Puggsy Download (1994 Amiga Game)

The worrying crime explosion we're currently witnessing in the real world has finally spilled over into Cyberspace, the land where all computer games exist. Juvenile delinquents, fed up with nicking cars and ramming them into lampposts, perhaps taking out a few innocent bystanders along the way, have found themselves with the opportunity to cause havoc by messing up the plans of simple sprites who are unaware of the violent and disturbing times we face.

Take innocent Puggsy, for example. There he was, journeying across the galaxy without a care in the world, when he happened upon an innocent-looking planet. Unfortunately, this world was not so innocent, so when Puggsy parked his spaceship and set off to ask for directions, a bunch of mischievous raccoons decided to nick his means of transport and do a bit of joyriding. So - surprise, surprise - Puggsy decides to trek through 51 levels in search of his vehicle. Sounds like the perfect scenario for some arcade adventuring antics doesn't it? Yes, of course it does, so thank goodness for Psygnosis and more importantly, The Dome who've handled this conversion of the similarly-titled Mega Drive game. For without them, we wouldn't be treated to this fine, fine game.

For added value, Psygnosis are giving away a free acronym with every copy of Puggsy. It's 'TOI' and it stands for Total Object Interaction. What this means is that Puggsy can collect and manipulate loads of objects contained within the levels. These objects interact with each other (so if you chuck a crate at another crate, the two will rebound off each other, that kind of thing) and form the basis of the many puzzles between Puggsy and his spaceship. Puggsy was a huge hit on the Mega Drive and Psygnosis are obviously hoping to repeat that success on the Amiga (otherwise it would be a pointless conversion, wouldn't it?). And, if there's any justice in the world, it will.

The control method is a bit crap sometimes. A few people may find the pace of the game a little tedious. The password system is a bit long-winded. But - wait for it - I love it! The above gripes are probably the only things you can find fault with because Puggsy is a truly amazing conversion. All credit must go to The Dome for making Puggsy such a technically astounding game - the graphics are of a consistently high standard throughout and the rotating sprites and end-of-level guardians are real eye poppers. Almost every character animates perfectly (the fluffy bunny rabbits are particularly gorgeous) and there's relatively little slowdown (erm... except when there are loads of those oh-so-fluffy bunny rabbits on-screen. Best shoot them to bits.). But it's the puzzles and the much-vaunted TOI system that really steal the show. Because you're given total control over what you do and when you do it, there's plenty of experimenting to be done as you attempt to make your way to the exits. The levels are so well designed you can opt to play the game as you like, by either making your way directly to the next stage or turning over every stone (literally!) in an effort to discover bonuses and extra lives. What's also excellent is that although there is generally only one solution to the main puzzles, you can usually discover other ways of solving them so you never really become truly stuck. Erm, I'm running out of space here so it's time to drastically truncate this last bit. The 51 levels are incredibly taxing. The music is more than ear-gratifying. It plays like a dream. Download it now.

An alien came from space. His name is Puggsy. His ship was landed near to an island on the ocean, so he will discover everything he can found. The game was made by the same team, who gave us the game Leander. Traveller's Tale and Psygnosis made an enjoyable, fine platform game.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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