Well there is only five days to go until we can unwrap our pressies on Christmas morning before getting stuck into far too much food and drink.
So in the spirit of things I have decided to take a look at a classic game I actually never played back in the day; Santa's Xmas Caper.
Released in 1991 by Zeppelin Games LTD this is from the twilight era of ZX Spectrum gaming, as by this point most of us had switched to a 16-bit machine.
Looking at it you would never guess though; you would be forgiven for thinking this was an effort from 1982 or 1983. Yep, it really is that much of a turkey.
The whole 'plot' revolves around Santa's Christmas pudding which has been spiked by some evil pixies. The jolly rouge one has to go and recover from said pudding and is in no fit state to pilot the sleigh. Believe me you will have to recover from playing this game too - it will still haunt you well into new year.
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| Ho Ho 'crap game for Christmas' Ho |
Anyway, Santa is out of action so this is where you (the player) comes in, for just one day you'll have to take over and make sure that all of the kids presents are delivered on time.
In classic gaming style there are three levels to get through before you can go home, put your feet up and tuck into a mince pie and a large drop of advocaat.
First up is Lapland; You've got to pick up the sleigh and get all those lovely gifts delivered. But... Those pixies are still feeling a bit evil and they have amassed a stockpile of toy trains and trumpets to throw at you. (honest!)
Get past this and you will be flying over the Atlantic where you meet up with a few scientists who don't believe in Santa. Thinking you to be some sort of alien, they try to take you out with death-rays. All nice and Christmassy so far.
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| It's trippy alright. Check out those crap graphics... |
During play you should collect all the little Santas and glasses of wine that fly by. These are presents and in the final level you have to drop them down various chimneys. Ho hum it's full of festive fun.
Except it isn't. This is one of the laziest pieces of programming on the Speccy I have ever seen. The graphics are disproportioned and laughable, the gameplay is mind-blowingly awful and it will leave you cursing the most wonderful time of the year.
To top it all off they couldn't even get the music in tune. Unforgiveable, and it's a bog standard beeper effort too.
All in all I would say this is one to avoid. Do not ruin any part of Christmas by playing this game.
Cheers all and Merry Christmas!
Santa goes on his caper, the poor bugger:
Classic Games, Arcade games and ZX Spectrum Games
