Game Review: Squirm (Commodore 64, Mastertronic)

Squirm was, in terms of its catalogue number, the first Mastertronic release that had not previously been released beforehand by Mr Chip Software.  Although brought to them by Mr Chip, it was an original game programmed by Tony Kelly.  In this game, the Squirm is the queen of the Squirms, with the other squirms being her guards.  The queen leaves behind eggs which you will need to collect, whilst avoiding contact with the queen and the other guard squirms along the way.  You need to pick up 255 eggs to complete the level.

Enough To Make You Squirm

From the title screen, with its rather odd psychedelic sound effect laden title theme, which almost feels like it plays at random, it is straight into the first level.  You can exit at each end of the maze to come out at the other side, which can be a useful shortcut, and follow the maze around to find the best path.  The queen Squirm will start laying her eggs, which are more like groups of dots, which you can then collect.  The guard squirms are very quick though, and can move at a pretty good space, sometimes respawning at random if eaten by the Queen Squirm, so definitely that is one to watch out for.

Eggsacting Movement

The movement of your little character is relatively responsive to the joystick, and like Pac-Man and other clones, you keep moving in a certain direction unless you change direction on the joystick at the right time to move around the maze.  This does mean you need some good reactions to change direction when needed and to try and avoid the guard squirms, who inevitably appear to home in around certain parts of each level, meaning some careful coaxing out for them to follow you and not to follow the queen’s path of eggs, as the guard squirms can eat those and give you less to collect.

Follow The Trail

As the Queen Squirm constantly moves and lays her eggs, sometimes following on her movement can work well if the level’s maze has long passages and an easy pick up, but for those levels where the maze is more open, and prone to changes of direction, you are best waiting until the Queen Squirm has left the area, and then grab the eggs before the guards come around.  You can mainly stand still in the corners of the level’s maze or when you hit a corner, so definitely can be a little frenetic at times when avoiding the guards.   There is a sound effect when you collect an egg which increases in pitch for each egg collected, and can be off-putting at a high pitch.

Bonus Run

Once you have collected the 255 eggs (incidentally there is no on-screen display telling you how many eggs you have left to get) it is then time for the bonus run.  You have a limited amount of time to wander through the maze and you can eat the squirms to increase your bonus considerably.  You cannot go back on yourself though and indeed if you end up trapping yourself, you must stay and wait for the time to go to zero and collect whatever points you have earned.  It is a nice touch and with some splashes of colour too, and then on you go to the next level with a new maze drawn each time.

Treasure Hunt

From the second level onwards, there are also bonus treasures which can be collected, and these often remain static or move around a small area.  Collect those, and they can range in a random number of points to be added to your score, often ten but sometimes a hundred too.  You can get two or three per level to collect on the way to getting the eggs required, so handy if they are on your path as you roam around the level.  It does feel though that these bonuses can also put you off, so you do need to think about strategy on certain levels.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Squirm are functional and nothing more than that – some simple user defined graphics for the Queen Squirm and her guards, blocks detailing the maze and a clear background making it easy to see where you are going.  There are limited sound effects during the game, mainly the collecting eggs sound getting high pitched the more you collect, along with that almost randomised sound for the title theme too.    It at least means you can see the maze and work your way around, with splashes of colour on the eggs and squirms – and more so the blocks on the bonus run too.

Final Thoughts

Squirm on the Commodore 64 may not be the most advanced in terms of graphics and sound, but what is there is a playable maze collect-em-up game with some hazards to avoid along the way. The fast-paced nature does become more frenetic the further you get, and with the maze layouts per level requiring different strategy, the one more go factor to play this game is pretty good.  It is functional and reasonably good value, with the promise of more games to come from Tony Kelly across both the Commodore 64 and the Commodore 16 and Plus/4.

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