Brainache

Copyright : Codemasters | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

Another classic Codemasters game that sits comfortably in my collection (smug mode), it?s a very strange game that is a little difficult for many players and well..you?ll see, for now here?s the story.

After "Brainache" had left in the robo-shuttle heading for the Stella mines on the planet Nesbit the crew on Rotar 1 began to worry - although they teased Brainache they loved their chubby friend and knew how dangerous the task ahead of him really was. On the lonely cruise back to Nesbit Brainache planned his actions. He was fed up with his friends cynical comments and decided to show them once and for all how clever he really was.

He would retrieve all his mining equipment and then forage further into the depths of the ancient mine shafts to find the fabled Anatese diamond. "Then they will never call me Brainache again!" he muttered determinedly under his breath!!....

Graphics

Brainache is very much like nothing you will have played before, your character is no larger than 50mm high and from the moment you step foot out of your space shuttle you will notice how difficult this is going to make the game.

The graphics are not up to much even though the game was released in 1987, again Codemasters have hand picked some nasty colours for primary use in the level design (yellow, green and red - not pleasing to the eye and certainly not for a game that is meant to take place in an underground mine). As I mentioned earlier your main character is no higher than 50mm high and about 20mm wide, in fact it took me a few minutes to find the character on screen, you also suffer from hollow effects when walking over some backgrounds - never a good thing.

Sound

The sound is mediocore, none of the aliens have any sound and the only noise you make is a tiny shooting noise when you hit the fire button. Music plays when you die and on the credits screen but other than that there isn?t much sound in the game at all.

Gameplay

Gameplay suffers mainly because of the colours and the size of your character but that isn?t all - you can never seem to gain full control over the player and within a few minutes of playing you have collided with something you didn?t want to - this is a game for those with high tolerance and not for those that snap joysticks :O).