Waking up in an unknown land, no info, no cash, another Sunday morning with a whopping hangover and minging walrus breath –
Well, they’ve found out and they’re not happy! Conrad finds himself chased down, his memory erased and then dumped in a weird jungle seemingly in the middle of nowhere, one more time, Absinthe is a BAD idea. The levels are split screen by screen, much like Prince of Persia. You must navigate Conrad about the levels, picking up objects, pumping enemies fulla lead whilst trying to piece together exactly what the hell has happened. Senor Hart is expertly animated, as are his foe, the static levels providing a perfect backdrop.
Controlling him is also a joy, climbing, running, rolling whilst shooting are all done with superb fluidity, you’ll forget that you’re not James Bond. The sound effects are adequate whilst the use of music to up the tempo, calm it down, is exquisite and you really feel as if you’re part of a film rather than just a standard platformer. The puzzles are challenging without being OTT, there’s always a logic behind why you’re doing things. The levels are varied and is further enhanced by having to do different things, the level in which you have to do “jobs” to earn credits gives you some clue as to how far Delphine will go to innovate.
And now the bad, er, not a lot to report here. One annoying aspect of the static screens is that you never know what’s on the next screen. You can easily walk straight into enemy fire and for the love of god don’t go rolling off the screen otherwise you could fall, very, very, far. Once you’ve completed the game there’s not much else to keep you coming back bar the whole cinematic experience. Difficulty settings are there but it’s unlikely you’ll pick it up again immediately.
However, give it a while, remember how it made you feel and the cart will be going back in your trusty Mega Drive. A worthy conversion of the legendary Amiga game that shouldn’t be missed.
TRIVIA – Did you know that despite being slower and more sluggish, the SNES version also features a Conrad with a pink tee as opposed to white? This was also prevalent on the 3DO version.
