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Computers and crisps haven't really gone together until now. Mastertronic and KP crisps have joined forces to bring KP's marketing character to your 64. It's all been worthwhile too, and although the end result boils down to being a collecting game, it's definitely one of the better ones.

You take the role of Clumsy Colin the biker and you've got to go out on your bike and collect items scattered throughout the 'softsolid' 3D town. The town has roads, houses, lakes, and rollercoaster type constructions. The items you have to collect will eventually help you overcome the various obstacles littered over the landscape.



You commence the game outside the town's petrol station, and have to return here when your bike's fuel starts to run low (although one of the items you can pick up later on in the game is an enlarged fuel tank). Once you start you are given a time limit to collect the first item, which is somewhere in the landscape. Luckily, your bike is able to go off the road, although you have to be careful not to ride into the myriad of fences and walls.

Once an item has been collected, the time remaining is converted into points and another time limit is given. As the game goes on, the objects are put in less accessible places and eventually you have to use all your skill to reach an item. For example, you have to use ramps to jump fences to collect an item totally fenced in.

The town is quite large and 'wraps round' so it's possible to keep on travelling on the same road until your fuel runs out.








Mastertronic keep up their recent high standards of quality with their latest release. Clumsy Colin is an excellent game with high addictive qualities which kept me returning for 'just one more go'. The graphics are very good with the nicely detailed 3D town, which gave a really realistic feel as I zoomed about the landscape. It was also great fun trying to ride over the roller coaster and tackling the scaffolding on the building site. The sound is great too, with a funky tune adding to the game immensely. Although the controls are rather fiddly, the game makes it well worth persevering. I don't want to say this (but I will) as this is now becoming a Mastertronic cliche, but I can think of a lot worse things you could buy for £1.99.
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Presentation 60%
Nothing special, but adequate.
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One of Mastertronic's latest and certainly one of their greatest releases to date. It doesn't offer anything outstandingly original, but that doesn't matter -- what it does offer is many hours of enjoyable and frustrating play. The graphical representation of the town is very good, although Colin himself is rather poor, and scrolling is first class. The music is the best piece yet from Mastertronic as are the sound FX and both are very good. The game is great fun to play and is a nice variation on the pick-em-up theme -- and at such a low price!
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Graphics 81%
Solid, fast 3D graphics.

Sound 80%
Funky tune, reasonably jolly.

Hookability 88%
Whizzing round on your bike has never been so much fun.

Lastability 77%
It will take many enjoyable games to collect all the things.

Value For Money 91%
Two quid seems positively criminal!

Overall 83%
Good game, low price, can't be bad.

Action Biker (also known as "KP Skips Action Biker with Clumsy Colin" in the UK) is a 1985 game for 8-bit home computers released by Mastertronic. The game was a tie-in with snack food KP Skips, whose mascot was "Clumsy Colin" who featured in television adverts for Skips at around the time the game was published.

Gameplay

The player controls the protagonist Clumsy Colin who rides a motorbike and has to navigate a landscape to extra equipment to improve the bike. Once all pieces are collected the player performs a final race against a computer controlled character. There is a time limit, and the player also has a limited number of lives reduced by crashing into background objects.

The Atari and Commodore 64 versions feature an isometric view of the town, which wraps around at the edges. The Spectrum has a different viewpoint.

There are several key areas to the map - the petrol station (where the player can refuel), the lakes (including an island that is initially inaccessible), the rollercoaster (which can be ridden on the C64 and Atari versions) and the building site (which changes shape as the game progresses).

Among the extras collected are a new gearbox (allowing the player to switch to low gear for higher acceleration), water-skis (to allow the player to cross water) and a larger fuel tank.

Music

The music of the game was composed by C64 game musician Rob Hubbard (also known for his work on Commando, Monty on the Run, Master of Magic, etc.)