Bad Santa
There are some things I like about this game but that doesn’t make it good. Let me make it clear: I AM NOT SAYING THIS IS A GOOD GAME. But even as a veggie of 20 years standing, I chuckle at turkey drumstick helicopters.
The moon look's as depressed as I feel playing this festive tosh
Over seven levels - because, seriously, who wants more than seven levels of Christmassy torment? - I play a snowball-throwing substitute Santa. My supposed helpers, those pesky Elves, have decided to start a Christmas rebellion - “Occupy Lapland”, anyone? - and they have turned Christmas against me!
Before I can get back to Mrs Santa for some Christmas Pie I am going to have to swallow a lot of Christmas clichés.
Run, fat boy, run
Hopping over presents while avoiding sinister bloated perfume bottles and strange evil jellies, I am mesmerised by the complete lack of coherence in level design or even a sense of where this game is going.
The graphics could, loosely, be defined as cute but on closer inspection are actually quite menacing. I suspect these moons with Me Gusta faces will swim before me in the work Christmas party punch.
'I sense your presents'
I almost have no control of my movement as my stunted Santa decides to miss jumps and fall prey to an otherworldly and malevolent gravitational pull.
I think my reward on finishing Santa's Xmas Caper is an apocalyptic portent of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come:
“Congratulations you have completed the game. Game over.” ®
Developer Zeppelin Games
Year of release 1992
Platforms ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64
More Info Santa's Xmas Caper is unsurprisingly available cheap on eBay
More Retro Games |
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Santa's Xmas Caper
COMMENTS
I think...
Your screenshots are from the Amiga version. Is this the high standard of reporting we've come to expect from the Register? I think not!
A christmas game, delivered 18 months late and in Spring?
Dude, you have a great career awaiting you in Government IT.
GJC
Lemmings
Goot article, even if the game was more tat than "antique". There was at least one Lemmings Christmas edition IIRC.
Such is the nature of hobbies and projects done as a labor of love, not following any schedule.
For what it's worth, I did release the game last Christmas. Feedback was positive and I was even asked by the community to extend what was essentially a single-screen demo into a full-fledged, multi-level game.
Writing games for ancient, arcane devices--in Assembly Language--is not an easy task.
-dZ.
Xmas Lemmings
I seem to recall that there was a Christmas patch for the Acorn Lemmings that replaced their green hair with a santa hat. Could be mistaken about that though, too much tipple between then and now :-)
