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Y es, now you too can have the chance to explore all the sights and sounds of the mid 19th century globe, for you are none other than the hero of Jules Verne’s light hearted book – Phileas Fogg, scientists, explorer, flounderer, drunkard and cad.
Whilst collapsed in a semi-paralyptic stupor one night, you made a small (£20,000) wager with a friend that you could circumnavigate the world in under 80 days. Just you and your little French friend Paspatous. You leave England for Paris, and your adventures begin.
Around The World In 80 Days sadly, is not very exciting. The thought of spending 2,5 months doing what you can now do in under 24 hours does not sit comfortably in my mind. Not to say that the game is based on poor subject matter. It is simply that the game is based merely on four sub games, each supposedly showing part of his journey.
Not that Phileas even makes an appearance in the game. It is all seen through the eyes of Paspatou.

The main part of the game is basically a view of a map of the globe, and a small white dot showing the location of our heroes. Dotted around are various pieces of information showing the date, form of transport, how much money is left, and the four action icons. These are ‘Bribe’, give the pilot/driver/rower money to make him go faster; ‘Cards’, which you play to win money, ‘Play’, which takes you directly to the next sub-game, and ‘Pause’.

The first of the sub games is a gentle jaunt through an Indian jungle and into an underground temple. Later sub games include acrobat hurling in Japan and bank robber avoiding in London.
The sub games are viewed side-on, much in the mould of Rolling Thunder. The game ‘scrolls’ (I use the term in the loosest sense of the word, it actually flip-scrolls and very badly too) from left to right, occasionally up and down, and pits you against various nasties. In the first one, you are pitted against tribal natives which you attack with exploding spears. Later on you kill birds, rats, and the guy who makes all the irritating background flute noises. Yes, that is something that I can say is OK, the sound effects. Though not the best I have heard, they are quite atmospheric, though they cannot save the game.

Gameplay is almost non-existent; the controls are slow and unresponsive, and as for the time it takes to fire, you are better off trying to avoid things. A weak attempt afte Into The Eagle’s Nest.
64 £8.95 cass only
The 64 version of ATWIED (sounds like a reggae band) features all the same screens and subgames of the Amiga version, and thankfully has dropped the flip scroll format and turned into a smooth scroller. The graphics, however, are equally bad and the sound is terrible. It is also marred by extremely long multi-loading times. Avoid.

SOUND
GRAPHICS
PLAYABILITY
LASTABILITY
OVERALL 27%
45%
38%
51%
46%



Tony Dillon