3 Weeks In Paradise

Copyright : MikroGen | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

The Week family, Wally, Wilma and Herbert, are on a your computer once again in what could only be the final frontier for them.

Wally has decided to take his wife and son on a little cruise this year but his choice of transport, a Pedalo no less, leaves them lost on a Desert Island. Wilma and Herbert wander off, only to be captured by the local natives. The Can Nibbles. Can Wally get his head and body together enough to save the family Week or will they be Nibbled to death?

Here comes the review of a very fine game indeedy!

Graphics

Although 3 Weeks was released way back in the 1980s this game has gone down as one of the best 8-bit adventure games in history, it?s up there with Dizzy and Jet Set Willy in the computer game heaven in the sky. I know for a fact that there are some well known fans of this game (the retrogames staff for example) but I honestly won?t let that bias the review.

But why is it such a good game? well the graphics on every version of the game are brilliant. The CPC version certainly doesn?t fail to impress as the graphics are very well drawn, the characters and locations are highy entertaining along with no noticeable flaws or bugs. Earlier versions such as the ZX Spectrum release did suffer from hidden sprites (walking behind certain backgrounds) but due to the advanced colour system used on the CPC this problem has been 100% removed.

Sound

The sound is awesome also because Mikro Gen didn?t do what so many companies have done before them and just slap a piece of music on top of everything (Dizzy for example) they did the right thing by adding a nice enough introduction track followed by some very clever in game sounds. There is barely a moment in the game were you don?t hear something and it only adds to the enjoyment of the game and keeps players playing.

Gameplay

Gameplay is again way up there with classics such as Dizzy, you simply won?t want to put the joystick down until you finish the game. The Weeks family slowly become more important to you and you must save them from the evil Can Nibbles....although there is no save game option (as with most 8-bit titles that came on cassette) you will want to finish the game and many an hour will go by (unless your cheating). The control system is a delight to work with (once you realise that you need to use the keyboard as well as the Joystick and that 2 on the keyboard picks items up) and the game shows no serious glitches which may prevent you from playing the game. It?s a little tough at first but once you figure out the puzzles you?re away.

3 Weeks in Paradise is one of the best CPC and 8-bit titles to date.