Pyjamarama

Mikro-Gen Ltd - 1984 - ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, CPC

The second outing for Wally and this time he’s quite literally having a nightmare of a time! He’s forgot to wind his alarm clock meaning he’ll sleep in and be late for work and thus risks losing his job. Thankfully for Wally however his consciousness is still very much active and he is able to walk around the nightmarish oversized house while searching for the missing key that’s required to wind his alarm clock, thus meaning he’ll wake in time for work.

As you’re in a nightmare, there are many strange beings and objects floating around the house including lethal flying axes, ghosts, ghoulish hands and flying darts to name but a few. The game was a vast improvement over Automania with improved graphics and smoother animations. This was also Wally’s first outing on the Amstrad CPC and went on to gain favourable review scores.

Trial and error is the name of the game here as you have to collect various objects that lay scattered around the house and then rack your brain as to work out the link between each of them, which at times is frustratingly difficult. It also takes some effort to figure out the layout of the house as not only can you move from left to right, you can also enter rooms from other points on th screen.

Graphically the game was bolder and brighter than the last and it even featured a hidden ‘Video Game’ room in which you got to play a ‘Wally’ version of Space Invaders.

A fine sequel to Automania, just watch out for that really, really annoying boxing glove!... You’ll see!