Producer: Activision
Retail Price: £9.99
Author: Software Studios

Howard is an extra-terrestrial duck who has been mysteriously spirited to Earth. He looks a bit odd, but is an amicable fellow with two friends, Beverly and Phil. Beverly and Phil are good sorts too, but they have just been kidnapped by the Dark Overlord, who has taken them to his abode on Volcano Island. Howard is a mite peeved at this, and so he sets out on a rescue mission. What he doesn't know is that the Overlord is expecting this sort of reaction, and has set traps to capture the feathered hero.

To begin with, the player's name is typed in and the level of play selected from the four provided, novice, intermediate, advanced and expert. The levels differ in the number of lives granted, the enemy's aggression level and the length of the game.

The screen displays a view of the island, with Howard automatically parachuting onto a pathway. The joystick is used to move Howard around, and he can go anywhere as long as the landscape allows, scrolling the scenery as he goes. The fire button makes him jump, kick and punch, the action depending on his situation.

The first part of the mission follows Howard's heroic journey across the island. First he has to find the back-pack which he dropped during the parachute drop. This contains a Solar-Powered Jet-Pack, a Microlite Flying Machine and a portable Neutron Disintegrator.

Having friend the pack, our feathered friend makes his way around the island to a volcano, home of the Overlord. Hazards are encountered throughout this journey: mutant slime has to be jumped and mini-mutants intent on Howard's capture pop up from molehills. These are dispatched with swift, well-aimed kicks, and jumping on the molehills prevents their re-emergence.

Should Howard reach the foot of the volcano he is automatically strapped into his microlite. He must then fly over the mouth of the volcano and parachute in.

The penultimate section involves a dangerous run through a crumbling cave, where falling stalagtites and holes in the floor impede the duck's progress. When this has been negotiated, Howard meets the Overlord in a final, deadly confrontation. The evil kidnapper dies when shot three times with the neutron disintegrator.

COMMENTS

Control keys: 7/6 up/down, 5/8 left/right, zero to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2
Use of colour: varied, and generally clash free
Graphics: small sprites on a lively background
Sound: limited to rare spot FX
Skill levels: four

A film tie-in which actually relates to its subject matter is an unusual event, soon this level Howard the Duck is quite a pleasant surprise. The program sticks as closely as possible to the film (considering the limitations of the computer game format), so the only real pity is that the film was so naff! The presentation is up to Activision's usual standard, and the graphics and sound are competent and functional - the only problem gameplay-wise is that the control method is quite tricky. Howard the computer game is an average, but ultimately uninteresting product - and quite expensive to boot.
BEN

At first sight Howard The Duck is a very attractive Spy Vs Spy look-a-like. The graphics are very well designed, combining some good detail with lots of colour. The Instructions are commendably friendly, giving all of the necessary facts. I particularly liked the difficulty ratings - they improved the addictiveness ten times over, and should appeal to all types of player. Howard The Duck is a pleasing game, although the price is a bit over the top.
PAUL

Activision
£9.99

Web-footed heroes have come a long way since the days of good old Daffy and Donald Duck, who were both quite innocent in their own quackers cartoon world. Howard, on the other hand, wouldn't know innocence if it came up and bit him on the beak. He drinks, he smokes 20 cigars a day and he's rather fond of the ladies.

If you saw the film and fancy reliving Howard's exploits with this game, then forget it. This game is based on a cartoon strip from Marvel Comics called Adventure On Volcano island.

The action takes place on the two sides of Volcano island which are separated by a fast flowing river. You, as Howard, have to cross this channel several times before reaching your final goal at Volcano Mountain. You may think this poses no problems for a duck, but when Howard was born, they forgot to tell him that ducks can swim. So he can't! Because of this minor setback you first have to find Howard's solar powered jetpack.

The island itself is inhabited by Mutant Maniacs who don't seem to care much for cigar-smoking ducks waddling all over. That means they'll do what they can to get rid of you. This is where your knowledge of the ancient oriental art of Quack-Fu comes in. Using your skill in this kicking and punching art, you can send the mutants spinning off the island. In the lower levels of play the mutants aren't that difficult to cope with, and once you've dealt them a bit of death, they don't appear again.

In the final stages of the game you have to cross the bridge leading to the volcano, which isn't too hard as long as you avoid the molten rocks that come hurtling in your direction. If you choose to play on novice level then your game is over once you've stepped on the last mutant mound. If you're on expert level, then you've still got to get up the mountain in the ultralight flying machine and go through the volcano to face the Dark Overlord.

Howard's actually quite good fun - it's easy enough in the early stages to get your excitement going and challenging enough in the expert levels to hold your interest. My only gripe is the price - either Activision is paying a huge licence fee, or maybe it thinks that the name Howard is enough to justify a ten quid price tag. C'mon Activision - it's a good game, pity the pricing is a bit iffy!

BARGAIN BASEMENT

As those modern philosophers Status Quo once said, "Down down deeper and down, down down deeper and down." MARCUS BERKMAN trips in the stairwell...

Alternative
£2.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

Naturally there are film tie-ins and there are film tie-ins. Unfortunately Howard The Duck is a bit of a film tie-in - in other words, this duck is a turkey. Actually, that's unfair, as the game is based not on the terrible film of a few years back but on a Marvel comic from even longer ago. Adventure On Volcano Island. Howard, the cigar-chomping, skirt-chasing duck that he is, is keen to get off this island, and so will you be after playing this game. It seems inevitable somehow that at this late stage in his career Howard should be made an expert in the oriental art of Quack Fu, which means that the game swiftly degenerates into a not-very-good beat-'em-up, albeit with a maze element. The trouble is that it's so obviously been chucked together at the last minute - as though the software company spent so long slapping themselves on the back with satisfaction at getting the licence that no-one remembered to write a game. It is at least relatively easy to play - well, on the lowest of the four difficulty levels anyway - but the graphics are poor and there's no sense of atmosphere. There's much better out at three quid than this.

Coming, erm, now actually, to a cinema near you...

THE COMPLETE YS GUIDE TO FILM AND TELLY GAMES

Knowing full well what a square-eyed bunch you are, we thought it was about time you were given the facts on film and television licenced games. Once again, JONATHAN DAVIES was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

(Cough. Deep, manly voice.)

'In the beginning there were loads and loads of Speccy games. Loads of them. They sold all right, but not exactly in enormous numbers. The trouble was, you see, that none of them seemed particularly exciting. They had nothing that caught the public eye. They were just computer games. Had no 'cred'.

Then a small cog within a long-since-extinct software house had an idea.

"Why don't we give our next game the same name as an incredibly popular film? Then everyone would buy it just because they'd seen the film and they'd foolishly think the game would be just as good. How about i, eh?"

"Er, we could do, I suppose."

"Great."

"But what if the film company finds out? They might sue us or something."

"Oh yeah."

"Tcha."

"I know - we could ask them first."

"That's a point. Go on then."

"What? Me?"

"Yeah. Give them a ring and ask if they'd mind."

"Oo-er. Cripes. Okay then." (Dials very long trans-Atlantic phone number.)

"Hullo. We'd like to name our new game after your film and we were wondering if it was okay by you. Right... yes... oh, I see." (Cups hand over receiver.) "They want us to give them lots of money."

"Erm, well in that case we'd better." (Removes hand.) "Yes, that'll be fine. We'll send you some right away. Bye."

"Super."

"But. er..."

"What?"

"How are we going to come up with a game that's anything like the film?"

"I don't know really."

"How about if we have a bloke walking around shooting people?"

"That sounds fine. I'll program it right away."

And so the film and telly licence was born. It... cough. Choke.

Oops. There goes the deep, manly voice.

Anyway, film and telly games, eh? Everyone's doing them these days, as they're one of the few remaining ways of making serious money with computer games. Run a grubby finger down the charts and you'll find nearly all the top-sellers are film and telly licences. (Or arcade conversions, of course.)

But why do we keep buying them? After all, just because a game's named after a really brill film doesn't mean it's going to be any good, does it? Surely we aren't buying them simply because of the flashy name on the box?

Erm, well in the old days, software houses assumed this to be the case, and chucked out a stream of absolutely appalling games with 'big name' titles. Things like Miami Vice, The Dukes Of Hazard and Highlander were all pretty dreadful, but it was hoped that they'd sell on the strength of their names. But we weren't fooled. Oh no. The games didn't sell well, and the companies were forced to think again.

Eventually they came up with... the 'bloke walking around shooting things' idea. And they've used it more or less ever since. Lucky then that they tend to be jolly good all the same, and sometimes come up with the odd original idea to spice things up (like The Untouchables did, or perhaps Back To The Future Part II).

RATINGS

As always seems to be the case, the trusty YS ratings system doesn't really seem adequate when it comes to film and telly games. So here's what we've put together instead...

LIGHTS
What does it look like? Nice? Or not very nice at all? (You mean are the graphics any good? Ed) Er, yes. That's it in a nutshell. (Then why didn't you just say the first place? Ed) Erm...

CAMERA
How does the general atmosphere compare to the film or telly programme the game's meant to go with? Have programmers just taken a bog-standard game and stuck a flashy name on it? Or have they made an effort to incorporate a bit of the 'feel' of the original?

ACTION
Does the plot follow along the same sort of lines as the film or telly programme? Is there plenty action-packedness? And is the game the same all way through, or does it follow the original's twists and turns?

CUT
Um, how does the game compare to all the licences around at the moment? Is it better? Or worse? In other words, is it a 'cut' above the rest? (is that really the best you can manage? Ed)

HOWARD THE DUCK
Activision

Howard The Duck started off as a cartoon, progressed to a pretty chronic film (which attracted a limp cult following) and then moved onto the Spectrum. And like the film, the game was projected to be a huge success but wasn't really at all. Howard, then, is a duck, but not a nice, chummy one like Donald or Daffy. He wields a Neutron Disintegrator and is a Quack Fu Master. Rather handy, that, as he's faced with the prospect of having to rescue some of his pals who've been stranded on an island by the Dark Overlord.

So, presumably Howard walks round shooting people? Well, yes he does, but for a change you get an overhead view and Howard's in a maze. There are pools of slime to jump over, rivers to cross with the aid of a jet pack, and plenty of things to collect. And after that there are Howard was various mini-games to complete before you get to take on the Dark Overlord. It's all very well programmed and everything, but not all that inspiring.

Label: Activision
Price: £9.99
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Tamara Howard

Poor old Howard. He's a duck that very nearly turned into a dodo.

As a big budget movie - 30 million dollars or so - plus being based on a pretty zany cartoon character he must of seemed perfect material to be snapped up and turned into a computer game. So much so that Activision did. Maybe it thought it would be the next Ghostbusters.

And how wrong it turned out to be.

First there was the fact that the film flopped in the US. Then, just as Activision as about to launch the game last year the film company changed the name of the movie. But the film still went on and flopped over here.

Then there were all the production delays and the C64 version of the game previewed in September written by Activision in the US looked pretty rough (and that's putting it mildly).

Now, six months and much baited breath later, here's the Spectrum version. Looking suspiciously like the C64 game.

The plot: someone's got to rescue Beverley and Phil (who they are is unclear), and that person is your duck.

To do so Howard has to fight his way across Volcano Island through mutant slime and fight off some pretty mean looking mutants.

Howard has a jet-pack to allow him to walk on water (I thought ducks could swim, am I right or what?) and a microlite aircraft to fly up into the volcano (ducks can fly can't they, I mean it's not just my imagination or anything like that). Oh and a neutron-disintegretor (that one's fine by me). Thus equipped, the adventure starts.

Now Howard the Duck would make me very happy were it a budget game. But since it's not, I'm not.

The graphics are merely average, and Howard himself is the weirdest duck this side of Peking.

The gameplay is inclined to be a bit tricky until you've mastered the basics - like how to take a running jump and the art of Quack Fu - after which it becomes ridiculously easy.

I found killing mutants was simply a matter of kicking the little critters until they disappeared, and never mind about the punching.

Apart from the fact it's not a very good game - which is I suppose a serious drawback - I rather liked Howard the Duck.

There's something rather appealing about kicking mutants to death, as all serious game players know.

Not quite a dodo but very nearly.