Game Review: Scumball (Commodore 64, Bulldog)

Scumball would be both in catalogue number and release date the final Commodore 64 game that was released on the label. The plot details that you control the Laser Incorporated Nasties Disposal Android (aka L.I.N.D.A.) and she is a dedicated killing machine, dedicated to clear the sewers of nasties. You need to guide her to locate eight grenades, and one by one, take them to the lair of the green slime where the creature awaits. If you place all eight in the lair, the creature is destroyed. It was quite a change back then to have a female lead character in the game, and a positive to see.

The Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy

On the title screen, you can press S to start, H for high scores and R for report. The report can be called in-game and shows you a progress table of how well you are doing, including shooting accuracy and the overall rating for your play. It is a shame that the down control on the joystick was not used for this – the instructions are incorrect in that aspect. It does also act as a pause mode so gives you a chance to evaluate where you are and what needs to be done.  As you start the game with S, you see a nice introductory sequence of L.I.N.D.A. charging up, and ready to go for her mission.

You start in a screen and almost immediately fall down into the next one. You will note that each screen has a number, which indicates where you are in terms of the sewer system. You can go as far down as you need to explore and locate the eight grenades needed to take back to the green slime, although do note you can only take back one at a time. The location of these eight grenades are also randomly generated each time, so whilst you can map the screens and locations, the grenades will be in different places and so exploring all of the map will be essential so you can locate where they are.

Insipid Instructions

The nasties are defined well in high resolution sprites, and there are also green plants to avoid as well as pools of water, which are lethal to the touch for L.I.N.D.A. and so need to be avoided. However, what is not made clear by the instructions whatsoever are what some of the pick ups do. Whilst the heart for an extra life and the bonus points (with bonus flashing in the display when you collect) are obvious, the other extras are not so obvious, and either in the printed instructions or within the game itself it would have been useful to know what they all mean. You may not notice for example you have collected a grenade until you see in the display that the number has dropped down by one.

The other thing to note in this version is that several of the power ups do not do anything at all, which seems a bit pointless leaving them in. One which looks like a dome gives you temporary invulnerability with the border flashing on the original – nothing here. Another looks like a four-way weapon which when collected does spurt out bullets in four directions in the original – and again nothing here either. The ice collectable also does nothing either. There are power ups for the laser (L) and the spares (S) which is used when the main laser runs out, and you revert to the spares for backup. The purple battery also adds some valuable power to your meter, which goes down really quickly, especially just by jumping and more so when colliding with an enemy, rain drop or plant.

A Good Heart

What balances the toughness of losing energy very quickly is that on this version there are more red hearts which are available to collect. These give you an extra life, and so you can rack up a few extra lives, and you will need them. More so when you have to locate screen 005, and then back track down several screens to locate screen 033 where the green slime is. It is not too bad heading down as long as you jump over the green plant on entrance and indeed exit from screen 033, but heading up can sometimes be frustrating – not because you cannot jump high enough but you may hit your head on a platform and head downwards without time to adjust. Being a flick screen game, that is one of the issues that any similar game would have.

If you are also able to locate the red watering can, these are life savers. Walk on them and you will see your power (P) top up, all the way to the top. One of these happens to be in screen 036, and another in screen 062, so they can help considerably as you make your way back up the maze and to screen 005 to get down to the lair of the green slime. When you do head there with a grenade, the grenade is lobbed at the creature and it alternate flashes between green and a number of colours in rapid succession. Repeat this seven times, and you complete the game – which even with the extra lives is a challenge in itself.

Trapped Below 118

As you head down the maze, you will get to screen 118, and on one of my earlier plays, this did contain one of the grenades needed. Thankfully I was able to collect that and escape, as if you do head down from there to screen 125, you will note on screen that it says not to go down from 118. This is because L.I.N.D.A. will fall into a pool of water every time the screen is entered, and so all the lives are lost and it is game over. Needless to say, you will not be making that mistake again, but well worth noting once you find out the hard way and carry on exploring next time around, with 128 screens in total to explore.

The game moves along at a fair pace, with the speed of L.I.N.D.A. being fast enough but also controllable and responsive to the joystick. The jumps are only one height and so you will need to be aware of that when jumping through some tighter gaps – it is not as if you can hold up to jump as far as you need to. You can also use the little cages marked S as places to duck underneath some of the moving nasties, and this can be handy for the larger ones especially that walk along a set path so you can hide and emerge to get past without losing any vital power. It certainly has a good degree of playability and the controls are spot on. If you do lose power and die, it is purely down to you, not the game being unfair, which is a positive.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Scumball may look as if they have been ported from the ZX Spectrum, with their high-resolution view, but hardware sprites have been used for L.I.N.D.A. and the assorted nasties, meaning movement is smooth and fast. The animation is reasonable and the backdrops retain their original feel, even if it is slightly wider to fit the screen. The main improvement sound wise is the rather nice tune from Tim Follin that plays during the game. It is a little short at just over a minute or so before it repeats, so you may find it repetitive after a while. In lieu of the music, there are no sound effects whatsoever to speak of.

Final Thoughts

Although not quite a direct port of the ZX Spectrum version, there is a lot to praise about the Commodore 64 version of Scumball. The sizeable map and challenge are all present, and the random placement of the grenades each time does mean a fresh game whenever you play. Mapping the game is essential, especially the location of the red watering cans to top up the power that does drop at a considerable rate. Where it does fall down compared to the original is that the power ups do not do what they are supposed to do, which may have helped you get further. This was probably why there were more extra lives provided in order to try and counterbalance those missing items. Put those differences aside, and as a standalone platform game with a large maze to explore, enemies to shoot and grenades to collect, it does work well and definitely is a good game for the price tag.

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