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After coming up with the graphically superb Fusion and the highly successful deity simulator Populous, Bullfrog have pushed off in yet another direction by releasing... wait for it... a good old-fashioned platform game!
In Flood, you play a tubby little fellow by the name of Quiffy. He is the last surviving member of the Blobbie race, his comrades have been wiped out by the evil Psycho Teddies and the dread Bulbous-Headed Vong. Life in the caverns is hazardous for a lonely young Blobbie, but it could always be worse... the caverns could get flooded! Ha-ha! This is when the phrase ‘famous last words’ has a poignant ring...

Cavern religion has long told of ‘The Coming of the Taps of Wrath’, a fearful time when the old and near-forgotten water demons will begin to fill the caverns with water. It looks like the priests were right – the flooding has begun. This is the last straw for Quiffy, who has decided to get his lil’ ol’ green butt outta there.

You must fight your way through a series of caverns, battling the dangers of deadly traps and vicious monsters. The exit to each cavern is in the form of a teleporter, which is linked to a ‘social conscience’ computer. The computer will only allow the portal to open when there is no rubbish lying around, so Quiffy must pick up all the rubbish in the cavern before he can escape.

Occasionally, Quiffy may find a weapon along the way, including dynamite, grenades and a pretty awesome flame-thrower – just right for blitzing those evil trash-scattering Vong! .
Maff Evans

Amiga Format, Issue 14, September 1990, p.39
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
As you would expect from Bullfrog , a lot of care has been put into the game’s presentation. The graphics are well drawn and coloured, with a huge dollop of the ‘cute’ factor that seem to be all the rage at the moment. The sprites have a cartoon-like appearance, but the use of colour and shading gives the characters a solid appearance not usually seen in cutesy games. The sound is equally impressive, featuring a suitably bubbly soundtrack to introduce the game and a whole host of jovial splishing, ticking, clanking and yelping effects to back the action, which polished up the whole appearance with Bullfrog’s own special brand of digital Mr Sheen.
LASTING INTEREST
The game begins easily enough, but the going starts getting pretty tough around Level Seven, and there are over 30 more still to do! This should keep platform fans wrenching their joysticks around well into the night for weeks. However, the game does prove to be rather annoying at times – especially on some levels which require a fair amount of luck to complete – which is not really a good thing with games of this type.

JUDGEMENT
Producing such irreverent and jovial game as Flood is quite a brave venture for Bullfrog, but in all fairness they have managed to produce a playable and good looking game. Even with its annoying little quirks, there are few straightforward platform games that can manage to keep leap-and-collect fans playing for as long as Flood will keep them captivated. The cute sprites and jolly sound are well up to the standard we would expect from Bullfrog , but it is doubtful whether the game will have a similar effect on the market to that of Populous. Nevertheless, Flood is one of the best games of its type – it is just that the genre is in some danger of wearing a little thin these days.

GRAPHICS 8
SOUND 8
INTELLECT 3
ADDICTION 7
OVERALL 84%

Electronic Arts, Amiga £24.95
Being neat and tidy has suddenly become very trendy, both on planet Earth in Skidz and now in the fabulous underground caverns of Quiffy’s world. And who is Quiffy? Well think of a short Phil King, with a bigger quaff of hair, and painted green. Not a pretty sight, but this pudgy guy is our hero and we’re stuck with him. Other differences between him and Phil are: he eats trash (Phil creates it), he can climb up walls and across ceiling (Phil has to be helped up the stairs), and he’s a dab hand with all manner of weapons (Phil’s adept only with balls).
Quiffy’s world is made up of 42 levels, each of which is completed a level by eating all the trash before finding the end-of-level teleporter. Quiffy has to be quick about it too, because he is pursued everywhere by the ghost of his chastising aunt. She appears a couple of seconds after Quiffy arrives on a level, and follows his exact route – only slightly faster! This is a problem because she drains Quiffy’s energy with every contact. Another problem is wter: most of the caverns have a tendency to rapidly fill up with it. Quiffy can dive below the water, and swim about, but he can only hold his breath for so long...

Sadly, most of the other creatures in the game are perfectly happy breathing water and they’re all after Quiffy. Leaping Psycho Teddies kill on contact – as do Sparkling Fungi, static objects which must be avoided. Just as dangerous are Doctor Dustys, which wear hard hat and love to throw around sticks of explosive! By comparison slovenly snails, ricocheting Beady Balls, floating Lumpy Wanderers, sleepy Plonkin Donkins and Vacuous Gombos are welcome. Although they all drain Quiffy’s energy.

It’s just as well there are some weapons for Quiffy to collect, including grenades, dynamite and a Huge Flamethrower which will torch just about everything. Dying nasties even leave a heart of energy for Quiffy to catch. Other objects which can be picked up include Stout (extra life), Cocktails (brief invulnerability), Switches (discover secret objects and uncover secret passages), Plungers (briefly pauses flood) and Droplets (speed it up). There’s also mines which throw you up in the air, balloons for a more sedate ride upwards and parachutes for a calm descent downwards. Best of all there’s question marks, which give you a password enabling you to start at that level from then on.

Zzap, Issue 65, September 1990, p.75

Don’t be put off by the unimpressive screenshots, Flood is an extremely addictive game. This cute arcade adventure reminds me of New Zealand Story, especially with the touches of sick humour like Quiffy blowing himself up with a grenade! I especially like the way the hero can crawl along walls and ceilings. Of course the rising water levels add an extra twist with the omnipresent danger of drowning – and sometimes you even have to dive deep underwater to get to trash. Add continue-plays and a simple password system to avoid frustration and you’ve got one of the most enjoyable cutesy games around.

This is great! The graphics are a little disappointing with black backgrounds and little variety in the platforms and enemies, but all the sprites are imaginative and very well drawn. The weapons are superb, with excellent explosions and some great samples – especially the rattle of a bouncing grenade. But it’s the gameplay that matters, which is surprisingly varied. On some levels all you need is a quick finger, other times it’s brainache time as you puzzle over which switches to press and in what order. I especially like the levels where you had to use droplets to raise the water level, the tense deep diving and walking along the laser beams. My only real complaint is the price. While there is plenty of well-designed gameplay here, there are only 42 levels and about a dozen enemy creatures. Still, any game that gives you a gun bigger than yourself, throwing a flame longer than a screen is well worth considering!

PRESENTATION 76%
Comprehensive and amusing instructions, vital password system and fun intro. Good quit and useful restart level.
GRAPHICS 75%
Black backgrounds are disappointing, and level graphics aren’t that varied, but the creatures and weapons are great.
SOUND 80%
Good intro tune and excellent sampled effects.
HOOKABILITY 84%
Very easy to get into.
LASTABILITY 77%
...but 42 levels of varied gameplay, if not graphics, provide a substantial challenge.
OVERALL
80%
A superb arcade-adventure

Title Flood
Game Type Platform
Company Bullfrog Productions
Players 1
Compatibility A500
Submission Chris Burns

Review
A weird but enjoyable game! Quiffy is a subterreanean dwelling,
green, slimy - but cute! - creature; one day his underground world starts
filling with water but with Quiffy being from a tidy race of creatures, he
has to tour 42 levels picking up all the rubbish he's left lying around
before fleeing to the safe and dry surface.

You guide Quiffy on his quest (well, were you suprised to hear
it?) and must find the correct way to solve each level, picking up all the
rubbish on the way while avoiding the monsters and other obstacles. Of
course, each level is filling with water as you play it - so hurry!
Solving each level isn't too difficult and the most taxing thing you have
to do is hit levers to open new sections of the level. To help you, there
are several different types of weapons lying around - grenades,
flamethrowers, throwing stars, dynamite and boomerangs. Quiffy also has
one special power and that is the ability to walk along most walls and
ceilings (although there are some he can't stick to). A space hopper
(remember them?) can be found on some levels and occasionally you'll need
one to bounce across a wide pit of lava etc. There are laser beams that
appear and disappear - these can block your way temporarily but can also
be climbed to gain access to new areas.

The monsters are of the non-intelligent variety and mostly just
trot up and down a defined path, so they're pretty easy to dispatch with a
carefully placed stick of dynamite or whatever :-) Some monsters do ping
around a bit, but in general there's nothing too tricky about them. Some
will hinder your progress by dropping litter and there are some great
teddy bears with mouths in their tummys (!?!!) that will help you by
eating litter! However (you knew there'd be a 'however' didn't you?)
Quiffy's ghostly Auntie follows his exact path through the level (although
she starts perhaps 10 seconds after he does) and will drain his energy if
she touches him. This can be a bit annoying if you spend a few minutes in
one place trying to negotiate an obstacle..

Overall, a fun, enjoyable game! Maybe a bit short at only 42
levels but there's enough there to keep you occupied for a while. One of
Bullfrog's products they seem to want to forget (and it certainly does not
compare very well to the likes of Populous and Syndicate) it does seem to
have been done in a bit of a hurry. The graphics and sound, while good,
are not spectacular and also - according to an interview I once read with
Peter Molyneaux (Bullfrog head honcho) - there is code and graphics in the
game for another monster, which simply never appears. Sloppy maybe, but I
don't think you'll regret a quick look!