STRIPPING PENELOPE

Author:

Jaime Grilo

Memory: 48k/128k

Released: 2021

If you thought the age of misogyny had passed, left languishing back in the late twentieth century where it belongs (not that it belongs anywhere), then think again. This game is all about Fred Stallion and his pestering of a girl at a bar named Penelope. At first she tells him to do one, but after pestering her to show a bit of flesh, she gives in and offers to strip off an item of clothing for each present he brings her. Hmmm. It’s up to Fred to enter the dangerous world of...well, I’m not sure where but I’m guessing it would be somewhere in the pub? We’re not really told, but ahead of him are the usual enemies and platforms that many a game protagonist finds themselves in, avoiding death, collecting shiny things and most importantly, those special items (that women can’t resist apparently); so he can get to the end of the game and finally get to see a girl naked. How romantic.

CRITICISM

• Stripping Penelope has an 18-rated warning, and rightly so, as even the intro has dialogue that should not be seen by the eyes of youngsters. We genuinely wouldn’t want them to think this is how the world works or how the majority of people view women. The game sees Fred’s attempts to ‘woo’ Penelope, which can be a bit of an eyebrow-raiser.

Whilst there are several different items to collect, from ‘man’ symbols that increase your energy and parachutes that allow you to drop into rooms that would otherwise be unreachable, it’s a bit of the same old song and dance when it comes to the action.

Strewn throughout each level are items of Penelope’s clothing that you need to collect to give to her, along with the gifts required to ‘progress’. Sadly, progress is not something we see here, not least where it comes to men’s perception of women. Strip away the unnecessary and offensive theme, and you have yourself an unoriginal, bland platformer that relies on this theme to garner attention when more work should have been done on the game itself. Are people that desperate to see a naked woman in Spectrum form? I’d guess not.

Paul Davies