After over a decade, Izzy is back in binary action, and there are yet more mutants to be thwarted. Shaun finds out more.
Unlikely hero and the world’s most famous binary “Spec-Chum” is back, and this time he’s uncovered a plot which could have serious consequences for the known world. The mutants from his last ventures have regrouped, and have built a time machine. Their plan is to travel back to 1982 and stop the launch of Sir Clive’s wonder machine the Sinclair ZX Spectrum - yikes!
Fortunately, Izzy has found out about this plot, and not a moment too soon either. After locating their stronghold (a disused National Trust castle), he sets out to stop them thus saving the world from such dire consequences. To do this, he needs to use his newly acquired magical powers, and collect certain ingredients for each spell that he can cast. Your task is to guide Izzy around the mutant’s base to collect the needed items for each spell which will help to rid the world of this evil force for good. We hope.
On starting the game, I was a little disappointed. Gone is Izzy’s docile smile and plodding pace. He has become much more nimble (presumably, he’s cut down on sugary sweets and snacks) and appears to have shrunk a little. Personally, I’d have liked to see Izzy as he was in Gloop!, but fortunately, the devil is in the game-play, and it didn’t take long for my dissatisfaction to be dispelled.
Moving around the castle is a fairly painless process to begin with, though some screens can become tricky as you get deeper into the game. The first thing to do is to collect the items and magic cards strewn around the locale. Each card collected adds 10 points to your magic total, which means that you can use a spell 10 times (once you have spells to use, that is), and for those who like to gambling, you can play your cards right and guess higher or lower to double the points. However, guess incorrectly and you get no magic points, so it’s always best to play safe in my opinion, though gambling can have its rewards.
Izzy has energy counting down from 99 to zero, which will only deplete if he comes into contact with the roaming foe, or falls a little too far. This can not be replaced until certain items have been collected for the Diddums Plaster spell, however to progress here you will need to sacrifice some of your life-force anyway, which can make the game a little tense, especially as you start to dispatch the mutants and learn the safest routes. The items are always placed in a random order though, so just because you managed to find the items for the Gloop spell for instance first time around doesn’t mean you will second. You’ll also find out that certain spells will only affect (or dispatch) certain roamers. The hints are usually in the names of each spell, but there’s still a small amount of trial and error.
Adding to this, you have to dispose of the bombs safely, and in order to disable them, you need to guess the correct four code combination of either left, right, up or down. There is a time limit for this based on your life counter. Wasting too much time will see it slowly go down, so it really is essential to save as much energy as possible as you play, but as I said, loosing small amounts is all part of the game. So, is it worth gambling to get more magic points and replenish your energy a little? This all certainly gets you thinking about how best to play. After trying different strategies, I wouldn’t say that there is necessarily a right way of doing things except for learning the safest routes and to hope for a little bit of luck along the way. This adds to the longevity of the game and honestly shows that Jonathan Cauldwell really could give the world a master class in 2D game design.
Izzy Wizzy versus the Mutants is another top quality production from Jonathan. You can see the time and effort put into it, and yet again it has paid off. Not straying too far from the tried and tested platformer, but adding enough new elements to grab your interest in a flawlessly executed binary world is what he is all about. It’s a great shame that productions of this quality will be seen by only a handful of hardcore Speccy and 8-bit enthusiasts. Still, this is everyone else’s loss, and not mine, so I think I’ll give it just one more go. Okay, maybe two or three…! Shaun Bebbington
[First published in Micro Mart around November 2006]
