Kid Chaos


Title		Kid Chaos
Game Type	Platform
Publisher	Ocean
Players		1
HD Installable	Yes
Compatibility	All
Submission	Mike West

Review
From time to time a game appears that really stands out and for me Kid
Chaos was such a game.

When I saw the background scrolling on my then standalone A1200, I was
mightily impressed. You play the part of the Kid, a boy transported from
the stone-age to the twenty-first century by evil scientists..... well who
else would? Dressed in modern day clothes but allowed to keep his club,
you must help him get back to his own time. In order to do this, you run,
bound, jump and leap across five different levels.

The first level, the secret garden, is colourful and the background
scrolling a real delight to watch as our hero progresses. Throughout the
levels, various enemies appear and have to be dealt a swift blow with the
club. Of course the enemies differ with the levels and some are more of a
problem than others. The first level also has an abundance of red and
yellow flowers. These explode in a wonderfully satisfying way and if there
is a bunch of them, it becomes a challenge to swing and spin them all one
by one without touching the ground. You see, when he hits something, he
spins up into the air, and you can use this to good effect.

Although there are only five levels, they are all quite large, the game
coming on four disks, and each time you complete a level, various
percentages are shown to give your overall performance and thus on to your
final score. As with any game with secrets, trying to find them all
becomes a challenge and this greatly enhances the game's longevity. Many
times, I have seemingly explored what I thought was every nook and cranny
on a level only to find that I only had 50% or 75% of the secrets. So back
you go again. Each level is also timed, usually fairly generously, but you
have to cause a certain amount of destruction to open the end of level
exit. Time remaining is added to your score. Also, get 100000 and earn
another life. Power-ups are dotted around the levels and very often are
hidden in, for instance, parts of the screen not immediately visible.

This game is maybe slightly difficult to progress through, mainly because
some of the jumps have to be timed to perfection and when he's bounding
along so fast, and sometimes he has to, it can be a little tricky to
judge. When the Kid is hit by a creature or stays underwater, the life
counter starts to reduce from 99. If it drops to zero you lose a life but
if he is not under any threat, the counter slowly goes back up..... useful
in those tight spots. The savegame is password controlled but the game has
its own hard-drive installer.

Overall, I really like this game. It's nicely drawn, colourful and
enjoyable to play. Sometimes frustrating in its difficulty but then what
good game isn't? Definitely buy it.





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