next level. It has enough charm to keep you hooked.
Paul Davies
Use of Computer Graphics: Playability:
Getting started: Addictive Qualities: Overall:
CRITICISM
• Duckstroma has a lovely graphical intro, with a very catchy 128K tune playing along which gives a fantastic first impression of the game.
The graphics of this platformer are top notch, and using your ‘laid’ egg to get to various parts of each screen is rather creative (last time I saw an egg explode like this was in the microwave).
Enjoyable — and that 128K tune is so gorgeous, this game is one of those you load up just to listen to the tune.
Chris Wilkins