Virgin Atlantic Challenge

Copyright : Millside Software | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

As if this guy doesn?t get paid enough already, he owns most of Our Price, his own jet line and boats as well as the biggest company in the UK (Virgin) but it seemed it wasn?t enough so a game was created in which you can simulate "a day in the life" of Richard Branson, not very interesting already is it?

Graphics

When the game first appears you think, oooh this looks like a fun little game but then you realise it?s not half as much fun as you expected. Graphics wise the game looks superb with some great colours, nice looking cartoon style graphics when you?re not sailing your boat and pretty nice, almost simulation style graphics when you?re behind the wheel. In fairness there isn?t a lot you can say that?s bad about the overall appearance and design of the game as it only has a few flaws and other than that it looks superb. But then again what do you expect from a man with an ego almost as big as Bill Gates?

Sound

Sound is a massive let down though, there is no music or even a title screen at the front of the game and the in-game noises are simply a few bleeps going one way and the same few bleeps going the other, sort of like whoo-hoo and hoo-whoo, not exactly genius and it couldn?t have taken much time to get the game to make those kind of noises. From a company like Virgin you expect better but in this case you don?t get it.

Gameplay

Gameplay has to be a let down even before you load the game, think about it you are playing a game that allows you to be Richard Branson - it?s almost like a business simulation game in which you control Bill Gates?s money but don?t get the chance to actually hold it in your hands. You simply sail your boat back and forth while avoiding invisible objects like sailing boats and trying not to go green (you actually do go green in the game btw if you don?t keep your strength up). Every now and again a Telex message will ariive with offers such as "Would you like to make a movie titles Nightmare on something street" with Yes and No as replies underneath the message, then you get paid and it?s back to plain sailing.
Not a very entertaining title and one that deserves to gather dust in your collection of tapes and old CPC disks, the replay value doesn?t warrant more than once a month of gameplay and despite being a nice idea it doesn?t live up to any expectations what so ever.