Game Review: Video Meanies (Commodore 64, Mastertronic)

Like the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 original, the Commodore 64 version of Video Meanies has you starring as a robot working in a video shop.  The shop is still owned by a crazy millionaire, and he lives in a castle full of meanies.  The small plot twist compared to the original is that you need to turn on the videos for the morning’s work (rather than turn them off), whilst avoiding the meanies along the way.  There are also differences in when you turn on the video as well as other features when you play – more on those as we go on.

Eenie Meanie Minie Mo

The title screen is a nice attract mode showing you several of the twenty-four screens to make your way through, along with a catchy little title theme by Shaun Southern, and a nice title screen graphic from Andrew Morris, which curiously does not appear as the loading screen – you think that would be nice to see during load.  It is clear from the attract mode that the graphical style of the game is different – gone are the rock like backgrounds in some screens, instead replaced by blocks, shapes, rugged borders, and bright colours, in some cases quite gaudy to the eye as well.  You can press F1 for joystick or F2 for keyboard, and the game shows a get ready screen as the title theme fades out, which is a nice touch – although you cannot press fire to skip this.

Ensure Your Video Is Clean and Free from Dust

Once you get started, the opening screen shows a couple of large meanies as well as the video to turn on.  These large meanies are in fact what house the hive of small meanies, and pressing fire then unleashes the meanies, which move diagonally and can create havoc.  You can then exit the screen out, and your adventure begins, either dodging meanies that appear straight away, or tactically opening up the large meanies and shooting the small ones within.  Touch a meanie, large or small, and you lose a life.

You will note that several rooms have pawn like chess pieces which resemble the doors which you need to open with the keys that you will find on route.  It is well worth noting where the doors as you will need to head back to pass them later on (they open automatically when you get the right key) and then traverse further into the game.  Some screens also have lasers which go up and down and you need to time your run past to avoid them, and there are also blocks which shoot left to right (or from both sides) and again, run timing is crucial to get past.

He’s Gonna Gamble!

When you do get to a video (marked helpfully with XX if switched off) you are presented with a screen asking you if you wish to gamble.  If you press N, the screen displays “chicken” and you just get a bonus for any remaining energy left.  If you gamble, you can gain up to two extra lives and 10,000 bonus points if you hit the right mark as it scrolls down.  You can however also lose a life (with or without bonus points) so do think carefully about what you need to do.  You only have a maximum of five lives, although the temptation to rack up the points for the high score is strong.  If you chose not to gamble or won the gamble, the screen is switched on with a smiley face, and the puzzle at the top left shows a piece collected. There are fifteen of these in all to complete the game.

Wall to Wall Action

Apart from the gamble screens, there are several marked gameplay differences from the original Commodore 16 and Plus/4 version.  The largest of these is that there are no more white walls which result in death – all walls are touchable around the screens, and this is offset by the fact that the difficulty level has been ramped up.  The large hives of meanies and the multiple meanies whizzing about on some screens do make them harder to avoid or shoot.  You also do not have the drone noise playing when you are in a screen with a video not switched on – a real shame, as that did add to the atmosphere for me.  That graphical style is also very different, it is colourful, but why a brown border, surely black would be better?

Yes, We Have Got a Video

The increased difficulty here is also down to the fact that your energy drains much more quickly too.  This can be temporarily stopped in two screens: the opening screen, and a later screen which proclaims “Have a rest, you need it” (like the Rest Room in Mr Puniverse, another Tony Kelly game.)  There are less videos to turn on, so this does mean losing energy quicker means you have to go faster in places, increasing the risk.  You could implement a difficulty level to have the energy drain less quickly (and less meanies) for the younger players, as it can be a difficult game to play until you get into it.

And once you do get into it, the game does open with the keys, although this can feel more linear and less freedom of movement compared to the original version.   There is also a definite dead end where you follow two or three screens of danger only to be met with “All this way for nothing!” once you reach that dead end, and that might feel a little punishing and you know to avoid that in the future.  You do also have some tight timing to get past some of the horizontal moving blocks, notably on the screen labelled “amazing” as it has a maze in itself.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Video Meanies are generally bright and colourful, if gaudy.  Some of the screens look much better than others and it does appear not as well drawn in places.  You can also sometimes see some bad colour choices for the text on the gamble screens.  The main robot character moves well and the collision detection with the lasers can sometimes work to your advantage.  There is also a nicely drawn title screen from Andrew Morris too.  Shaun Southern provides the cute and catchy little title tune, and the sound effects are restricted to just shooting and explosion noises, as well as the escalating notes on the gamble screens.  More could have been done with the effects I feel, as it does sound sparse, unless you are on a screen with lots of meanies to shoot.

Final Thoughts

Video Meanies works well as an arcade maze game with keys to find, screens to turn on, and meanies to shoot or dodge as you need to.  The different style and gameplay elements, such as the gamble screens when switching on a video, as well as the difficulty level increasing (despite no white walls) makes for a tough challenge which will take some time to complete.  It does feel a little more linear with more keys to find, and mapping is essential.  Both versions of the game are good and well worth a play, but if you have both machines and want to pick one to play, I would say that the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 version is the one to go for – it just plays a little better overall.

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