Nightmare Park

The Good
In the early Eighties, a handful of small companies developed games that involve players walking through a park while winning a series of mini-games. Known as Nightmare Park, several versions were released for the Commodore PET, VIC-20, and Sinclair’s ZX series. Now it’s the Commodore 64’s turn.

When the game has loaded, you are asked to confirm if you want to enter, either by pressing Y or N. Press N, and you leave the game. Otherwise, you are presented with a rudimentary maze composed of PETSCII characters. You are the little asterisk at the top. The black and white graphics blend in with the overall theme of the game. You move using four keys that are laid out in a diamond shape. As you make you way through the maze, the asterisk will flash at any point, and this indicates the beginning of a mini-game. The invisibility of these mini-games adds to the suspense.

Some of the mini-games you can play include avoiding a rhino stampede, getting to a certain spot without getting blown up by mines, and ensuring that you don’t get fried by lasers. You only have one chance. Lose, and you will be back at the title screen. Be successful, and you will be able to proceed through the park ready to tackle the next mini-game.

The game is programmed in Basic, and anyone efficient in the programming language can press the [Run/Stop] key and change the code here and there, maybe to reduce the number of mini-games or give the player another chance if he fails. There is no sound, but that is understandable given that the game is as simple as it gets and there is no need for it.

The Bad
The title screen is bland, and the flickering title is enough to give you an epileptic fit.

Another one of the mini-games involve getting away from rams. The controls are so unresponsive that you will likely be killed by one of them.

When you finally make it to the exit, you go down through a tunnel, whose sides are deadly to the touch. It seems that the tunnel goes on and on.

The Bottom Line
This is a good game where you have to go through a park, completing some mini-games in order to proceed. The black and white graphics reflect the theme of the game, and the mini-games themselves are both fun and self-explanatory. However, the author could have added sound and actual graphics, by using the graphic characters located at the bottom of every key; it would be an improvement over the other versions. It is also easy to put down the game after you had enough of traveling through the park and playing each mini-game to death.