Tom & Jerry: Hunting High and Low Download (1989 Amiga Game)

Two of the most popular cartoon creations of all time have now been brought to the computer screen. Everybody always refers to Jerry as the cutest little mouse you ever did see etc, etc, but I have a sneaking suspicion that true fans of the programs found him to be too good to be true and much preferred Tom, the anti-hero.

Nevertheless, there is no option within the game; you must control Jerry. He is hungry and looking for a supply of his favourite cheese. There is plenty scattered around the house but Tom is out to do his best not to let him get any. The action is that of a platform game (remember those) as you leap round the furniture trying to reach the cheese before Tom grabs you. There are a number of devices that you can use to keep Tom at bay for a few vital seconds. Most successful is to drop something on his head, such as a hammer vase or bowling ball. You can also distract him by turning on the television or setting off a jack-in-the-box.

There are five rooms in all connected by a series of passages. These are entered via mouse holes and give Jerry the chance to earn extra time by eating cheese. You can also lose time though by stepping on a bomb. Thirty seconds of time (you start with 600) are also lost every time that Tom catches you.

Let me start by saying that this is one of the worst games that I have played for a long time. To start with, there isn't actually any point to the game and I mean that quite literally. There is no scoring at all involved so you never know how well you have done. All you get is a timer counting down to zero. This despite the Amiga screenshots on the packaging showing a scoring panel.

Control of Jerry is poor. I had great difficulty in getting him to bounce where I wanted. Certainly, there is no real chance of avoiding Tom by leaping out of his way What is worse though is that there are certain areas from which it is impossible to escape. You then have to wait for Tom to catch you and hope that the random restart puts you in a reasonable position.

Some furniture has to be jumped over whereas an identical piece later on can be walked around or under. This is particularly true when it comes to shelves. The tunnels are a joke. Bombs go off even though you are nowhere near them. It is also pointless dropping anything on Tom's head. By the time he is perfectly lined up, you have wasted more time than you gain. Again, a scoring system would have added at least a modicum of incentive.

The instructions accompanying the game are a joke. Two pages are printed the wrong way round and the whole thing is littered with spelling mistakes. Even in the game, you are told to 'loose (sic) 30 seconds of time" every time Tom catches you. I can find nothing to recommend about this game whatsoever. Both Tom and Jerry fans and casual games players will be extremely disappointed if they pay good money for this drivel.

Tom and Jerry platform game was released on many platforms, even on Gameboy. Unfortunately I have to say, that Amiga version is one of the worst. Ugly graphics and non-useable gameplay. Anyway, if you want this game for some reasons, here it is :)

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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