1984 Scorpio Gamesworld Ltd (UK)
by Barry Jones
Barry Jones worked almost with as many software houses as he did games. And as you can see in WOS his games arent the highest rated, in fact he falls almost below average. Probably because of his lack of programming skills and crazed weird ideas.
Personally I enjoy browsing thru his game collection, maybe because it reminds me my early programming days in which I did similar games, using only BASIC language and some code machine routines. Nothing special, but I must say those were very colourful, funny days.
Now, for Happy Hour, I mean the game (I'm not a masseur, you know), I must admit it reminds me some of my loony games. Your fabulous goal in HH is to visit as much pubs as you can, drink as much beer as you can (or is it water?! I don't think so) and collect coins as much as you can before being arrested by the law or battered by a punk (who happens to look just like me when I wake up in the morning! Dread!).
You can travel by bus, but be prepared to be kick out like a bag of peanuts and thrown in the middle of nowhere land if you ain't carrying any money.
Yes kids, there is no adult rated sticker in the box!! Oh, those innocent 80's... how sweet they were! (Its only beer dude!)
Overall, just like 'Pi-Eyed', I bet this game had its beginnings as a joke not to be taken serious, but in the end it ended up in the shelves. And I bet it cashed in some beer money to its copyright owners.
Review by YOR on 23 Nov 2017 (Rating: 1)
It's another Barry Jones games, and I have to say it didn't take me very long to prefer Hit-Man. At least that had some gameplay which this has little and at least that had some thrills where this has none. Here you're just wondering around looking for pubs and money dropped on the floor to spend on pints. Walk into anything in the way, cars, cats or into the wrong house so many times and you're arrested for being drunk and disorderly even if you've not drunken anything. Not a resounding game at all. I want to play Hit-Man again after this.
Review by Ketmar on 02 Oct 2021 (Rating: 3)
Barry Jones seems to be the man who made (almost) endless runners, walking simulators and open world sandboxes way before all other world even thought about such genres. If only he could execute his ideas properly…
Don't be fooled, this game is as far from being playable as most other Barry games, but I simply cannot mark it as "poor" or "awful". I wonder what could happen if Barry ideas would be picked up by some competent programmer…
