Posted by SirClive on Apr 21, 2010 23:28 (Apr 21, 2010 23:28)
After first appearing in the platform game Automania, Wally Week went on to star in 4 more games. By nature of its off the wall story and fun puzzles, it is his second incarnation in Pyjamarama that he is most fondly remembered.
Wally is a hero you see. He doesn't wear a cape, he doesn't catch criminals and he has never delivered a baby in the back of a speeding taxi cab. But what makes Wally a hero is that he does an honest days work for an honest days pay. All of the Wally Week games are based in the kind of humdrum working class world that was perfectly suited to the time when unemployment was high and class tensions rife. But rather than dive headlong into a rant about social depravation and moral decay, I'll tell you what Pyjamarama is all about...
Wally, being the conscientious type, has gone to bed early so the he can be fresh for another day working at the local car factory. But he's only gone and fallen asleep without winding his alarm clock! If Wally is to save the day he must travel through his own dreams to find the magical clock-winding key that can restore balance to the universe and right all previous wrongs (or maybe it will just wind his clock?).
With Wally's late night snack of gorgonzola on toast feeling like a huge mistake, he must avoid the various wacky creatures that inhabit his dreams whilst collecting items to solve various puzzles along the way. There is even a videogame playroom where you must play a hilarious version of Space Invaders.
The game is much like Wally himself; a colourful and unassuming character on the surface but with a depth that is fantastically rewarding for those who bother to get to know him. Despite some horrendous colour clash, Wally's dream world is fantastically realised and when you add in the quality sound and humour, you really would be a Wally to miss it.
