| Introduction
Virgin/Titus once again attempt to prove that you
don't always need a license to sell GBA games with yet
another original title. Prehistorik Man centres around
life in the village of our hero Sam. We join him just
as all the food for the winter has been collected and
stored and the villagers are ready for a winter of fireside
sing-a-longs and all day eating. That is until, one
morning, disaster strikes and the food goes missing.
This is where your mission begins.
GamePlay
The game kicks off with a short story and a very
useful tutorial where you meet all the villagers who
will accompany you on your journey. The villagers explain
various aspects of the terrain like checkpoints, how
to discover secrets and more importantly, what they're
there for. You have a weapons maker who can equip you
with elaborate tools of destruction throughout your
journey and an inventor. This one's interesting as he
doesn't appear frequently, only when there's an impossible
situation such as a valley where you may, for example,
require a hang glider. I won't say anymore about this
as it will spoil the surprises.
Utilising one of the platformers more addictive qualities,
there are collectibles absolutely everywhere in addition
to the missing food. Collecting the collectibles cleverly
helps to expand the gameplay, as you can't help but
explore just to find that last hidden bonus. Bones are
some of the more important objects and though they are
not usually found just lying around, most enemies will
give you one if you hit them over the head with your
club. Gathering as many bones as possible is paramount
as these are the currency which you use to spend in
the shops.
Shops are dotted about the various levels and locating
them, though not always easy, is essential to complete
the game. This is where you can get your password. Prehistorik
Man uses a system which I've only encountered once before,
in a French GBC title, where you aren't given a code
but have to buy one. In addition to passwords and information,
other goods available include a Life Insurance policy
which allows you to restart from where it was purchased
if you die and a Travel Ticket which you can use to
ride directly to the next stage. The point here is that
everything costs, so it's always a gamble deciding what
to buy.
Controls
One thing that always appears to be standard about
platformers is the control system and Prehistorik Man
doesn't really throw up any surprises. The shoulder
buttons are, however, used in a more interesting way
than just scrolling through options. For example pressing
'L' at any time allows Sam to look both up and down
which, for anyone who's played a platformer that relies
on repeated 'leaps of faith' to lengthen gameplay, can
be very useful.
Graphics
The graphics throughout are beautiful regardless
of your environment. There are also spot animations
such as erupting volcanoes and waterfalls which really
bring the whole thing to life. The highlight though
is the main sprite of Sam which is both brilliantly
animated and very humorous. Everything is 2D and rather
reminiscent of 16 bit games but this makes the whole
experience no less enjoyable especially on the GBA.
Sound & Music
This is an aspect of GameBoy titles which many developers
tend to overlook, even now with the GBA's enhanced sound
capabilities. The good news here is that the music is
wonderful and a joy to listen to. Best described as
ambient techno it really enhances the gameplay and that's
before you sample the excellent sound effects. A definite
game highlight with strange and bizarre sounds accompanying
the equally wacky animations.
Final Comments
Prehistorik Man is technically a very good GBA title
and an enjoyable romp although there is nothing on display
here that you won't have seen before. There's also the
minor problem of repetition, as while the various areas
you'll encounter are suitably different, the way in
which enemies attack remains the same. There are some
fun diversions though, particularly the hang gliding
which is quite enjoyable once you get the hang of it
and stop crashing into rocks. Prehistorik Man is a solid
platformer and the 22 various levels should keep you
entertained for some time.
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