Yogi Bear The Great Escape – Not a Fan
For me, this was the worst game that I ever owned as a kid. First of all, you are greeted by the usual sounds of squealing whilst the game loads for 20 minutes. Now today’s youth would go ape if they had to put an Xbox or Playstation game in 20 minutes before they could actually play them… they even have the audacity to complain about 10 second loading times between levels in large open world games like GTA. So straight off the bat, this game has already made me wait impatiently before dropping me from a great height.
Now, I am pretty sure that my version of this game was broken and randomly crashed in places. It loved to make me go through 20-minutes of waiting just to crash randomly. Ok, so there is no music. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing I suppose. It is a Spectrum game after all and damned if i want to wait another 10 minutes to hear some god awful looped music.
Initial Impressions of Yogi Bear The Great Escape
The gameplay initially is ok for a spectrum game. Yogi’s movements are a little stiff to say the least, but you can actually jump and move at the same time. The sound effects when you do this however is irritating. It’s like having your sibling sat next to you playing one of them whistles with the sticks that you slide up and down. I mute the TV and continue. I’m collecting pieces of what I can only work out to be possibly an engine? They’re no picnic baskets, thats for sure.
The Downhill Dive
There are moving platforms to jump from and wow the first bad guy. I quickly discovered that although Yogi is a bear, you can’t just maul them. So I guess you jump on them like Mario? “GAME OVER!”. WTF?!?!?! You get touched once by one random bad guy and it’s game over! No health bar, no lives, no continues, just “Game Over!”
Let’s Try Again
I restart the game again remembering this time to not touch the bad guys and then a message has popped up that says “Hurry Up” I look down to the bottom right of the screen and there staring straight at me is a countdown clock. I am panicking now, hurtling myself from platform to platform trying to reach the end… “GAME OVER”. I am inches away from throwing my pad across the room at this point. But, I’m determined not to let this game beat me!
And Again
I restart it again for the third time remembering where the first few platforms and car parts are. Jumping and dodging every bad guy in sight who I must add at this point does not resemble the ranger from the cartoon series. God only knows who this guy is pacing backwards and forwards like a lion in a zoo just waiting to kill me.
So I am jumping, dodging, jumping, trying not to fall down the holes, jumping again, picking up parts of my dads battered Volvo, jumping, dodging… I finally make it, the end is in sight, a big banner saying Jellystone Park. This must be it.
Yogi Bear the Great Escape – Verdict
I am not going to repeat the exact words I used playing the majority of this game. They would be completely unfit for any younger Retro Review readers. I’m sure you get the picture though. If you like stress and disappointment, you’ll love Yogi Bear the Great Escape.
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