Slinky

The Good
If you grew up in the Eighties like I did, chances are that you met a cute creature named Q*Bert whose task is to change the color of every cube he lands on while avoiding the evils that lurk on the pyramids. It was successful and official ports made their way to popular eight-bit systems. Still, this didn’t stop smaller companies from creating clones. Some decided to add new gameplay mechanics, and a perfect example is Cosmi who released Slinky.

Some of you might say “Hold on a minute. There is already a port of Q*Bert for the C-64; why do we need more?” Well, this one is different in the way of presentation. For a start, Cosmi decided to base their character around an actual toy that has to deal with magnets, oil cans, dust clouds, and raindrops. Like Gottlieb, the company gave each enemy a name. My favorite has to be the name they gave to the magnet, Marge. With the exception of Lorenzo the cube-hopper, most of these enemies would rather cruise across the screen rather than hop around. If you get in the way, they will take you away and drop you down into oblivion.

Another big difference is the way the scoring system works. You start out with 25,000 points, and lose points by jumping onto a square or falling down through the playfield. You get points back by jumping on a flashing square. If you run out of points, the game is over, regardless of how many lives you have left.

Norman decided to add some humor to the game through the use of intermissions, which you can watch by beating a level. Losing all your lives triggers an additional intermission, where you see all the enemies in the game gang up on poor Slinky. Having said that, letting the player resume at the level they lost their last life is a nice touch. If you happen to complete a level without losing any one of your lives, you get an instant replay instead. It would have been nice if you'd get to watch these even if you lose a life, because then you can see yourself falling off the playfield.

Also, I noticed that when you complete a level, Cosmi went all out on the celebrations. A huge red flag emerges from one of the black squares and there are also fireworks. Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” is also thrown in for good measure. The whole thing is spectacular!

The Bad
Jumping from square to square is tediously slow, and it gets worse when you are hit by the dust cloud.

The Bottom Line
Slinky is more than just a clone of Q*Bert. It adds an interesting game mechanic: the decreasing of your score when you jump from square to square. The game also includes different enemies, entertaining intermissions and a nice celebration. The core gameplay is spot on, but the movement of Slinky could have been sped up. If you were a fan of Gottlieb’s title, you will definitely love this.