Matthew Smith had been quiet for three years after the release of
Jet Set Willy when
Willy Meets the Taxman failed to appear. This game was heavily advertised during 1987 and was much hyped as his great comeback game. An interesting preview of the game appeared in the June 87 issue of Sinclair User.
"Speedy scrolling roads with some trucks and some birds and a dog (for that's what the game entails) may not sound like the makings of wonderful epic but, technically, it's pretty damned neat.
The graphics are enormous and everything zooms around at impressive speed. It's looking very good, and, let's face it, it's been three years in the making, and so it really ought to be.
Gameplay-wise it seems a little freaky, as it seems to involve not a great deal other than running left and right on the screen and trying not to get either run down by a truck or bombed by a chicken."
Apparently Smith was unhappy with the finished product and it was not released. The game was re-written (not by Matthew Smith) and was eventually released by Software Projects as
Star Paws.