Skidz logo

GREMLIN £19.99 * Controls

No-one likes to live in a town strewn with litter, but just try rounding people up to do something about it. This is the situation in Gremlin's Skidz.
Your local townsfolk are an extremely messy lot, dropping cans, bottles and pieces of paper all over the place. Despite concerted efforts nobody will get down and clear it up, so you must take to the streets and clear them up for yourself.

You can ride either your skateboard or BMX bike through the town to carry out the task you have set yourself, which is to pick up at least 75% of the litter in each of the town's messiest sections. Ten pieces of rubbish can be picked up before your arms are full, at which point you must deposit the bits in a trashcan before any more can be collected.

Throughout the town, evidence of neglect can be seen, such as potholes, broken walls and discarded boxes. All these obstacles must be avoided, since falling off your mount depletes your energy supply. Extra energy can be gained by picking up useful items around the town or by spending money in the Ride 'n' Skate shop (which doesn't seem to sell any trendy clothes, unfortunately for you hip skaters).

Money is gained by performing stunts off the ramps or by picking up dosh dropped by particularly negligent townsfolk. Don't hang about though, as there is a clock counting down, which heralds the appearance of the scrap spirit, who whizzes around you draining all your energy in an attempt to keep the mess he likes gathered around him.

Bonus points are awarded for completing tasks on each level. For example, finding and delivering a parcel, feeding the fish in the park or delivering the paper to the workmen on the building site. This is the only time that the town's inhabitants are co-operative, as for the rest of the time they just hang around getting in the way. Awkward bast... er... awkward people!

LASTING INTEREST

The first level is easy enough to complete, getting you nicely into the feel of the game, but from the park onwards things tend to get a lot tougher. You can choose to pick up the game from the start of the last level if you wish, which is a handy little facility and is bound to be well used. The superb graphics of each level will keep you playing "just to see what the next level is like!". The choice of control methods is another nice touch, allowing you to find out which manner of play suits you best so you can choose to play in that mode.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND

Skidz's graphics perfectly capture the mood of riding and skating around the streets, even down to the skate-boarder's way-out clothes. The sprites have a marvelous cartoon-like appearance, especially on some of the characters around town - the mad workman with the pneumatic drill is well worth looking out for! The background graphics have an individual atmosphere on each level, from the cobbled streets and canvas huts of Chinatown to the muddy wastes and heaps of bricks found in a building site - everything is loaded with atmosphere. The sound is rather jolly too, consisting of an up-beat hip-hop tune backed up with lively vocal samples and solid effects, but I can't help thinking that a mad guitar trash track would have fitted better!

JUDGEMENT

It's been a while since such a straightforward 'fun' game has appeared on the Amiga; especially one that looks and sounds as good as Skidz. The appeal of the game is bound to spread beyond the die-hard skateboard and BMX fans, since the game has obviously been written with a sense of humour, especially when from a gate reading 'Beware - Beast!' wanders a little brown mongrel! If this is in tune with your sense of humour and po-faced shoot-em-ups seem a little dull these days, then get your most colourful shorts on and have a bash at Skidz.


IN THE SHOP
Skidz: BMX Wheel-item Replace any damaged wheels with a new set on your BMX.
Cost - $50
Skidz: Brakes-item New bike brakes for quicker deceleration
Cost - $30
Skidz: Repair Kit Damaged Wheels-item Repair kit for patching up damaged bikes
Cost - $10
Skidz: Helmet-item Helmet to reduce the amount of energy lost in collisions
Cost - $90
Skidz: Water Bottle-item Water bottle for an extra few units of energy
Cost - $20
Skidz: Medical Kit-item Buy a medical kit to completely refresh your energy supply
Cost - $50
Skidz: Skateboard Wheels-item Replace damaged runners with new skateboard wheels
Cost - $50
Skidz: Skateboard Breaks-item Fit brakes to your board with a stopper pad
Cost - $30
Skidz: Knee Pads-item Knee pads help to cut down on energy loss
Cost - $40

Skidz logo

Wer an sportlicher Betätigung den Nervenkitzel liebt, aber auf Beulen, Schrammen und Knochenbrüche lieber verzichtet, liegt bei Gremlins neuem Game genau richtig - hier gibt es Sportaktion ohne Verletzungsrisiko!

Erste Entscheidung: Skateboard oder BMX-Bike? Der Unterschied besteht eigentlich nur in der Optik, von der Lenkung her sind beide relativ gleich. Rollen wir also gleich ins Hauptmenü; hier kann man die verschiedenen Strecken anwählen, Extras im Shop einkaufen oder an einem Wettrennen teilnehmen.

Die Streckenauswahl besteht aus fünf unterschiedlichen Szenarios: Einmal eine typische Vorstadtsiedlung mit alten Omis, Bauarbeitern und auslaufenden Ölfassern, dann ein Park, eine Baustelle, das düstere Chinesenviertel und als letztes eine Strandpromenade. Man muß in jedem Level einen bestimmten Gegenstand finden, außerdem gilt es, den herumliegenden Müll einzusammeln und zum nächsten Abfalleimer zu karren. Damit es nicht zu leicht wird, gibt es verschiedene Gegner und Hindernisse, sowie ein Zeitlimit.

Recht beeindruckend ist die Grafik: etwas grob, aber nett gemalt, mit guten Animationen und perfektem Scrolling - in PAL-Overscan! Dazu ein fetziger Soundtrack und passende FX. Die Programmierer haben für eine gelungene Steuerung gesorgt und den Schwierigkeitsgrad eher niedrig angesetzt - ein paar witzige Gags gibt es gratis dazu.

Der erste Eindruck ist somit recht vielversprechend; auf lange Sicht bietet Skidz allerdings ein bißchen zu wenig Abwechslung. (mm)


Skidz logo

Gremlin, Amiga £19.99

All those government ads where yobs dropping litter become instantly unattractive to the opposite sex are working! It's rad to be tidy, so you've set out to clean this city up by collecting litter while zooming around on either your BMX bike or skateboard.

On each of six levels your objective is to collect 75% of the litter. Only ten items of rubbish can be carried, so it's as well there's plenty of bins around. Picking up stopwatches increases your time limit, while half-eaten choccie bars and apple cores (urghh!) boost energy. But watch out for holes in the road, jaywalking pedestrians and pigeons!

Completing a level allows you to visit the shop to spend any money you might have picked up on repairs - to your bike and your self. Complete all six levels and you get to race against two other, computer-controlled rad lads (this event can be practised at any time).


Robin Hogg This reminds me a lot of Skate Crazy but boosted with the addition of a bike to ride. I wasn't too impressed by the gameplay which lack major depth but it's all very enjoyable stuff with a good variety of cartoonish graphics spread around six levels. I found it a little fiddly in places to get out of a corner when the bike/board got stuck and the hop is a little tricky to implement. But it's good that you can retry a level to boost your energy for the next section.
Scorelord This is rather dated in concept, a sort of Paperboy goes city cleaning, but it plays remarkably well. Learning the route through is good fun, while the bike and skateboard are distinctly different, the latter faster, thinner but less manoeuvrable. The graphics are good, different for each level and with very smooth multi-directional scrolling. Nothing new perhaps, but scores high on playability.