by Colin Ajayi-Obe
They Call Me Trooper, a full price game from CRL for the Spectrum 128k only, looks like a mix between Lode Runner and Fred, but its gameplay is more varied.
It's got a miserable average vote of just 4.8/10 in WoS, but I think it's pretty good, and I suspect the low votes come from the fact that most of the players hasn't been able to climb out of the starting point... as I haven't been able myself before taking a look at the instructions. There are lots of (redefinable) keys to use and many actions you can perform, so you have to study a bit (not much, anyway) before going into full action.
When a red slab height is half your character you only need to walk against it for your sprite to climb it automatically, but when it's high as you, you must jump and then give the lateral direction with the right timing, in order to climb. When there's a whole wall to be climbed, you can't rely on just your arms and legs, you need a rope with a hook - and once you have it you must select it, and keep pressed fire until you think it's enough to throw it over the wall, then go up and once reached the edge, climb laterally, or you're going to fall. Additionally, the rope can also be used to climb down.
You can even find a revolver and shoot, while you'll have to use your naked hands when you meet a green enemy: in this case, the display of the action changes, a bit like in Asterix and the Magic Cauldron: now the game zooms on you and your opponent, and a decent beat'em up mini-section starts, where you can use three kind of kicks and a punch, and bars in the lower part of the screen show your energy and the intensity of your hits - in fact, you must be aware of the dynamic of your fighting, and learn that if you try too hard, the power of your attempts will decrease: you must dose your power, and sometimes pause to concentrate it.
As you continue to explore the red caves, adorned with sinister sculptures and figures, you'll find frantic and creepy yellow creatures draining your energy and shooting at you. The aim, by the way, is to collect the various parts of a spaceship, scattered around this red planet, each piece will allow you to access the next section.
3,5/5
