Blagger

Copyright : Amsoft | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

Roger is one of the most skilful house breakers of all time. Can you help him successfully amass all the swag from the town of Umstrid. Many obstacles will be put in your path so keep your eyes open and always expect the unexpected.

A Manic Miner clone coded by Aligata and released through Amsoft.

Graphics

Forgoing with Manic Miner?s mode 1 graphics and instead using mode 0, Blagger looks much rougher around the edges than Matthew Smith?s seminal classic and as with most games programmed in this mode, it has dated far more than those in mode 1 thanks to the blocky nature of the graphics.

The upside though is that the game has plenty of colour even if some of them are used in a strange fashion (why would a burglar with a bright red face and purple hair wear a blue jumper and white trousers to go to work? hardly inconspicuous is it?)

There?s a nice variety of baddies that range from the sublime to the ridiculous but due to the nature of the game and its origins, there?s very little originality in this design, unfortunately.

It?s all bright and breezy fun that despite the roughness is still fairly charming in its own way.

Sound

A merry ditty that wouldn?t sound out of place on a gameshow accompanies the action and while I?m convinced that I?ve heard it before, I can?t quite place it. It fits in well and although highly repetitive it takes a while to begin to annoy.

There?s a nice reverb sound too when you pick up a key that sounds like a dolphin?s echo. Honestly!

Gameplay

While undeniably a cheap Manic Miner rip-off, Blagger is one of the better attempts to recapture Miner Willey?s exploits. With a similar mission: jump over obstacles and pick up the keys before returning to the safe against a strict time limit, Blagger will never win any points for originality.

Where Blagger does score highly though is the challenge provided because more than most games of it?s type, Blagger has had some serious thought put into the level design and as such the layout requires the player to go a specific route if they want to be able to clear the screen and it might not be the most obvious or straight forward one that proves to be the best.

With only five lives and some fiendishly difficult timing problems, Blagger will require an awful lot of playing to make real progress but with each play only the poorest of games players will find themselves failing to improve and as such the game will continue to give.

As a lasting challenge, Blagger is actually a better game than Manic Miner in my humble opinion but it does suffer badly from being a straight rip-off of the game, no matter how it?s dressed up and it?s not as easy to get into the game. Your first few turns will provide frustration and it will take a while to warm to this one.

Having said that I still feel I must recommend Blagger. It might not have reached the iconic status of the game it emulates but it?s a natural progression for anyone who?s had their fill of it or anyone who wants to play an old school, single screen plat former.