Game Review: Crazy Comets (Commodore 64, Ricochet)

In 1983, Gottlieb released the arcade game Mad Planets.  In that game, your ship battles against planets that grow.  If the planets grow too large, they sprout moons, which must be shot before the main planet can be destroyed – which charges at you in anger at that point.  The ship could be rotated so that the firing could be in the direction of rotation, and the game was praised at the time for its responsive controls, good graphics, and soundtrack.  The year after, Simon Nicol had a first go at converting the arcade game, and although it was not able to be released at the time, it eventually got a release on a cover tape provided with an issue of Commodore Zone.

Fast forward to 1985, and having improved on the code and gameplay, along with a Rob Hubbard soundtrack, the game was released by Martech as Crazy Comets.  Having checked both the original and this Ricochet re-release, they both use the same loader, which is lightning fast for a cassette game – literally around a minute or so to load in total before the game is unpacked, the title screen’s comets logo graphics scrolls up to form the game’s name, and straight away you can hear what would go down as one of the defining game soundtracks for the era.  You have the option of pressing F1 to select one or two players, and then can press fire to start the game.

Jack Names the Planets After You

Once the game starts, you will note straight away that your ship in the centre of the screen to move all around, and soon a planet will appear.  The key here is where possible to shoot it before it grows too large, otherwise that becomes a lot trickier to destroy.  When that planet is large, you will find you need to steer the ship around and avoid the planet, as it zones in on you like a homing missile.  In later levels especially when there are two or three that have grown larger in size this can become quite difficult to navigate around and avoid the planets.  One difference from the arcade version is that you cannot rotate the ship around, you just face and fire upwards, so something to bear in mind.

Call the Comet

At the end of the second level onwards, you also get comets that whizz around the screen, with their tails particularly glowing and really giving you a headache to shoot them accurately.  Sometimes they can appear whilst attempting to destroy a planet, which can be very frenetic. There are also some capsules at the same time, normally in white.  These can be shot but that does not help – but the two hundred points for each one collected really does help boost the score nicely.  If you do manage to destroy all the planets before they go large, and you do not lose a life on that level, you also do get a perfect score for that level which can considerably boost your overall score, not least as you need ten thousand points to gain an extra life.

Frenetic Fun

One thing you can say about Crazy Comets is that it does become very fast and very frenetic.  The need to keep an eye on the planets on screen and shooting them before they get large, and then avoiding them as they are large to concentrate on getting the remainder first, plus the additional comets later as well as the capsules, does mean that having responsive controls, as this game does, helps hugely.  If you do lose a life, it is down to you – not the game.  The only time you may find things a little unfair is if you are to the left or right edge of the screen and a comet or large planet comes in, collides with you, and kills you instantly.  However, you will soon learn this as well as the planets’ approaches and with each go, you will get a better score.

It would have also been nice to have a music and sound effects option. Playing the game with both often means the music is reduced to the single channel of bass line in the background, with the other two channels having the sound effects.  Being able to choose and listen to the tune throughout without interruption would have been good, or even just the sound effects, which are pretty good and have plenty of nice crash and explosion noises, as well as a visual effect within the starfield when you destroy a planet.

Two Player Turns and High Score Heroes

Although you can select a two-player mode, sadly this is turn based and not both of you battling against the planets at the same time, which is a real shame as this would have been fun to have.  That said, there is still the challenge of taking on a friend, and when you lose a life, the other player must sometimes complete the rest of that level before resuming at the last level they reached, which does make it intriguing.  Get a high score, and you can enter your name, as well as have a nice Rob Hubbard tune playing here. This enhanced the game a little further too and was a nice addition to have, with multiple high scores saved in the table too so you could really post a good score for your friend to aim at in a lengthier gaming session.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Crazy Comets are functional but do the job well.  The starfield effects in the background are handled well, as are the planets as they grow before being large enough and move round at a very suitable speed.  Your main ship is simple but effective in definition,  and the comets and space capsules that appear on screen are also functional.  Where this game hugely excels of course is an absolutely iconic Rob Hubbard soundtrack, with four minutes of the finest music that you will hear on the SID chip, with plenty of funky drums and bass, and some gorgeous leads that hook you in all the way through with some nice effects for parts of that as well as the final section lead, which just builds and builds superbly as it plays.   It would have been nice to have music only during play to hear it in full rather than just leave it playing on the title screen, but nonetheless if you purchased the game at this price just for the music, you would not have been alone.

Final Thoughts

Crazy Comets may at first seem challenging, but the more you get into it, the more you enjoy this adaptation of some arcade action that the Mad Planets game originally offered.  It moves very fast indeed, especially on later levels, and although the difficulty can be quite high at times, you can persevere well and get further each time, with the lure of that extra life for points being temptation to risk getting the capsules before the comet hits you on some levels.  The game really shines with its playability, and can be easily picked up and played with the sense of fun being high.  The superb soundtrack and some good sound effects drive you on, and this is, without doubt, one to play with the lights off, and so you can then immerse yourself in some quality arcade action.  And if you like this, then the game’s sequel, Mega Apocalypse, takes it up another notch and is well worth checking out.

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