Wild_West_Seymour _XR Commodore 64 game

1 - Breaking the game into bite-sized pieces accessed through level codes is a neat idea. However, apart from that, it's more of the same. Dizzy Seymour arcade adventures have always been pretty similar, but until now, they've always taken the genre one (small) step forward. Prince Of The Yolk Folk was as large as it could possibly be, so the Codies wisely concentrated on their new level system and better graphics with Crystal Kingdom. Wild West Seymour feels like a step backward — a shameless Speccy port that runs almost as slowly as the early Dizzy outings. And the problems... solve one, you've solved them all! If Codie's arcade adventures are to excite again, more attention must be paid to the design. Let's have a more involved manipulation system, one that allows you to use objects in your inventory on each other. Let's have more complex problems, not just bog-standard ones. Above all, let's have a bit more depth. Part of Dizzy Seymour's charm was its simplicity, but having been done to death, it's beginning to grate. Maybe it's time for a change of outlook.

No.3 In MARCH 1993 - After a brief flirtation with saving the environment in Super Seymour and a short-lived career moonlighting as a policeman in Sergeant Seymour - Robot Cop, Seymour is back where he belongs — in the movie biz! His latest project is a sprawling western, but (as usual) production has run into a plethora of technical hitches before it's even begun. Most of the problems are down to the devious tricks of the evil El Bandeeto who, for reasons best known to himself, is determined that the film never makes it to general release! The fiendish villain has thrown the studio into an uproar! No one knows where the script is, and worse still, important equipment has been hidden or misplaced. To make matters worse, the film crew has gone off to search for the missing items, leaving poor old Seymour to sort it out on his lonesome! One or two of the studio staff are still hanging around, such as Claire the receptionist and Pete the cameraman — they seem to have problems of their own, but help them out and they give you a useful object or a clue in return. Having rectified the turmoil at HQ, it's off to the States to begin shooting (the movie, silly). Act two sees the hapless vegetable rushing to catch his train. Unfortunately, he has no ticket, he's lost his wallet, and the train is almost due to leave. On to act three. The evil El Bandeeto has sabotaged the train (What a rascal he is, eh?), leaving Seymour stranded in the desert! Cue more puzzle solving and careful exploration of scenery. After getting the train back up and running, our hero finally makes it to the final section — the film shoot!

Naughty Seymour — how dare you suggest that the young lady would drop one in a sacred temple!?

You'd think by now these Codie puzzle arcade games would look different from the Spectrum versions, but lo and behold, they don't. Wild West Seymour's no exception — the graphics are stale and watery, especially the main sprite, and 'attention to detail' must've been erased from the menu. The puzzles are quite tame, each needing little thought, and after a few plays, it's all sorted. The majority of the time is spent judging Seymour's leaps! If only he could change direction in mid-air, I wouldn't have sworn half as much! There's a remarkable resemblance to a certain egg-shaped character, but the yolk's adventures are far better in content. Seymour's home ground should be on a compilation, but in the vast universe that is the C64 market, as a stand-alone game, it'll struggle to gain friends.

Particularly overwhelming. Whereas Dizzy was a little bland and colorless, the games he starred in were full of character! Seymour, on the other hand, is just plain annoying! His world is graphically dull, and to add insult to injury, his latest starring role is a blatant Spectrum port that makes no attempt to utilize the superior color capabilities of the C64. Unlike Codie's earlier arcade outings, Wild West Seymour is made up of four standalone sections accessible by a rather spiffy password system: Having completed a section, you don't have to go through the rigmarole of solving the same old puzzles every time. In this respect, the game borrows from the recent Crystal Kingdom Dizzy. The essential difference is that each of CKD's levels is a respectable game in its own right, while the sections in WWS are tiny, only ten to fifteen screens long! This means they're laughably easy, making Wild West Seymour a complete non-starter in the lasting stakes. WWS was initially sold as part of a compilation, and as such, it was okay to wile away an hour. As a release in its own right, it really is a disappointment. I usually find this style of game highly addictive and very rewarding to complete, but the only feeling I had on completing WWS was immense relief that I wouldn't have to play it again! Strictly B-movie stuff.

Now that Seymour's off the wagon, does it mean he'll be getting Dizzy? (Sorry!)

Pros:

• Boring intro, but some amusing touches.
• Drab backgrounds, well-animated (if clumsy) Seymour sprite.
• Good, atmospheric title tune to bop to!
• Initially quite playable enough.
• Please roll on Dizzy VIII, all is forgiven!