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Overview
Released in 1989 for C64, ZX Spectrum and Amiga, ported to MS-DOS by the original Developer in 2017 and digitally released on the Russian Website Old-games.ru The description put through Google Translate reads: "The phrase “world premiere on Old-Games.ru”, which must already sound more or less familiar for regular users of the site, means, as a rule, putting out a digital version of the game in open access that delighted only collectors of old boxed and just floppy rarities. However, in the case of the PC edition of Captain Fizz, there is reason to believe that we have a premiere in the fullest sense of the word: created in 1989, this simple but fascinating arcade was first published only in 2017 - thanks to the rare courtesy of one from the developers. Actually, the history of this development in terms of the number of puzzles and unexpected plot twists, as well as the abundance of characters, will not yield to another full-fledged adventure (especially impatient ones can skip this paragraph, as well as all this description). The game, then called simply "Icarus", was conceived and created by the British Julian Avis, who created under the sign (or under the head) Powerhouse Software and left no more trace in the history of computer entertainment. All the more remarkable, this trace turned out to be very impressive: the first edition of 1988, organized by the division of Level 9 Computing, Mandarin Software for purely English home computers BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, interested the well-known company Psygnosis, which, for some unknown reason, did not entrust the matter to the original developer, has finalized the game for the more international Amiga and Atari ST forces of its probably PDG unit. The result appeared the same year under the Psyclapse publishing label, but for some reason with a completely different name: “Captain Fizz Meets the Blaster-Trons . " It is difficult to say which fly was bitten by the management of the publisher’s marketing department, but in addition to changing the title, the cover design for the boxed edition was also ordered to someone clearly not familiar with the game itself, which caused a strange confusion with the plot and its background, which is described in the description versions of the game for Amiga on our website. A little later, a completely different development team, called Clockwize, was tasked with porting “Captain Fizz”also on the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and IBM PC: if the first two editions were successfully released in 1989, the latter, as created as a plan overfulfillment, at the personal initiative of the porters, is an option for Amstrad CPC, apparently and didn’t reach the release stage. In any case, Dean Hikingbottom, who was responsible for the adaptation of the graphics in the PC version (for which the visual part of Atari ST was taken as the basis), carefully kept the treasured files and diskettes that were not released for a great swim all these years - and after nearly thirty years he suggested them to everyone for free distribution (is it worth mentioning that Old-Games.ru turned out to be the first in the queue for the DOS edition as such a person). In addition to Dean, porting to the platform from IBM was also done by Keith Goodyear, who was responsible for the program code,"Icarus" for different computers is almost unique). To complete the historical picture, we also note that in 2002 Pavel Dovgalyuk from Veliky Novgorod released a kind of remake, and still distributed by some sites under the guise of a PC edition: unfortunately, in this side incarnation, “Captain Fizz” is completely soundless and demonstrates far not the most attractive graphics from the ZX Spectrum. And therefore, the world premiere of the DOS script must certainly please even the oldest and most loyal fans of publications already known to science. For beginners, here are some details of the plot and the gameplay "Captain Fizz". Events unfold on Ikarus - but this is not a planet or even a bus, but a spaceship. During the transportation of a large batch of battle droids to the Andromeda system, the starship lost control due to a serious breakdown of the main computer and, likening itself to some small but proud bird, decided to head for the Sun. The collision, as you can see, is fraught with the death of our entire planetary system, so the task of the player playing the role of a mercenary paratrooper will break through to the heart of that very computer through the hordes of droids that are swarming with all twenty decks of Ikarus. Alone, combat robots are not very dangerous, but they take in quantity, and the number of people already shot from our laser blaster is apparently capable of being replenished with new ones until cargo elevators are out of order; the destruction of these latter thus A notable feature of Captain Fizzis an orientation to the multi-user mode: the main screen is clearly divided into upper and lower parts, for the first and second player. The authors not in vain warn about the impassability of playing the game alone: already on the second deck, the simple task of orientation on the ground is greatly simplified if you study the intricate labyrinths of the level along with a partner. The upper half is the closest environment of the “blue” player, and the bottom is “red” (which one is the same “Captain Fizz” is a rhetorical question for the nameless author of the “alternative” name). The prospect in the game is exclusively from above, but everything in the PC version looks quite intelligible - at least an order of magnitude nicer than that of Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro or ZX Spectrum, and quite level, or even slightly better than Atari ST with Amiga. In addition to the evil droids on the game’s main screen, you can also find a lot of nice bonuses, including coins scattered across the floor - “credits”, which can be spent on vending machines occasionally running along the way, thereby increasing your armor, firepower or blaster charge indicators. All these characteristics are listed in the columns on the left, for each player individually, together with points (accrued for the successful cleaning of the decks of Ikarus from the infuriated robots and the elevators that bring them, conditionally indicated on the diagram by the letters “L”), the level of health and cash, and also a strategic supply of access cards. Yes: a seemingly unpretentious, at first glance, arcade game focused on thoughtless shooting, in fact turns into almost a puzzle, albeit also an arcade one. Each level is divided into many rooms with multi-colored doors, to which you need to find keys, or even cells, suggesting movement in only one of the directions: one more reason to “turn on” the virtual second player or call for help from a real friend, who can rescue from a hopeless impasse. Many access cards are presented in duplicate (carefully: each player can take several at once, leaving nothing for his partner); others in a single but keyed mercenary can always hold the door for a friend. The right side of the screen at the same time plays for the most part the role of decorative decoration; its only functional components are two Exit and Mine lights, which light up in the event of an open path to new hordes of droids and new dangers, and four with the designation “Switches”, In conclusion, we repeat that the presented version of “Captain Fizz” for the IBM PC looks at least no worse than all the other options - so it can be safely recommended not only to rarity collectors, but also to fans of old tricky arcades."
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Cooperative
Yes
ESRB
Not Rated