The Catch

The Good
If you owned an Atari 2600 back in the Eighties, chances were you had access to some great, simple games, especially from a small company called Activision. One such game was Kaboom!, where the object is to catch falling bombs in one of your baskets before they reach the bottom of the screen. Meanwhile, small companies that developed games for popular eight-bit computers saw what games were available in the arcades and started making clones for these computers. These were often unofficial copies of Space Invaders, Scramble, and Frogger, but these same companies seemed to overlook Kaboom!.

That all changed when Nükekop released The Catch for the VIC-20. The game mechanics are similar to Activision's gem, with the player having to catch bombs dropped by a mothership that goes from left to right along the top of the screen. However, the player controls one shield, instead of three baskets, that they use to protect cities that travel along a conveyor belt.

For a game that requires no expanded memory, the title screen is impressive. The title is animated, and the instructions at the bottom behave like a marquee. During the game, the mothership, bombs, and shield are well designed; and the changing border color signals the end of the level. The sound effects are basically beeps to indicate bomb drops, and a sound that increases in pitch to indicate a new level is beginning.

The Bad
When you lose your lives, you have to press the fire button twice to start a new game. The title screen could have been shown immediately at game over.

The Bottom Line
The Catch is an addictive game where you have to catch falling bombs before they hit cities. The sprites are good, and the sound effects consist mainly of beeps. Animations of exploding cities could have been added for more realism. Ideal for taking breaks from work.