Zool

The Good
The levels are quite fun for a while, will provide platforming fans with something to do. Colourful levels with a choice of tunes.

The Bad
The above says it all really. This is just one of those 'something to do' games rather than one of those 'something to get excited about' games. I still remember seeing the 'Move over Sonic. Zool's here' lines on the cover of an Amiga magazine. Though I tried to give this game the benefit of the doubt, the problem is that it tried to be something it wasn't. If it hadn't been accompanied by all that hype, maybe people would have thought better of it. But the fact is that this is nothing special at all. The levels contain a lot of food (an old cliche occasionally used in superior platform games like Chuck Rock 2 but more common at this end of the market), but the backgrounds in Zool look bland and there is really no variety in any of the levels. Zool himself is a character-less, uninteresting figure. His face is stuck in one expression and I can't really see kids (or adults, for that matter) taking to him like they did Mario or Sonic). You can decide which background music you want at the beginning of the game, but then you're stuck with that same tune all the way through the game.

The Bottom Line
As Zool, a Ninja ant of the Nth Dimension, you must make your way through a number of scrolling 2D platform levels. Collect fruit, sweets and so on. Avoid the varied monsters made of fruit, sweets and the like, killing the occasional boss on the way.