TINTIN ON THE MOON
Publisher : Infogrames
Release date : 1990
Genre : Action
Players : 1
|
|
|
"Pilot the famous red and white rocket through space and help Tintin to fight against the Colonel Boris who trys to sabotage the expedition !"
|
Programming :
David Perry & Nick Bruty
Graphics :
David Perry & Nick Bruty
Music/Sounds :
David Perry & Nick Bruty
|
Download ROM
|
Download Manual
|
|
Editors review...
|
"The first rocket to the moon is about to be launched from the Atomic Research Centre at Sprodj in Syldavia. On board are Tintin, Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus... The army of technicians make their final checks. The rocket is all set for take-off. Sirens and loudspeakers blare out the signal to evacuate the launch area. The gantry ramps fall slowly aside. Time 1:29am. The countdown is under way. 5-4-3-2-1. Ignition! In an explosion of flame and smoke, the mighty space ship lifts off the pad, heading for Earth orbit."
...And so leads the back story for the game. This should set the scene for what to expect in terms of what age of gamer this is levelled at even if you don't know who children's story and later cartoon favourite Tintin is. Going in armed with the knowledge that 'this game is aimed for children aged 6-10' should knock any expectations you have after paying (back in 1990) £25 for this game. This is no game for adults - if having read the manual you don't complete this in your first go just give up gaming!
Credit it where it's due - the presentation is top notch, graphics nice and colourful and a marvellous title tune. Apart from that it's as thin as a British Railways sandwich, and rather outrageous given the cost of the cart for what you get PLUS the fact that it's just a direct dump of the tape/disk original.
A flimsy and poor package wrapped up in nice bow. Avoid, unless you're a kid.
|
Graphics
|
  |
| |
Lovely colourful graphics, but no different to what you would see on a normal CPC.
|
|
Music
|
|
|
Oooh I LOVE the title tune! Very jolly and funky! Brilliant! Although no other music in game.
|
|
Sounds
|
|
|
What there is... is nicely done. But very few SFX and without music becomes a rather hollow experience already.
|
|
Presentation
|
|
|
Fantastic presentation - nice title screens, animated introduction, and great graphics for all levels and ending screen.
|
|
Programming
|
|
|
For what little there is, it is well programmed. Everything's smooth, reasonably well animated, however not touched hardware sprites and scrolling - unforgivable when the main game is a flick screen game!!! Switching gravity on and off is a cool feature though.
|
|
Playability
|
|
|
The gravity switch is a brilliant touch, shame it can't be used for much as it could have been an ace game play device. Kind of sums up the game really and highlights just how little there is to it. 2 level types - steer a rocket through space, and then put out fires and collects bombs on a space station. Repeat a few times and that's it.
|
|
Lastability
|
|
|
You'll have completed the game on your first go. Maybe this was designed for young kids, so therefore should have been advertised as such. So unless you're aged 8 or below, I'd avoid...
|
|
Concept
|
|
|
It's not a bad game concept - run or fly (with gravity off) around a space station diffusing bombs, putting out fires then capturing the bad guy. Then fly your rocket through an asteroid field collecting fuel. On paper doesn't sound too bad, in execution - very poor.
|
|
AI & Challenge
|
|
|
The bad guy Colonel Boris does get more devious as the game goes on, but it's simply not enough and it'll all be over with in one game.
|
|
GX4000 Features
|
|
|
Uses bugger all of the features. Exactly the same as the tape/disk version.
|
|
|
|
Summary
|
A poor game. Maybe passable on budget release on tape/disk but rediculous on full price cartridge release. Why did Infogrames deem this fit for release when they have brilliant games like North & South, Hostages, Prohibition (prime for an enhanced make over) and Sim City in their catalogue? I wondered this with Mystical too.
|
|
|
|
Final Score
|
58%
|
|
|
Cheats...
|
|
No cheats found.
|
|
Further more...
|
Amstrad Action final score : 45%
GX4000.CO.UK game ranking : #
Game value (boxed + instructions) : £25 - £50
|
|
Credits...
|
Manuals and some sleeve scans by mochilote at cpcmania.com
ROMS taken from NVG FTP Site maintained by Nich Campbell, see his other site - CPC Game Reviews
Cheats (various) taken from CPC Zone contributed by Hermol, cpc4eva, Malc and others
Inspiration generally taken from John King's PCW King GX4000 site
|
|
