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Roland On The Ropes
If your an ex-Amstrad
owner, you know the
Roland character, he was
the Amstrad CPC’s main
mascot, and featured in a
variety of
games.
Roland On
The Ropes
is one of
them and
is a big
fluffy
looking
jaunt of a
maze
adventure. You start off at
the bottom of the level and
you have to make your way
to the top climbing up
ropes, dodging enemies
and collecting stuff, once
you reach the top, your
FREEEEEEE!!!!
Nice little
idea of a
game,
graphics
are nice,
but, the
downfall
here is
they are
flickery,
the
scrolling is
a bit juddery, and because
of this, the controls of
Roland are a bit, well,
blocky if you get me. It
makes dodging enemies a
pain, and in the most part,
you cannot escape some of
them, like, trying to jump
over rats, they are nearly
impossible to dodge. This
makes the game a real
pain, and as such, spoils it,
but, I’m guessing it’s
because the developers
never really had a handle
on the hardware and the
tricks used for smooth
scrolling weren't thought
of, so you can let them off.
The sound is okay, nice
little tune on the menu
screen, but in game,
nothing much then a
bopping noise when
walking, a shooting sound
and
what
not.
I don't
play this
at all, its
just too
stifled to
persevere
with in the
controls department, so
yeah, looks nice, but, a
little bit ahead of its time in
what it was trying to
achieve, 10/10 for trying
though for the developers,
they had a go, and you
cannot knock them for
that!
Rolands BACK!!!!
This time, he’s
in the future,
and landed on a
strange planet in
his spaceship.
To help him
explore the
place, he turns
himself into a
flea! Yep, thats
basically why Roland is the
character he is, and, as you
can guess, he’s got himself
into a bit of bother and
rolled into a cave, which
you have to get out of.
Like Roland On The Ropes,
you start at the bottom of
the level, and have to get
to the exit at the top. You
achieve this by jumping
Roland In The Caves
diagonally to the left and
right, landing on platforms
as you go up, hoping not to
land on a fire pit when you
smack a wall and fall down,
you also have to outwit a
flea eating dragon thing
that chases you throughout
the level.
I actually like this game
me, its one of them I could
just while away a good
hour or so playing it, the
graphics are okay, the big
fat funky choon on the
menu screen is well done,
sound effects only in-game
but they work nice and
bring that springy feel to
the jumping mechanism.
The only draw is that when
you complete the level, the
next level is the same
layout, only slightly more
difficult (More fire pits
really), it would have been
great if they mixed it up a
bit, or made a little editor
for it, but, never mind..
This is one I do enjoy going
back to, it is probably my
favourite game overall
really from the promotional
pack.
There is a little fact I’ll
finish with, this game
wasnt Amstrad only, it was
released on other systems,
its actually called Bugaboo
(The Flea) and then just
plain old La Pulga
[Spanish], it was never
meant to be a Roland game
really, hence why Amsoft
devised a weird plot to
paper over that fact! :D