Game Review: Kane (ZX Spectrum, Mastertronic)

Cowboys and Indians

You play as the sheriff who wishes to make peace with the Indians.

You must travel over four levels, shooting birds down to trade with them, racing across the desert where you get ambushed by bandits in the nearby town of Kane and racing back through the desert to stop the runaway train.

Yes, it sounds action packed, so let’s get to it!

Practice makes Perfect

From the menu screen, you can either play the game as usual or choose one of the four stages to practice.  Each practice session has three difficulty levels (which you can choose from), so you can build up your skills from here.

Should you be one of those players who says, “I never managed to complete or get far in that game”, then at least this does also allow you to get to see and play all of the levels.

Level 1:  Bow and Arrow

The game begins with the sheriff running across the screen and taking aim with his bow and arrow skywards.  The aim of this level (pardon the pun) is to then shoot down the birds which fly across from left to right in threes at varying heights.  Should you shoot down a bird which is higher up and it falls onto down onto another one, it will count as two.  Just like the saying two birds with one stone (but in this case, instead of a stone, it’s an arrow!)

You get ten shots and must shoot at least three birds down to move onto the next level.  The more birds, you hit, the more lives you get (which are symbolised by yellow circular arrows).  If you use you last shot and hit a bird, you will get another one until you miss.

Should more than 30 birds fly past back and get back home (and you haven’t gained any extra lives) then you fail the mission and its game over and back to the main menu.  Otherwise, onto level 2.

Level 2:  Ride to Kane

On horseback, you race across the desert from left to right towards the town of Kane.  Distance is also measured in miles.  You get two minutes to get there and when you will see Kane sign-posted and run past it, you have arrived there for the next level.

Along the way, you have various obstacles to jump over but you don’t have to jump over the cactuses’ as they are effectively in the foreground.  Anything else though and time your jumps well to neatly clear them.  Failure to clear them, means that you fly off your horse and hear a beeping crash type of sound, losing a life.

It’s quite a tough level but you will eventually get there after a bit of practice and good timing.

Level 3:  Shoot Out

In this level, you are at the bottom of the screen and able to run left and right and fire your gun.  Take aim and shoot at the bandits who appear from various areas.  These can be the roof-tops, doorways, a cart, the salon, bank, store and a hut at the back of the screen.

You can see how many bandits have shot and the amount remaining.  To avoid being shot, I found that standing still is not a great idea!  When you take a shot, you do stand in the same position for a second or two so make sure you aim well and move.

Level 4:  Train Ride

This is the same as stage 2 but in the reverse direction, but with the addition of a runaway train at the top of the screen.  Like stage 2, it is tough and quite a challenge.  Timing your jumps well is essential.

Your sheriff must gallop faster than the train carriages and reach to the front of the train to order it to stop.  Successfully doing so will halt the train in its tracks and you will have completed the game.

Graphics and Animation

From the outset of the game, you will notice that the graphics and animation are exceptionally well done with plenty of detail and colour.  The backdrops to the levels are good from the get-go, with opening mountainous region being my favourite.  On first impressions, it looks very good and that is present too for the rest of the game too.

The aiming of the bow and arrow (over four frames) and the horse tapping its foot, galloping and jumping all looking rather slick too.  In the shootout, the bandits don’t just appear out of nowhere, you do see them gradually raise their heads and duck back down again if you miss them.  Simple animation here but it’s in there.

Kane has no real loading screen with just please wait in capital letters on a black background.

Playability

I found that the first and third levels were the easiest ones to play.

Shooting the birds down just took a bit of practice and you could occasionally miss the bird you were aiming for and hit another one appearing onto the screen, higher up.  The bow and arrow, takes longer to travel across the horizontal distance of the screen and the more vertically you shot, the quicker it went.  That all made sense as the longer you shoot an arrow, the longer the flight and distance.

The shootout scene in level 3 wasn’t too bad to play and is more a case of run and shoot accurately.  The controls were responsive just like in level 1.

The tough parts in Kane are the second and final levels.  This in a way though is good, because the game would otherwise have been too easy to complete and provides a challenge and longevity.

Sound Effects Only

Kane has a few sound effects, and, in some cases, you heard them whilst in others, you don’t.  For example, in most instances, firing the bow and arrow made a noise (but not always!).  Shooting a bird down makes a quick beep noise.

The horse galloping stages made a thudding noise when running and landing and a skidding beeping sound when you fell off.

I think there could have been an opportunity for a tune on the menu screen, but it is silent.

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