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QWAK (AMI)
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Publisher: Team 17.
Developer: Jamie Woodhouse. Released: 1993. Genre: 2D Platformer. Posted 12th May 2014. By Alan Passingham © 2014 |
For the young pups still relatively fresh from the womb, it may amaze you to hear that before Worms came along Team 17 once developed and published other games. Incredible, I know! These were typically decent efforts for the Amiga - featuring unrivalled precision towards presentation and detail that played pretty well too - be it a release from their top-tiered titles (Alien Breed, SuperFrog, Worms) or their rather wonderful budget range (Apidya, F-17 Challenge, Arcade Pool). Qwak is one of the latter; a Bubble Bobble styled clone programmed by Jamie Woodhouse that remains a joy to play, despite its relatively unoriginal design.
Qwak is immediately engaging and quick to pick-up. A single-screen level design is all that faces our beaked protagonist. The aim: collecting the numerous gold keys lying around to open a gateway to the next layer of single-screen machinations. Simple! Well, not quite. A series of cuddly looking non-threatening enemies exist to ensure that this endeavour is not quite a simple straightforward romp. Matched with clever level design that makes you think how best to tackle each stage and an insidious unseen timer within which to complete each level (before spikey balls of doom are dropped from the top of the screen onto your head to convince you to ‘hurry the f*ck up’) Qwak’s fast-paced tempo means that death is always a small leap away off the next platform.
Qwak starts to get pretty tough, pretty quickly. Its fast-paced, addictive nature keeps you coming back though
There are plenty of other things to collect that help our duck-faced hero though. Gems, fruit and potions all contribute score multipliers, extra-lives, egg-shaped ammo to obliterate and shell-shock enemies with and armour to take additional hits. And you’ll need all this – the game gets seriously tough once a mistake has been made, more so when enemies begin to require multiple-egg shells to kindly go away and obstacles that bring the pain (i.e. spikey and sharp thingy-bobs) complemented with fiendish level design are added to the environment.
Luckily, owing to the single-screen stages, Qwak is a compact and tightly paced game. The initial levels should be completed within seconds and, once you’re a bit of a pro, the first world (the first nine stages plus a boss at stage 10) will be done and dusted within five minutes. This pace is necessary though considering death is a frequent occurrence. With only three lives and three continues available to the player before it's Game Over how else are you expected to complete the 100 challenging (and sometimes b*stard) stages available if getting back on the horse means hours of replaying lengthy and derivative levels? The speed of play actually makes Qwak an irresistibly more-ish game! Even the level sequence has been considered here to convince the player to have another bash at getting that little bit further with each play-through. The fact the levels for each world play in a different sequence each time is a nifty innovation that provides some much needed variation. Despite its difficulty, Qwak is no dull slog through irritable game-design b*llocks syndrome.
Luckily, owing to the single-screen stages, Qwak is a compact and tightly paced game. The initial levels should be completed within seconds and, once you’re a bit of a pro, the first world (the first nine stages plus a boss at stage 10) will be done and dusted within five minutes. This pace is necessary though considering death is a frequent occurrence. With only three lives and three continues available to the player before it's Game Over how else are you expected to complete the 100 challenging (and sometimes b*stard) stages available if getting back on the horse means hours of replaying lengthy and derivative levels? The speed of play actually makes Qwak an irresistibly more-ish game! Even the level sequence has been considered here to convince the player to have another bash at getting that little bit further with each play-through. The fact the levels for each world play in a different sequence each time is a nifty innovation that provides some much needed variation. Despite its difficulty, Qwak is no dull slog through irritable game-design b*llocks syndrome.
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It's a race against time to grab the keys and get out!
Other artifices add further spit and polish. Nice touches such as our ducky avatar turning into a roast chicken at the point of death reminds the player this is not all just fun and games – the life and death of pixels are on the line! Visuals are bright, colourful and varied throughout, easily meeting Team 17's expectation on quality. Equally the upbeat music matches Qwak’s overall quirkiness factor. It’s all rather jolly on the presentation front, if somewhat unspectacular.
That it remains constantly challenging is the real surprise. I’ve never got further than around stage 40, mostly owing to the rush to complete a stage leading to simple basic errors in hand-eye-zipstick co-ordination. But the pull to have another go and get that little bit further or to beat my current high-score never really dissipates. And you can always get a friend to join in, albeit the two-player option is a much tougher experience. A degree of unselfishness is required to maximise progress as resources have to be shared. This often leads to d*ckhead players, like my brother, running out of ammo early doors and spending the rest of his duck’s lives running about the single-screen maze like a headless chicken on Lucozade. So, lots of fun then!
That it remains constantly challenging is the real surprise. I’ve never got further than around stage 40, mostly owing to the rush to complete a stage leading to simple basic errors in hand-eye-zipstick co-ordination. But the pull to have another go and get that little bit further or to beat my current high-score never really dissipates. And you can always get a friend to join in, albeit the two-player option is a much tougher experience. A degree of unselfishness is required to maximise progress as resources have to be shared. This often leads to d*ckhead players, like my brother, running out of ammo early doors and spending the rest of his duck’s lives running about the single-screen maze like a headless chicken on Lucozade. So, lots of fun then!
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Qwak is pleasantly pleasing platforming. No great shakes but a compact title that is both engaging and challenging. It is a reminder of Team 17’s solid back catalogue and that some of the most fun games that exist are those that are uncompromisingly simple in design. Well worth a crack (sorry – contractually obligatory egg-joke), particularly as Mr. Woodhouse has re-programmed it to run on modern systems.
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VERDICT
Visual: 7/10
Audio: 7/10 Gameplay: 8/10 Longevity: 7/10 OVERALL: 7/10 |