Potty Pigeon Longplay (C64) [QHD]

Game Info
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Developer: Antony "Tony" Crowther, Ben Daglish
Publisher: Gremlin Graphics
Year of Release: 1984

Game Review & Impressions
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One of the earliest games Tony Crowther created for the fledgling Gremlin Graphics, I was keen to check out more of the C64 programming wunderkind's back catalogue.

The objective of the game is to help Percy, the titular potty pigeon, construct a nest in the boughs of a tree by collecting twigs lying in the middle of a main road. Speeding motor cars risk turning you into a pigeon-shaped smear on the tarmac if you're not careful, and rival birds, planes and other airborne nasties mean the skies are no safer. Successfully constructing the nest awards you bonus points for time remaining on the clock, then propelling you into the next level, increasing the number of enemies as you progress. There's no actual ending I'm aware of, just the typical quest to attain ever-increasing high scores.

Speaking of scores, it's possible to bag bonus points by literally crapping on the cars as they drive past. Destroying a car with a dollop of pigeon poo seems like rather extreme, but actually landing one of these defecatory dung packages on target is harder than it looks. Later levels introduce an additional foe in the guise of a bounding dog, and you can crap on this too!

I wasn't expecting too much from this, if I'm honest, but I was surprised at how compelling this proved to be. Timing your swoops to grab the twigs from the ground without dying is really tricky, but there's a surprising sense of satisfaction when you manage to pull it off. Coupled with some impressively quick scrolling and astute technical presentation, it's not a bad arcade game at all.

Chapters
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TBC