Game Review: Hektik (Commodore 64, Mastertronic)

Hektik makes no pretence about what this game is attempting to be a clone of, with the plot detailing mutating monsters, and yourself being ready with your spade as your line of defence, to dig holes where the monsters can fall into, and then to be pushed down to the platforms below to destroy them.  It also mentions about the way that the monsters can mutate and be more difficult to kill, needing deeper holes for the monsters to fall through.  If you have not already guessed, the game is a clone on the 1980 arcade game Space Panic, which had also received quite a good conversion on the ColecoVision console.

Monster Mash

The game loads very quickly, if using the Burner loader version, with a nice title screen that shows you the three types of monster.  The red one is the chaser, this takes a fall of one platform level to kill.  The green one is more difficult – as the hunter, this takes a fall of two platform levels.  Then there is the red and yellow one, the killer, which takes a fall of three platform levels to destroy.  However, if you are clever, you can drop the monsters on top of each other and destroy them that way, which will of course make the game a little less difficult.

Platform Perils

Once you press space or fire to start the game, a small introductory tune plays and then the game starts.  On level one, it is three red monsters, with platforms made of bricks and ladders to climb up or down.  You can move reasonably quickly to avoid the monsters’ movement, and you can only dig where the brick platform is wide enough for you to create a hole in.  Moving left or right moves along the platform, and up and down climbs and descends the ladder as needed. To dig the hole, you press down and fire, and this needs to happen three times for the hole to be fully dug.  You can also re-fill the hole in by pressing up and fire if you need to make a quick move away from a monster coming at you from the other side.  You can conveniently fall down the hole yourself to escape, which can be useful.

Digging an Early Grave

Once one of the monsters drops into the hole you have created, you can then use up and fire to use the spade to push down the monster.  It takes three of those for the monster to drop down the hole, and you have a limited time to push them down before they come back out – and from level two onwards, angrier than before.  So, they can mutate into green and then red and yellow.  If you bash them down the hole, even if it is not the required number for the more difficult monsters, they do not mutate.  You can of course time the final push so if another of the monsters are underneath, they can be both killed in one fell swoop.   You also have any oxygen meter – if this runs out, you lose a life, so acts like a timer to complete the level.  You get a nice bonus at the end of the level for any oxygen left.

Riffs?  Yeah!  Can U Dig It?

The second level has five red monsters, the third has two red and one green, and the fourth has three red, a green, and a yellow and red.  The levels also do have some more randomised placements of the ladders and the brick platforms which can mean that lining up a straight set of two or three holes for the monsters to fall gets trickier, and then you need to rely more on pushing down one monster to fall on another, knocking them both out.  It may have been more sensible to make the layouts less randomised so more strategy could be put into the game instead, and that is the main bug bear I would have.

The smoothness of movement and reaction to the joystick really does show in this game too.  You can move quick around tight corners and there is no frustrating lining up for the ladders spot on to be able to climb up either – the game is generous in this regard and that really does help with the playability.  If you run into a monster, it is your fault and not down to the game.  The digging can take a little time but once you get used to the speed of it, you can plan out your method of completing each level and progress well.  I managed to get on to level six after a few attempts which shows the difficulty curve is just about right.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Hektik are simplistic but at least well drawn.  Each of the three types of monster has their own characteristic, and the little digging animation of your character is nicely done.  Everything also moves accurately on screen.  The sound consists of a few sound effects during play and some small jingles when starting the game, ending a level, and when it is game over.  Nothing spectacular on either front, but nonetheless they do the job and at least are clear on screen.

Final Thoughts

Hektik certainly does not disguise that it is a clone of Space Panic.  However, what it does do is concentrate on making the game playable, with spot on character movements responding to your joystick, a good sense of speed as you head around the platforms, and tight collision detection meaning that you can escape via the narrowest of margins on occasion.  The randomisation of platforms and ladders can work to your disadvantage, but the satisfaction you can get of pushing down one monster onto another and killing both for a decent score really does give you a good incentive to play on and beat the high score – and with no official conversion of Space Panic, this game fills that hole very nicely.

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