Le Geek - Retrogaming Reviews

Rating
Graphics:	4
Sound:	5
Control:	2
Depth:	3
Overall:	3

Zoom!

By: Discovery Software
Released: 1988

Best described as an update to Amidar, you guide a happy face around the board filling in squares while avoiding baddies. Originally on the Amiga, the game features great music and sound effects, surreal characters and varied level design.

The boards are presented in forced perspective, and, like Q*bert, different enemies have different jobs: some hunt you, some follow set paths, some slow you down and some erase your drawing progress. There are also various power ups to help you along the way.

It was one of my favorite arcade-style games on the Commodore when I was a kid, but now that I’ve replayed it, the rose-tinted glasses have come off. With 50 levels overall, some of the more interesting layouts are worth trying out and require slightly different strategies, but there are quite few square "filler" levels, thinning out the good stuff like celery in a shrimp cocktail. And for all the added style and extra touches, the controls are just too sloppy for the player to ever get into the zone. It's way too easy to miss a turn, and while not a deal breaker, I can only recommend Zoom! as a curiosity.

I'll have to go back and try the Amiga original later, but as it stands, clean looks and tight controls age a lot better than new and shiny.

-Ben Langberg