Review scoopings 2/5 · Mar 19, 2022
One Of The Best Home Computer Platformers Of This Era
Look: 7/10
I like that it's a full-bodied sprite, and the level design has a nice look to it, but also--nothing special or anything. Definitely a good precedent to upcoming DOS era games. 
(Actually, I wound up giving this a bit of a boost cuz, oddly enough, I really like the decor LOL. Like I like how it's abstract art, …
Look: 7/10
I like that it's a full-bodied sprite, and the level design has a nice look to it, but also--nothing special or anything. Definitely a good precedent to upcoming DOS era games.
(Actually, I wound up giving this a bit of a boost cuz, oddly enough, I really like the decor LOL. Like I like how it's abstract art, and the look of the potted bushes/trees. Plus, the Apple II colors. Oh, and good functional UI that reminds me of upcoming "modern" platformers.)
Play: 6/10 Bahaha a cat burglar, what a basis to a game. I can't seem to find a manual for this (the original Apple II version), but it seems mostly intuitive. I do wish I could find the manual to make sure I understand some things better, like, it seems sometimes I can run into the "enemies" (the robot things moving along the floor heh) and they give me points, but sometimes they hurt me. The gameplay is your usual Apple II platformer, still quite clunky controls like most microcomputer action and platform games, but I am super grateful it has Apple Joystick support, so I can use a gamepad (DS4 controller) for it. Better than the usual over-the-top keyboard-based controls like most Apple II adventure, action, and platform games. Some of the collision masks are faulty and it claims you missed a platform when you didn't (and vice versa). And there's no mid-air movement at all, whether falling or jumping. But it's still one of the better microcomputer platformers I've come upon so far, with some bias since the gamepad finally worked for once heh.
Feel: 7/10 I wanted to like this more, and got through the first level/floor--but the clunkiness of micrcomputer action games is just too much for me. Maybe I will never be a true/PC gamer (I assume later games improve substantially in this regard heh), cuz I don't really like overcoming this clunkiness to get used to their mechanics. Contemporaneous arcade games like Bongo were just so solid with controls and mechanics, though, that it's hard for microcomputer and console games to compete (till, apparently, the NES era and beyond heh).
Attachment: 7/10 I dunno, there's just something about it. There's a chance I might return to it--unlikely, but possible. Out of all the clunky microcomputer platformers so far, this one definitely stands out. Just not sure if/when I'll be returning to this era of platformers.
Completion: 1 level Playtime: ~50 mins (the clunky controls and collision masks and lack of manual made it hard/time-consuming!)