STIR CRAZY

 STIR CRAZY is a strategy arcade game based on a comic strip by Paul Deliege,
coming to us from Infogrames of France and the Antic Catalog. It offers
excellent graphics, sound, and animation, six separate games, provisions for as
many as six players, and joystick or keyboard control. This review is based on
the Atari ST version.

 STIR CRAZY is incredibly silly. The characters are exaggerated, the situations
are ridiculous, and gameplay is absurd. The program, however, does not operate
under false pretenses: It's ludicrous, we know it's ludicrous, and that's what
makes it such dumb fun. It's enough that Eric Mottet and his programming team
didn't collaborate with Electronic Arts -- it'd be a skill-based role-playing
game set in Alcatraz.

 The main character in STIR CRAZY is Bobo. He bears a sinister resemblance to
Fred Flintstone, and he's been an inmate of Inzeeslammer for 17 years. The six
games that make up the program involve ladling soup, preparing potatoes, mopping
a floor, and helping fellow prisoners escape. Bobo's escape is the subject of
the fifth game: jumping electrical wires. His subsequent recapture forms the
sixth game: stopping the snoring of his cell mates.

 In the canteen, Bobo must keep the bowls of six prisoners filled with soup.
This is accomplished by guiding Bobo between the tables. The prisoners are a
testy lot. They'll bang on the tables with their spoons, and holler and scream
and cry. Bobo earns points every time he dispenses a ladle of soup.

 Preparing potatoes means taking one, peeling it, then tossing it away. If it
hasn't been properly peeled, it'll end up back in the pile. Bobo earns point for
each peeled spud.

 To wash the floors, you must guide Bobo and his mop around a room. The room has
six doors that are opened constantly by other inmates, prison officials, and
even a dog, all of whom leave muddy tracks. Bobo earns points for swinging the
mop, making someone who's just entered the room turn back, or preventing someone
from entering the room at all.

 When the warden takes a break, the prisoners attempt to escape by jumping out
the windows. Bobo guides a trampoline back and forth beneath the windows and
bounces the inmates over the outer wall. Bobo earns points for each prisoner who
escapes.

 When Bobo escapes, you'll have to guide him along three electrical wires.
Sparks zip down the wires, so you must make him jump in order to avoid
electrocution. The score is based on the length of time Bobo stays on the wires.

 Bobo's subsequent capture returns him to his cell, where five other inmates
sleep and snore. Bobo must travel from bunk to bunk, stop the snoring, and go
back to sleep. Sleeping earns points.

 The Atari ST screen display consists of a single backdrop on which the events
take place. Below the main screen is the Score for the current game, the High
Score for that particular game, and the Very High Score, which is the total for
all games. You can select to play any one game or all six in sequence.

 Each event can be controlled with either joystick or keyboard. When using the
keyboard, the cursor keys move Bobo directionally; the Spacebar does many
things, and its specific use depends on the game. When using the joystick, the
stick moves Bobo directionally, and the button substitutes for the spacebar. The
method you use will have to be your choice; certain games seemed easier using
one control instead of the other.

 Everything about STIR CRAZY is silly except its implementation. The graphics
and animation are marvelous. The facial expressions of the prisoners range from
consternation to childish rage. Footprints (and paw prints) appear as characters
traipse across Bobo's clean floor. The trampoline makes "BOIINNGG!" sounds. The
whole package is colorful and cartoon-y, and very much in keeping with its
source material.

 STIR CRAZY is dumb fun, wonderfully done.

 STIR CRAZY is published by Infogrames and distributed by Antic.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253