Karnov

The Good
Now, Karnov is not a name you hear very often. Unless you've heard of this circus dude who throws fireballs for a living (in this story). Which is a strange choice for the hero of the game...any game for that matter.

Well, anyway I do recall being totally addicted to this game. There were a lot of bonuses/ power-ups that you HAD to not miss. Love those power-ups. Sound effects were kinda crappy, but whadya expect from PC speakers. The graphics were alright...though one would expect better...considering other games at that time, but not so much a hassle to effect the overall game play.

Takes a lot of trial and error to find all those power-ups. Was worth it though.

The Bad
Someone said something about a 2nd disk?

It turns out, after I reach this Dinosaur boss and kick the prehistoric age outta him (or was it before that), suddenly it says "please insert disk 2". Disk 2? What disk 2? I don't have a disk 2! Well, I got the game from my friend, he didn't have it. No one I knew had it. That's the first time (and only time) I got a "incomplete game". Strange...come to think of it.

The Bottom Line
A platform classic, obviously.

The Good
The gameplay of Karnov is very fair--nothing is too hard to avoid, but still challenging. The power-ups are worthwhile picking up, and some are even hidden, for extra challenges. (Of course, all of this is identical to the arcade game, which speaks volumes for Quicksilver's efforts in porting it to the PC.)

The music and sound effects are better than adequate, considering only PC speaker output is supported.

The Bad
While the sprite graphics are fairly good, the background graphics are terrible. I know that the EGA and CGA color set were limiting, but other games in this genre have done more with less, so there's no excuse.

Of course, this doesn't affect gameplay too much, so it's not that important an issue.

The Bottom Line
If you like arcade platformers, you'll like the PC version of Karnov.

The Good
I'll do the honors... The coin-op version of this game was much better but the NES version sucked. I think you're supposed to be this fire-breathing circus runaway who fights monsters with his flame breath. And thats about it, a pretty mediocre side-scrolling waste of time. I think the fact that you have unlimited continues and you get to keep your items really saved this game if there is really anything worth saving.

The Bad
Boring side-scrolling game. Shooting fire from a fat circus man at a T-Rex really wasn't my cup of tea.

The Bottom Line
Would be fun to check out these days just as a joke, that's about it though.