Catch 'Em


Title		Catch 'Em
Game Type	Platform
Publisher	Prestige, 1992
Players		1
HD Installable  With WHDLoad Patch
Compatibility	With Patch
Submission	Adrian Simpson Profiled Reviewer

Review
If you could only use one word to describe Catch 'Em, then it would have
to be 'quaint'.

You play a zookeeper called Jeff, who has been careless enough to let all
the primates escape from his zoo. The intro shows Jeff reading his
newspaper as various apes walk out through the gate. It's like the start
of the The New Zealand Story, (another side-on, scrolling platform game)
except that the animals haven't been kidnapped this time, but have made a
break for freedom.

For Jeff, pulling out his high powered sniper rifle and shooting the
fugitives through the head isn't an option, as they aren't particularly
dangerous and the zoo wouldn't be very interesting afterwards. So, Jeff
thinks up an alternative plan. He drives his monkey catcher van up to each
level, parks it, finds some bananas and waits until a monkey starts to
devour the feast. He then clobbers the animal with a baseball bat, bags it
and then throws it through an ape trapdoor. As you would in the situation.
As is often the case, the game logic doesn't make much sense in real life,
so you have to get into the world of the game and play by its rules.

So, as with all action puzzles, there are rules. A clock slowly ticks
down, giving you a certain amount of time in which to trap the animals.
You only have certain resources (e.g. a finite number of banana boxes) and
a long fall stuns you for some time.

In later levels, monkeys find their own bananas and leave the skins for
you to slip on, thus delaying your progress. You can nail these boxes
shut, but they can't be opened with force later. The levels naturally get
larger, harder and feature more animals. Other tools can be found in your
van, which help in the round-up too.

The music is jolly and the graphics are bright and colourful (sometimes a
little garish). It's an inoffensive game which might not last you forever,
but is still worth a go.





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