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%% Fury of the Furries CD32 version                   by Steve Cutting %%
%%                                     steve_cutting@guru.apana.org.au %%
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PRODUCT NAME

	Fury of the Furries, CD32 version


BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	A single-player platform game with puzzles.


AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		Mindscape International
	Address:	Priority House, Charles Avenue
			Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 9PQ
			England

	Telephone:	+44 (0) 444 239 600
	Fax:		+44 (0) 444 248 996


LIST PRICE

	I don't know the list price, but I paid 69.99 Australian dollars 
for it.  In the UK, you can get it for 19.99 pounds from mail order 
companies.


SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	HARDWARE

		CD32 (PAL)
		Television or monitor
		Control pad (or Amiga joystick)

	SOFTWARE

		None


COPY PROTECTION

	None that's noticeable to the user.


REVIEW

	The manual tells the story of a race of small furball creatures
called Tinies.  Tinies look like tennis balls with eyes, and according to
the manual, they have a horrid sense of humour.  The Tiny King has
apparently been taken prisoner and been imprisoned in his own castle by a
Tiny with a particularly wicked sense of humour.  Yes, this is where you
come in. :-)

	When the game boots, you're shown a glitchy animated sequence
portraying all this, accompanied by some decent CD audio.  Once you're at
the title screen, you can start a new game or restart one of four saved 
games.

	The object of the game is simple:  take control of a Tiny and find
your way to the exit of each level.  Your Tiny can walk, run, and jump 
three different heights.  As if that isn't enough, your Tiny is also able
to transform into any of 4 colours, each one having a special ability:

		Red    - eats through walls
		Yellow - shoots fireballs to kill nasties
		Green  - swings and climbs on rope
		Blue   - dives underwater

	Green is my favourite.  It's great fun swinging the little critter
back and forth on the rope, then letting go and watching him fly across 
the screen and do a couple of somersaults before landing on the ground!

	Not all of the abilities are available all the time.  On some 
levels, you may only have one ability, and on others, you might get all 4.
To make it harder, there are force-field type things which enable or 
disable an ability when you pass through them.

	You view the action from the standard platform perspective (side 
on), and the levels scroll in all directions.  The game takes place over
8 areas, with each area having 10 levels based on the same theme.  The 
levels are full of all sorts of obstacles designed to reduce your Tiny to 
an ex-furball before reaching the exit.  There's trees, water, spikes and
loads more, and of course the usual array of NASTIES.  You must make use 
of the various abilities of your Tiny to negotiate these obstacles.

	As you progress into the game, the puzzle element starts rearing 
its head.  As well as avoiding (or shooting) all the nasties, you also 
have to start solving problems in order to reach the exit.  These puzzles
range from simple things, like finding and using keys, to more complex 
ones, like moving blocks and finding secret entrances.  The puzzles rely 
on the correct choice of abilities in most cases, and also require some 
pretty nifty joypad skills on some of the later levels.

	Every 5 levels, your position is saved in Non-Volatile RAM.


DOCUMENTATION

	The booklet in the CD sleeve has instructions in English, French,
Dutch, Italian and Spanish.  It covers everything you need to know (not a
lot, really) and has some nice black and white drawings.


LIKES

	Great fun.  It's playable, cute, and best of all:  totally silly!
There's something distinctly warped about a 10-pixel high ball of fluff
letting fly with a Streetfighter-style fireball. :-)

	The game-saving feature means you can restart where you left off
instead of playing through all the levels again.  This adds a lot to the
longevity of any game in my opinion; if I can restart where I left off, 
I'll keep coming back until I finish it (or go insane).

	The difficulty curve is just about right.  There's plenty of easy
levels before the brain mangling begins.

	The CD tracks on the intro and title screens are really good.
In-game music is only Amiga based, but the tunes are great.

	Although he's very small and not very colourful, your Tiny is 
nicely animated and moves well.


DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS

	The in-game graphics are pretty dull; they'd look perfectly at 
home in a 512K A500 game 5 years ago.  It doesn't look like any more than
about 16 colours, definitely not 32bit CDROM stuff.  Static title and 
between-level screens are more colourful though.

	The game doesn't use the full PAL screen.  If you force it into 
NTSC using the boot-menu, it runs too fast.


COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	If you liked The Lost Vikings, you'll like this.


BUGS

	I've found a couple of graphic glitches here and there, but they
don't affect gameplay at all.


VENDOR SUPPORT

	An address and phone/fax number are provided for support.  I 
haven't needed to contact them as yet.


WARRANTY

	Unknown.


CONCLUSIONS

	If you're looking to be blown off your seat with stunning visuals
and audio, don't buy this game, because there aren't any.  But do buy it 
if you want a game to *PLAY*, because it's got more playability and 
lastability than a lot of other stuff around.  An enjoyable blend of 
platforms, puzzles and general silliness.

	My rating : 80%