Game : Head Over Heels
Reviewed By : Heimnar
Date : 05/10/03

There was an Evil Empire that slaved several planets. You - as a player - guide a pair of rebels. Their aim - to bring freedom to the enslaved. To do that, they have to find five crowns - each on a
different planet. Quite common, it seems. But the game itself...is not common. It is unique. And VERY interesting and challenging. Head and Heels are the rebel spies. Head is some kind of a reptilian creature a descendant of flying reptile species. He still has small winglets on his arms. Moves very slowly on the ground and seems vulnerable to anything that can catch him. Yet he can jump high and change direction during flight. After finding a Hooter - somewhere at the beginning of the game and some donuts - he can shoot the baddies. This ability sometimes proves very useful. Heels (something like a dog I think), on the other hand, can jump very poorly, yet he runs very fast and can carry one object in the bag. The Bag - same as Hooter - can be found somewhere close to the start area. Our little buggers can walk separately (often they have to) or join up and share their abilities (carrying objects, shooting, running and jumping really high and far). As you start the game each one of them walks on his own, they can join up after some time. Some useful hints (not many, as not to spoil the game). Still if You would like to keep the joy of discovering everything on your own - skip this paragraph. Learn how to climb ladders using Head - You shall use this skill frequently throughout the game. Try to get the bunny in the starting room. It requires some practice. Each bunny give you something else - there are a few kinds of those: speed, high jump, invulnerability or extra lives. If possible try to get the last one with Head and Heels joined up. Each of them will then get 2 lives. In some rooms Heels will discover "homing" enemies. It is not that big problem for Head, since he can just "donut" them. The tactics is simple - homing buddy is always closing to Heels using the shortest way possible (but it can't move diagonal - only in two directions).
So - if you imagine Heels standing on one corner of a rectangle and the enemy on the farthest one - he will approach Heels first going over the shorter side of the rectangle, only then - the longer. And
this is enough to get past those guys - provided you will have enough space. Heels have to enter the room and start running left and right - perpendicular to the direction to the enemy. He will follow, going left and right and won't approach closer. And as Heels is faster than most of baddies - sooner or later he will cause the homing one to change direction (remember the rectangle-rule) - from going North-South to East-West for example. Doing the same trick one more time can place Heels close enough to the door to escape from the room. It needs some practice, but is fairly easy. Beware of mines, suspicious-looking drums, drones and bricks that dissappear from beneath your feet. End of spoilers. The game is divided into several sections - the beggining - somewhere in the castle of the EE (Evil Emperor), then the Moon Base, four planets (Penitentiary, BookWorld, Safari and Egyptus) and finaly the Blacktooth Empire where the EE and the last crown are. Game is very interesting and very challenging - if you don't try to cheat with saving the game, or POKE'ing infinite
lives for example. The tasks that Head and Heels have to perform in the game, are sometimes quite easy, sometimes really hard. They require both the speed and good thinking. Graphics are very good. One of my favourites.

My score - 10/10