Trampoline Terror! (MD, 1990)
Graphics-6 Sound-7 Control-7.5 Challenge-8.5
Level Design-6 Frustration-9 Fun-6 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6
+ Some innovative mechanics (trampoline bouncing, platform puzzling, bouncing throwing weapons on trampolines), simply walking to the edge of platforms won’t make you fall down, difficulty options (easy/normal/hard), destroying 3-4 platforms of a certain colour in a row gives different bonuses (1-ups, restoring broken trampolines, etc.), some large sprites (the boss)
+/- Need to be almost exactly in the middle of a trampoline or you won’t bounce off it, limited ammo on the thrown weapon and you have to go and pick it up again after throwing (some strategy involved in not wasting them but it also slows the pace down), respawning enemies, starts off very easy, limited continues
- Trial & error (figuring out which colour combination does what, levels where you need to take the exact right path or you’ll get stuck and have to kill yourself (no map so it’s hard to get a good overview of a level), quick enemy movement from off screen into the screen), loose scrolling, kind of cheap boss (it’s huge and moves faster than you), only one boss, repetitive, so-so colour choices and mostly generic designs, some very annoying enemies (bullet bills – levels where they don’t appear are considerably easier to deal with), it’s possible to end up stuck because an enemy moved onto the only platform you could jump to from where you were positioned and won’t move away, no alternate weapons and a lack of power ups (shield, speed up, etc.), doesn’t take full advantage of the sound chip (no DAC) and some sfx are so-so,
Notes: 33 stages long, including a boss stage
Level Design-6 Frustration-9 Fun-6 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6
+ Some innovative mechanics (trampoline bouncing, platform puzzling, bouncing throwing weapons on trampolines), simply walking to the edge of platforms won’t make you fall down, difficulty options (easy/normal/hard), destroying 3-4 platforms of a certain colour in a row gives different bonuses (1-ups, restoring broken trampolines, etc.), some large sprites (the boss)
+/- Need to be almost exactly in the middle of a trampoline or you won’t bounce off it, limited ammo on the thrown weapon and you have to go and pick it up again after throwing (some strategy involved in not wasting them but it also slows the pace down), respawning enemies, starts off very easy, limited continues
- Trial & error (figuring out which colour combination does what, levels where you need to take the exact right path or you’ll get stuck and have to kill yourself (no map so it’s hard to get a good overview of a level), quick enemy movement from off screen into the screen), loose scrolling, kind of cheap boss (it’s huge and moves faster than you), only one boss, repetitive, so-so colour choices and mostly generic designs, some very annoying enemies (bullet bills – levels where they don’t appear are considerably easier to deal with), it’s possible to end up stuck because an enemy moved onto the only platform you could jump to from where you were positioned and won’t move away, no alternate weapons and a lack of power ups (shield, speed up, etc.), doesn’t take full advantage of the sound chip (no DAC) and some sfx are so-so,
Notes: 33 stages long, including a boss stage
