Postman Pat

Copyright : Alternative Software | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

It seemed like just another day to Pat as he climbed out of bed. Little did he know that the would be rushed off his feet by all the work that faced him this morning as he did his round of Greendale. Parcels, letters and al I sorts of odd jobs would keep him very busy. You can help Pat and Jess to get the job done by guiding his van around the village.

Bringing to life the adventures of children?s fave Postman Pat, this clever little game ended up appealing to gamers of all ages.

Graphics

Heavy on the colours and dripping with charm, Postman Pat on the CPC is as close as you could comfortably imagine being in Pat?s world. Effortlessly capturing very essence of what makes the programme such a hit with kids throughout the years, the game is simply the definition of cute - from the giant picture of Pat, next to the in-game window, to the line-up of the ?cast? in the title screen.

The majority of the game takes place from an overhead position looking down on the streets of Glendale and its surrounding farmland. Pat?s van is nicely animated as it trundles up and down the tight streets. Everything is perfectly recognisable and even details like road signs and the odd street markings have been included.

The indoor scenes are also well drawn and capture the characters perfectly. The thing which impresses me most about the game is that even the small touches appear to have been given a lot of love, thought and attention such as the font that is a good replica of that used in the TV show.

Instantly recognisable for children, Postman Pat?s visuals put a lot of supposedly more sophisticated games on the CPC to shame.

Sound

Okay let?s get the bad news out of the way first. There are no sound effects.

The good news? You wont care. Postman Pat has easily one of the best conversions of a recognisable theme tune to an 8-bit computer game ever. Honestly, the quality of the music is above just about anything else the CPC has to offer. I feel as if anybody reading this who hasn?t experienced it will be under the impression I?m taking the mick but in all seriousness, give it a try and you won?t believe your ears. One of the very best tunes on the CPC that is bound to bring a smile to your face.

Gameplay

Breaking Postman Pat down into its nuts and bolts, it?s soon revealed to be a simplistic game that requires you to do very little other than drive from one end of the town to the other delivering letters, parcels and helping out your friends.

There?s very little to actually do? and yet? there?s something about Postman Pat that is just fun. There?s nothing in it that?ll make you think or require super fast reflexes but the game is perfect for casually driving around some back streets going as quickly or slowly as you like with not a care in the world.

For the target market, Postman Pat is perfect and offers, I?m sure, variety. For adults there?s less to see and do but if you need a quick game of something to take your mind off the stresses and strains of everyday life, you can do a lot worse than this.

There are two playing modes, the first of which will let you smash your van up every and anyway you want without any consequence, the other is a bit more tricky and requires you to take your time a little as you can only crash your van three times before it?s game over - for adults this wont be much of a problem but for the children it can be tricky.

As well as driving your van and firing your letters at flashing letterboxes in a paperboy style, you?ll occasionally have to get out of your van to chase sheep to help your friend, Ted.

Fun for all ages, Postman Pat is definitely worth an hour of anyone?s time. Watch out though for the bug in the difficult version which crashes the game around the second time you have to chase the sheep. A real pity as it makes it impossible to complete the game in difficult mode.