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HERBERT'S DUMMY RUN
MikroGen / £9.95
Ross: Herbert last showed his face as the little nipper crawling around biting ankles in Everyone's A Wally. But now he's been elevated to appear in his own adventure.
And hasn't he grown! Herbert's now an inquisitive toddler and he's wandered off unattended into a large department store. Of course, being 'wallies', his folks Wilma and Wally have deposited themselves in the 'Lost and Found' office and are awaiting Herbert's return. Herbert, on the other hand, has quite a journey on his hands - as he searches all over the various departments in the store for his parents.
When you first start the game, the colourful background and smooth sprite movement will impress you the most. Herbert is made up of quite a small graphic, but he's only a youngster and he does move well! The little chap has three lives and he can carry up to two objects at a time; picking up objects is done in the time-honoured tradition of walking over them.
Herbert can move more or less anywhere he likes in the store, but if you want to get on you'll have to give some thought to matching up the various 'finds' along the way. Some ot the screens require jumping and timing skills whereas other screens are much simpler; for instance, one screen reminds me of Breakout.
Of course, overall, the humour we've come to expect from MikroGen wins out. I'd have no problems recommending this game ... 5/5

Dave: The usual high-quality graphics and a standard MikroGen storyline. Great if you like all the others. 2/5

Roger: I knew they'd do it eventually - at last we've got an arcade game set in a shopping arcade! Wally fans will love it. My only complaint is that it wasn't all set in Mothercare. 4/5

Now you should all remember Herbert. He’s the little chap from the Week family whose ineptitude became world renowned in Everyone’s a Wally. In this game Herbert has become separated from his Mum and Dad during a visit to the local department store. It is up to you, the player to guide him back to his parents who are waiting for him in the ‘LOST AND FOUND’ department.

The game begins with Herbert in the toy department at 1 pm: the store closes at 5.30 and you have four and a half hours to reunite Herbert with his parentals, since the game is played in real time. In both style and presentation Herbert’s Dummy Run is similar to Everyone’s a Wally, which is not surprising as it’s the third game in the Wally trilogy! Dummy Run is a graphical adventure game that calls for a high degree of arcade skill as well as a degree of lateral thinking. The opening screen is typical of the game: Herbert finds himself standing on a box in the toy department; you notice at the top of the screen a series of shelves loaded with a wide variety of toys. How can Herbert reach up there? Well of course the box he’s standing on is a Jack-in-the-box, and when the key has been fetched the spring action will propel him up onto the shelf.

As with the other Wally games, many of the screens take the form of well known arcade games. One screen can only be solved by dismantling a wall, ‘Breakout’ style — if you manage this the resultant pat on the head is well deserved.

The game would be too easy if you could pick up and carry every object that you came across. Only being able to carry two objects at a time forces you to do a little forward thinking. At the top of the screen you are reminded of what objects are in your possession — the one that you have had for the longest is automatically exchanged for another ‘collectable’ piece as you walk past it. As you explore the store looking for the ways and means to solve the game you are under constant pressure from a wide variety of mobile ‘thingies’. You have three lives and when you come into contact with some of the nasties your energy, shown by a large tear that fills up, will be reduced until you escape the meanies, or lose that life. A few mobiles kill immediately on contact so you will have to learn to identify them quickly. You are able to reverse the drain on your energy by eating the sweets found scattered around the store.

For his efforts, Herbert is rewarded with his favourite jelly babies, and the closer he is to finding his parents the more he will get. ALl told the game extends for over twenty-five screens, but don’t expect Herbert to get fat on jelly babies too soon!

Producer: Mikro-Gen
Memory required: 48K
Retail Price: £9.95
Language: machine code
Author: The Mikro-Gen team


CRITICISM
‘I have mixed feelings about this game, on the surface it is an excellent program but I feel that Mikro-Gen may be repeating the formula once to often. If you don’t mind that, then Herbert’s Dummy Run may be worth having. The graphics are excellent, even better than those in Everyone’s a Wally, the sound is reasonable and the colour is used well. The game is as infuriating as its predecessor and should please the arcade/adventure addicts. Those horrible colour attribute problems are still with us but they really can’t be helped, after a while you tend to ignore them. I think the asking price of £9.95 is a little steep — I feel the game would be much better value at £6.95. Overall it’s a very good program if you don’t mind more of the same. I hope Mikro-Gen’s next game is graphically as good but with a substantially different game format.’

‘Herbert’s Dummy Run contains graphics which are well up to Mikro-Gen’s high standard. They are both colourful, large and detailed. The game is fun and very addictive and contains many mini games within its overall structure. While these mini games are nothing than fairly simple shoot-em-ups they add to the overall peril of the game. Herbert is destined to be another Mikro-Gen star. At this rate I don’t think the Wally trilogy is ever going to