Huxley Pig

Your Sinclair

Overall 30%

Rich Pelley 30%

BARGAIN BASEMENT RICH PELLEY and JON PILLAR are at it again and they want us to join on. Oo-er. (So bring along an extra lightbulb just to be safe.) HUXLEY PIG Alternative £2.99 Reviewer: Rich Pelley Poor old Huxley Pig, eh? Horace (the rotten rodent) has left the front door open, and all the creepy crawlies are running around the house. Also Vile Vincent (the vampire pig) has hidden all of Huxley's favourite toys, and Sidney the Snake has hidden Huxley's pilot, chef and sailor outfits. Huxley will now have to find the toys and items of clothing otherwise he won't be able to have any more of his super daydream adventures. A game for slightly younger players here, I presume. It reminds me a bit of the rather old (and now retired) Pyjamarama, as the idea is to walk around a simple and colourful house collecting objects as you go. not only 3 toys and 3 sets of clothing to complete the game, but also the cross (to get past Vincent the Vampire), a spanner (to get past Horace the Rodent) and the first aid box (in case Sidney the Snake bites you) in order to do this. The objects are set in random places, and would be a doddle to find if it wasn't for the creepy crawlies scampering along the floor who drain your points all the time. The biggest flaw in the whole thing has to be that Huxley moves so damn slowly. I don't know why this is but it's extremely irritating, that's for sure, and makes it very hard indeed to avoid the creepy crawlies. Apart from this, the rest of the game is blimmin' easy (even in hard' mode) and excruciatingly boring into the bargain. However, rumour has it that there are 3 other games on the other side of the tape which involve our Hux flying about in a plane, baking a pizza and driving about in a speedboat. I haven't had the opportunity to play these yet as you have to finish the first game first. But I'm sure they're as fun as this one - ie not very. If the telly program of Huxley Pig is as boring, repetitive and unaddictive as the game, then I don't think I'll ever bother watching that either.

Huxley in the bathroom. (Nasty, eh? Mind you, it's probably better than JD in the bathroom!)

Sinclair UserSinclair User Best Budget

Graphics 89%

Sound 85%

Playability 88%

Lastability 85%

Overall 88%

Chris Jenkins 88%

Garth Sumpter

Label: Alternative Memory: 48K/128K Price: £2.99 Program: Bizarre Developments Reviewer: Chris Jenkins Huxley Pig, dum de dun, he the piggieist, wiggiest, sniggliest pig there is - lah-dedah... at least I think that's how the theme tune goes. But whether you're a Magic Roundabout freak, a Paddington fan or a Postman Pat addict, you have to admit that Cartoon hero Huxley Pig is the cutest joint of pork ever to have his own TV series. And the game's great. "What!' you say, shock horror! Jenkins LIKES a cutesy arcade adventure! Usually they have him reaching for his Uzi and complaining that there isn't enough violence. But no, even though Huxley pig doesn't go mad with a chainsaw in an infants' school, I rather like this budget bacon sandwich. The first thing you notice is that the graphics are great: really stylish, with good use of colour and nice details in the furniture of Huxley's pig around the pen pad. The second thing is that Huxley himself is dead cute, piggly-wigglying his way around the house in search of the toys and costumes he needs to take off on another of his dreamland adventures. The screen display flips from room to room very neatly, and the graphic design keeps colour clash down to a minimum. The third thing you realise is that even on 'Easy' level, the game's a bit of a challenge. Although it's not too difficult to find the missing objects, the spiders which scuttle along the floor move at great speed, draining Huxley's energy. This con be restored by finding toys, but he must also keep his strength up by finding the kitchen and pigging out on sandwiches. To avoid the spiders Huxley has to jump on chairs and tables and wait until they have crossed the floor; he can try to jump straight over them, but since he only does tiny piggy hops, this is a matter of split-second timing. To make a piggy's life more difficult, Vincent the Vampire Pig, Horace the Rotten Rodent and Sidney the Snake keep moving Huxley's toys and costumes around. On the Easy version, the objects are found in the some place every time, but in the Hard version they're placed randomly, and the spiders move faster. A bite from Sidney will cause dizziness, reversing your joystick controls, and this can only be cured by finding the First Aid box. A thought bubble at the bottom of the screen tells you what object Huxley should look for next as he explores the many rooms of the house. When Huxley finds all three toys and costumes, you get a code number which allows you to access the second part of the game, on the other side of the tape. There are another three mini-games here; in Huxley Airways he pilots his plane, avoiding other planes and collecting hearts; in Pizza Pizza, Huxley proves that it's not just Turtles who like Italian food, as he collects pizza ingredients, and in Speedboat, he avoids speed boats, turtles and logs while collecting tuna fish.

Huxley the Bear, unlike Paddington, can climb a flight of stairs without the help of a Michael Horden voice over.

Vile Vincent the Vampire Pig guards the entrance to the attic but he doesn't like crucifixes. Just flash it as you pass.

PIG FAX Pigs are all members of the Hog family. And the Domestic pig is descended from the European boar. China has the largest number of domestic swine in the world. Although the term pig is used to describe greedy, messy eaters, Gary Liddon is not a member of the swine family. He's a member of the Liddon family.