Game Review: Crazy Cavey (Vic 20, Mastertronic)

One thing that always drew to me Mastertronic’s games as a kid was the cover art. Whether it was the futuristic designs from Mark J Brady or the cartoon visuals of John Smyth, they’d always be eye-catching. Crazy Cavey for the Vic 20 was no exception, but as with so many of their releases, the artwork rarely reflected the game you were actually going to be taking home…

Crazy Cavey- A Caveman Adventure?

From the packaging, you’d think that Crazy Cavey was all about cavemen and aliens. And back in the 80s that probably wouldn’t have been too much of a surprise seeing some of the games that were released – but it’s nothing of the sort. There are no in-game instructions, but according to the inlay you play the titular here and you’re trapped underground in a series of caves.

You’ve got a limited amount of oxygen (understandable if you’re trapped down there) and you’ve got to collect keys to be able to open the exit and to move on to the next cave. Now, I remember visiting the caves at Cheddar when I was young and don’t remember any of those having locked doors but there you go…

Sounds easy enough if it wasn’t for strange creatures trying to stop you, collapsing floors, and glue on the floor that stops you dead in your tracks. Yes… glue! These are some very strange caves, I tell you!

The Game

Forgetting the absurdity and lack of logic behind the game, what Crazy Cavey delivers is a solid single screen platform game. Control are simple – use the joystick to walk left/right, climb up and down ladders and fire to jump. If you are walking you’ll jump forward in that direction or if you press fire while standing still you’ll just jump upwards (both types of jumps are useful on different levels).

Everything is clearly defined on screen so its easy to tell at a glance where the exit is, what you have to collect, what floor sections will collapse and where the glue is. That may seem like an obvious thing to point out, but I’ve played far too many platform games over the years where design elements like this aren’t easy to distinguish and it makes the game so much harder to play because of it. So here you can just get stuck in and start playing.

Playability

The main thing you probably want to know is whether Crazy Cavey is enjoyable or not. And the answer is a resounding yes! It’s easy to control and collision is spot on throughout. Characters and levels are extremely well designed and it’s easy to see where you can walk straight past creatures or where you need to wait or jump to avoid them. This might not seem important but with so many plaform games being dependent on pixel-perfect positioning or being too punishing on players, this makes a refreshing change. It leaves you reliant on skill rather than absolute precision so you can just focus on enjoying the game.

One thing I did appreciate is that unlike some platformers, if you lose a life on any level of Crazy Cavey the level continues exactly where you left off so you only need to collect the keys you missed previously. You’re sent back to the start position, and as expected, any collapsible floors you may have walked over have vanished, but it does make the game a little less frustrating, and this helps keep you coming back for more.

Graphics and Sound

Crazy Cavey isn’t the most detailed or well animated game I’ve seen on the Vic 20, but the graphics are bright, bold, colourful and – most importantly – very clearly defined. It may look chunky, but there’s never any question while you play about what everything is so it makes the game much easier and more enjoyable as a result. The fact that everything moves smoothly is an added bonus.

Sound is limited to a few basic effects, mainly when you jump, collect keys, fall or complete a level and while they’re nothing spectacular they’re not grating either so you’re not going to be jumping for the volume control!

Overall

Crazy Cavey marked the end of Mastertronic’s support for the Vic 20 when it was released in July 1985. It still sold reasonably well at that point, managing a respectable 20,941 copies but it came at a time when the Vic 20 was faltering globally on a commercial level. At least Mastertronic went out on a high with such a fantastic platformer.

It’s incredibly addictive, offers plenty of challenge and – as with most of their Vic 20 releases – shows just what is really possible with the unexpanded Vic 20 with the right developers at the keyboard. Yet another essential one for the collection.

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