Review scoopings 2/5 · Feb 10, 2022
Such A Beautiful Concept And Look For Such A Slow Game
Look: 8/10
Love the film-esque beginning, and the Epyx Presents graphic was super well-done for that. 
I love all the unique character sprites, the different city settings, and the UI. Even tho the game design part of it made it hard to discern some graphics, most were usually clear in their graphics to let you know what the heck they …
Look: 8/10
Love the film-esque beginning, and the Epyx Presents graphic was super well-done for that.
I love all the unique character sprites, the different city settings, and the UI. Even tho the game design part of it made it hard to discern some graphics, most were usually clear in their graphics to let you know what the heck they are.
Sound: 6/10 Fun beginning music during the film intro part. Beyond that, I don't think I even noticed much sound heh.
Play: 6/10 Even tho it was surprisingly straightforward for a sim/strategy game, the manual helps like always. Let's be honest, I mostly spent time just seeing the different monsters' "special traits" which were fun graphics to see (again so early, too). And in the end, these early microcomputer games are often just too slow to be anything other than silly short arcade action games. How did people enjoy the original releases of Dunjonquest, sheesh. At least this one is a bit faster than that (plus it's for the Apple II, thank goodness), but it just wasn't worth investing much time in. I've never been a big strategy game guy. If you are into movie monsters, or strategy/sim games, this could be up your alley tho. It's quite in-depth, versatile, and technically fun (albeit slowly).
Feel: 7/10 Wow, this is way more expansive than I expected. Everything online said this was released at the same time on TRS 80 and Apple II, so I am quite impressed (like always with Apple II games) for June, 1981. Like, Grow your own creature?? That seems so advanced (of course it's rudimentary mind you lol), not to mention the variety of options. Almost too much for me while I'm trying to move pretty quickly till after the videogame crash of '83... This game wound up basically boiling down to "get more points" like usual, but it was definitely worth it to try out the different monsters and their abilities. Such a cool-looking manual too, linked above. I "played through" (the military got me heh) once, but really just looked at the different characters and their abilities (and didn't even do all that, nor do much with Grow a monster)--then moved on. It's a game with a lot of unique ideas and features. But it's just too darn slow.
Attachment: 6/10 Very interesting concept, settings, features, etc. But not my thing enough to push through the long waits (I don't even have that patience for RPGs, one of my favorite genres, on these early micrcomputers.) I'd say only play this if you're super into movie monsters or early strategy games.