Amiga

Germ Crazy

A very lively and original development of the war games style, and is at least a relief from trying to kill everyone off. The gameplay takes a little while to get into, but once you are there you will be hooked.

Fans of the strategy game genre should take to Germ Crazy quickly. It's nice to see that a fair amount of imagination has gone into a game of this style. Recreations of old battles can get a little tedious after you've beaten Napoleon for the umpteenth time!

If you're a strategy fan you'll find Germ Crazy a breath of fresh air. The idea of producing a military medical war game is original and therefore it should appeal to non wargame fans. Although the graphics are far from perfect, they're well laid out and it's always very clear what each represents. Surprisingly, the sound is also impressive with plenty of sampled burps and ear piercing screams. One minor problem is the overwhelming number of icons and menus. These do take a while to get used to, but once you've got the hang of them prepare for hours of addictive fun.

Germ Crazy is an intriguing game in which it is very easy to lose yourself in fighting the battle in the body. Although the graphics are fairly elementary and not exactly breathtaking, they serve in creating a scenario for the combat. One of the more constructive games to come out, which is surely so much better and enjoyable than killing everything in sight.

You will spend a long time getting to grips with the array of sub-menus. Pleasing to the eye and ear: the graphics are sick and detailed and the samples are gut trembling and funny. If you are into life-and-death situations, you will love the horrors you meet against the germs. Expect to have to read the manual extensively.

So what we have got, then is an original and probably quite challenging strategy game that is suffocating under the vast amount of guff that has been heaped onto it. The impossibly steep learning curve (you have really got to learn the whole manual off by heart before you can begin to even think about a tentative first game) is largely a result of all those unfathomable icons, most of which would be trimmed away in favour of a few drop down menus or something. I suspect that what lurks underneath is actually quite simple and probably quite easy to play if you are the game designer, but for the rest of us it is a nightmare and you are unlikely to have the patience to really persevere. It is an interesting idea that seems to have got a bit out of hand somewhere along the line.