Game Review: One Man and His Droid (Commodore 16 and Plus/4, Mastertronic)

After the original ZX Spectrum version of One Man and His Droid, and a conversion to the Commodore 64, it was inevitable that there would be a conversion for the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 machines.  Naturally for maximum compatibility, the game needed to fit into 16K of memory, and so sensibly some compromise decisions were made to fit the game in whilst still preserving the core object of it, which is to round up the Ramboids and effectively place them in the correct order in the teleporter.

Not Going Up

The game loads with a little PETSCII mode title screen before the main title screen appears.  You can see the main display in the top middle, with the left and right panels ready to show the Ramboids captured and which order to capture them in.  You unfortunately cannot see the modes that the droid has when switching between during play, which can prove to be a little bit of an annoyance, and makes the screen a lot smaller in visual footprint.   However, one thing you will notice is the lack of having to do the first section of each level, which was to get your droid up  a screen with falling Ramboids around you.  This was somewhat annoying on the Spectrum and Commodore 64 versions, and removing that from the game was a sensible compromise here, and as a benefit it does feel like the gameplay element has been a little improved.

Rounding up Ramboids

As with the other versions, and the effective aim on each level is to get at least four of the Ramboids rounded up in the correct order, shown at the left-hand side of the screen.  They need to be guided into the teleport which is somewhere within the maze.  The Ramboids themselves can generally only move up right bump, down left bump or vice versa.  The trick is to position your droid in the way of the path so that it changes, either by forcing a Ramboid upwards or along because the down path is blocked, or keeping them along the maze because you have blocked the up path.   This can prove to be relatively simpler on occasion on this version, although some of the Ramboids are close to the teleporter on the level start, so you need to be careful.

Dig the Tunnel with No Display

Your droid has three main modes: the fly mode is the one to move around and that is what the droid is in most of the time.  Tapping the fire button or using the space bar if on keyboard switches between this as well as the dig and tunnel mode.  Dig means the droid can dig into some of the ground, meaning Ramboids can pass over without any problem.  Tunnel mode is more useful of course to open the level, but sadly, it is not always easy to work out which mode you are in, due to no visual display.  However, if near an area you can tunnel in, pressing fire then the direction seemed to tunnel without any issues.  You do not have the mode to locate the Ramboids as in the other versions, so well worth noting.  There are also bricks in later levels which act as obstructions and can go in the teleporter too, so something to be aware of here.

Paranoid Ramboid

The Ramboids do follow their path well on this version, so if you have ensured that the Ramboid will move in their direction, they should hit the teleport without any issues.  If you do manage to get four of them in the right order as per the left side of the screen, then you will be awarded a time bonus and on to the next level.  However, the minus point of that is that the time limit does seem to descend a little faster here – whether that was to compensate for the not heading up the screen section due to the fact you would lose time there, I am not sure.  I did make it to level three with practice, and there are only eight levels on this version, with reasonably similar layouts, so you may be able to get further or use an infinite time cheat so you can concentrate on the right order.

Ramboid Repeating

As per the other versions, the gameplay itself can get a bit repetitive, although the added jeopardy later can really mean that you need to have your wits about you to ensure only the Ramboids are collected.  You can occasionally get stuck digging a hole even though you did not want to, but apart from that, the controls are responsive and at least give you the same gameplay elements as the main sections of the level on other versions – minus the excellent Rob Hubbard soundtrack present on the Commodore 64 version of course.  One big plus though is that if you do mess up, there is no need to wait for the timer to run out.  Yes, there is a quit key via RUN/STOP which means you can exit and go again if you need to – a definite bonus here.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in One Man and His Droid are average, with the Ramboids being ported over from the Spectrum version but having well defined characteristics at least.  The cavern itself does not scroll properly but at least it does move relatively well, with a slightly gaudy colour scheme for the brickwork parts of the maze – and considering there are 121 colours for this machine, maybe a more sensible choice would have worked better for the brick work.  The Ramboids and bricks move smoothly enough in the maze.  The sound though is not the best – something had to give and the in-game music is a repetitive ten second or so piece that will have you reaching for the volume control, and the sound effects are adequate with mainly just the noise when the droid is digging through some of the maze, and not much else either.

Final Thoughts

One Man and His Droid tries hard to be a different game, and certainly the original Clive Brooker design promises a lot.  With this version taking away the frustrating first section of the level to get your droid up past all the Ramboids, you can concentrate on the task in hand of rounding them all up, which is why it instantly feels more playable.  Some visual aids may have helped too, but all in all this is a more than adequate conversion, concentrating on the main gameplay elements and delivering them well enough to be a reasonable game here.

* * *

You know what we think but why not share your thoughts on this game! Let us know what you think of it in the comments below, or add your own score using the slider in the summary box at the top of the review!

Please follow and like us: