Atari 8bit Review

Review: Pooyan

By Alan Hewston

Pooyan may at first appear to be a silly game - pigs fighting back against wolves - but it will grow on you. Given a chance, you should see that there is quite a bit going on in this game; lots of skill, strategy, and hand-eye coordination are involved. You are the mother pig, trying to rescue her Pooyans, baby pigs. Warning :-) There is some mild violence involved, as the pig and wolves, when hit, will plummet to their death - ending with a splat. There are 2 different levels in Pooyan, and at least 2 different bonus levels as well. All of these levels use the same screen layout, with minor changes from one to the next.

Level 1, Pig's House, but I call it "Droppin In": At the top of the screen, 1 to 4 wolves promenade in from left to right and at some point, grab a balloon, and jump off the edge of the cliff. This cliff extends nearly all the way to the far right, but not quite. A small gap there is what saves the pigs from being eaten in the first place - and then we'd have no video game challenge. The pigs are stationed at the top right of the screen, but have at their defense an outdoor basket elevator, which they use quite to their advantage. The Mother pig uses this to go up and down the right side of the screen, and she can fire an unlimited supply of arrows at the wolves. When the wolves drop off the edge of the cliff they don't simply descend to the ground, they fire rocks (look like big Cocoa Puffs) trying to hit the Mother pig. If she gets hit, she falls out of the basket as well . . .. and gravity sucks.

When our heroine is successful at hitting the balloons with arrows, they burst, and send the wolf to its death. Otherwise, if the wolf makes it to the ground, they walk to the right and climb up a ladder going up the right side of the screen. Fortunately for our pigskinette, this ladder stops near the top, so they still cannot have their pork chops for dinner. Instead, they will reach out and take a swipe at the Mother pig in her elevator as it moves by. If Mommy is caught from behind, she's bacon. There are only 4 openings along this ladder, so subsequent wolves escaping will do no additional harm.

The mother pig is limited in that she can only fire 2 arrows rapidly, before a slight reloading delay. But, there is something else at her disposal, albeit in limited quantities - wolf bait. While the bait harmlessly bounces off of the balloons, it has a more deadly purpose. When close to a wolf, there's a different result as the wolves forget that they are holding on to a balloon, and reach out for the bait. Completely letting go of the balloon - well you can tell the gravity of their situation. A perfectly thrown bait can lure all 4 wolves off of their balloons. Once all the required wolves (see the upper left counter) are dropped from the skies, the round ends.

Level 2, Wolf Valley, but I call it "Rising Back Up": The wolves are now coming at you from below, so perhaps some survived their fall from level 1. They now use their 4 newly installed balloon inflaters to . . . yep, you guessed it, they fill up a balloon and descend back up towards the top. Our heroine continues to fire arrows at them to deflate their chances of reaching the top. Before the Wolves are in flight, interference balloons are occasionally launched which you can shoot for additional points. Once again, the wolf bait comes in handy, but be careful not to have it bounced off of a dummy balloon. You really need to stop every wolf from reaching the top. Once up top, they begin pushing a large rock to the right, which will eventually fall down right on top of you. When 5 or fewer wolves remain, the boss wolf will show up. You'll know him by the clear, and nearly unbreakable balloon he uses. It'll take 3 or 4 hits to pop it, and if you do not stop him, the counter adds 5 more wolves to your counter.

This is a good time to point out that in this stage there are 2 and 3-layered balloons. So it will take 1 or 2 more hits to burst their bubble. Each balloon is smaller and so it floats upward slower than the previous.

Bonus Round #1: After clearing the first 2 levels, you get to the first bonus round. This plays much like the 2nd level, but now you cannot die. There are no rocks and no arrows. You are limited to throwing bait only this round, until it is all gone - thus ending the round.

Bonus Round #2: A Surprise to me! Just before sitting down to complete this review, I had a great game, and discovered the existence of a 2nd bonus round. Now the wolves are sitting in the greenery all up and down the far left side. They throw their rocks at you from different heights, and you score bonus points for hitting as many as possible with your arrows. I am fairly certain that you cannot die here, as I did not try.

Bonus Round #3 ?: Well . . . There may be one, but it'll take a lot of patience and an outstanding score to get that far.

Later levels: Beyond the first 2 levels, the Wolves carry along a shield to protect themselves. You now have to hit their shield and then the balloon to drop them. Points are scored for every balloon popped, every wolf dropped, and every rock intercepted. Even further along, they start throwing the rocks at an angle. This makes it even harder to stop them that when they throw them straight at you.

For the 8-bit Atari, Pooyan is only available in disk format. More specific details are: Controls, Gameplay, Graphics, Sound, and Addictiveness.

Control: The Controls are very good. Up/Down and fire button, may seem very simple, but there is quite a lot involved in this cute game.

Gameplay: The Gameplay is very involved. I am not sure if any thing is missing from the arcade, but certainly nothing more is found in the Atari 2600 or C64 versions. I did not discover a pause feature, but I must admit that in a rush to get this review done, I did not search the manual archives. Extra lives are scored at every 50,000 points. Fewer balloons run interference than on the other 2 home version.

Graphics: not great, but certainly no drawbacks here.

Sound: The Sound and music are nice, but somewhat annoying to my wife. This is one of those games that could almost be played without any sound.

Addictiveness: Oh yes this is an addictive game. I can't wait to get back to playing it - to see if there is a 3rd, or more bonus rounds. It will take quite a bit of play to learn all the tricks you need to make it as far as I have - but I am sure that you can. Hopefully this will get you to try Pooyan, and see if there are more bonus levels.

Atari 8 bit Designer: Scott Spanburg, Datasoft

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