Posted by boyo on Dec 11, 2010 11:36 (Dec 11, 2010 11:36)
Perhaps games shouldn't need a reason to feature a coyote that shoots ice at penguins and then smashes their frozen bodies as he hunts for keys, but even by platformer standards, that's pretty bizarre.
That could also be the reason why the Fire and Ice Christmas Special Edition seems so much more reasonable, what with this time of year being inherently surreal - dress the dog in a Santa costume, put the rats on skis and incorporate the odd snowball avalanche and everything suddenly falls into strange, seasonal place.
That's presumably what Amiga Power magazine thought in 1992 when it included a single, winter wonderland level of Graftgold's answer to Mario, Sonic and Lemmings - all rolled into one bizarre quest to find stuff and freeze other stuff. And a fine choice it was, since the arctic nature of the original game put Cool Coyote in a fairly wintery mood anyway, so the addition of a few pressies for him to gather up and a jovial Saint Nick costume seemed only fitting. In truth, it did kind of highlight the fact Fire and Ice was actually lacking a Chrimbo themed level, so this delightful demo squared things up rather nicely.
Hunting around the rather difficult, expansive play area is a great way to spend an hour on a frosty December morn, tracking down the six key parts Coolio needs to escape from his winter paradise. The inertia driven mechanics of the main character (an absolute prerequisite of any platformer in the days of Sonic and Mario) add a slick, organic feel that brings the ice to life and paints a scowl of intense concentration on the face of any serious player.
Although the demo was only one level long, the environment almost never repeated itself and the impressive range of simple, yet intricate challenges was certainly enough to encourage any late comers to the 16-bit home computing scene who found an Amiga at the bottom of the chimney that Christmas to put Fire and Ice on their January hot list.
It was also particularly nice to see a bit of extra effort going into a coverdisk demo. Being of a wintry nature, it would've been a simple matter for Graftgold to rip an ordinary level from the release game and give it Amiga Power to package with the magazine, but the minor seasonal tweaks made the Christmas Special Addition feel like a small gift; a genuine "thank you" to the magazine's readers for another year well spent in celebration of the beloved Amiga.
Dec 15, 2010 13:37:17 (
Dec 15, 2010 13:37
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