This adds a bit of a light puzzle element to some portions of the game, as you need to make sure you don’t run out of “keys” (limbs) before you reach the goal.īeyond these basics, you also have an abundance of power-up items to find. One stage even forces you to play through the majority of it sans legs, which severely compromises Plok’s platforming ability, as you might expect. Some of the later stages are filled with shifting walls and other obstacles which require you to temporarily relinquish one or more limbs to bypass them. It’s possible to have all four limbs detached at once if you’re too quick on the trigger, leaving poor Plok a sitting duck. Successfully striking an enemy will return the limb to Plok’s body instantly, but miss and you’ll have to wait for it to boomerang back on its own. The limb shooting mechanic also has its quirks. He has two different jumps, for example, a short hop that allows for shooting in mid-aid if needed and a spinning leap similar to Sonic the Hedgehog’s that offers greater height and distance at the cost of offensive flexibility. They function as an elegant tutorial on Plok’s unusual movement and attack capabilities. The early stages on Cotton Island are no-frills affairs which have you making your way from left to right on the way to a goal, Super Mario style. Did I mention this game’s humor is very, very British? There’s no world to save, no princess to rescue, no fallen comrades to avenge, just this absurd, pompous weirdo rambling around the countryside seeking to assuage his wounded pride by any means necessary. All fired-up by this affront, Plok sets off by boat to nearby Cotton Island to retrieve his flag. You can just imagine the outrage that ensues when he steps out his front door one morning only to discover the giant flag with his face on it he flies from his rooftop has been snatched away in the night by parties unknown. I reckon someone across the Channel has some explaining to do.īeing the (wholly self-proclaimed) king of Akrillic, our boy Plok has quite the healthy ego. Yes, Plok is a European mascot platformer starring a hero who attacks with his floating projectile limbs two years before Ubisoft’s Rayman. Whatever he’s supposed to be, he’s got a set of cute cartoon eyes peering out from what looks to be a red executioner’s hood and he’s able to fire off all four of his detachable limbs as deadly missiles.
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Who is Plok the Exploding Man? The instruction manual informs us he is, among many, many other things: “The king of the beautiful island called Akrillic, part of the archipelago Poly-Esta…a true hero, with a heart of gold and joints of the highest quality Velcro…a grade-A, first class prime cut.” What is Plok? That’s tougher to say.
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Not being ones to let a good idea go to waste, Ste and John moved on to Mancunian studio Software Creations and reimagined Fleapit as the 1993 Super Nintendo platformer Plok.
Unfortunately, plans for the Razz board ended up being scrapped and the mostly finished Fleapit followed suit. Around 1990, the Pickfords were hard at work on an arcade game called Fleapit that was intended to run on Rare’s upcoming Razz hardware.
They’re probably best-known on this side of the pond for their work with Rare, particularly Solar Jetman and the two Wizards & Warriors sequels on the NES. Fresh out of secondary school in the early ’80s, they took jobs in the industry as an artist and programmer (respectively) and soon added game design to their portfolios. Anyway, Ste and John Pickford are yet another set of British brothers with a passion for gaming. I’m still counting it because this is my review and you’re not the boss of me.Īhem. Okay, so the Bitmaps weren’t actual brothers. You had the Stamper brothers (Tim and Chris) founding Rare, the Darlings (David and Richard) over at Codemasters, the Follins (Tim, Geoff, and Mike) composing some of the best chiptune music of the era, and the Bitmap Brothers churning out massive hits like Speedball and The Chaos Engine.
I’m not just speaking metaphorically of the “bedroom coder” boom touched off by affordable domestic microcomputers like the Spectrum and the BBC Micro. Everyone and his brother was making video games in the U.K.