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Funkmaster V Reviews
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7800 Rank: Unranked
Genre: Action
Awards: None
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This Atari 7800 Game Looks Like it was made for TV in 1955. |
Pros:
Several levels/ Challenging/ Pick Up N Play Gameplay
Cons:
The lack of atmosphere makes the game easy to dismiss |
I'm not sure what's happening here, but the good thing is... no one else does, either. |
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Overview: Those who sniff around the Atari 7800 hobby programmer scene have probably heard of a character named Gambler172. This German prosystem believer (named Walter irl) has been around the scene for awhile,
and often times helps other programmers write code for their own conventional creations. But when Gambler172 creates something of his own... its normally pretty damn bizarre. From French cartoon inspired Ms. Pac Man hacks, Traveler carts, book carts and other types of demos... he normally doesn't make traditional games... but here we are loves. And who did he team up with for this endeavor? Frankodragon. Oh Lord. Frankodragon (Clark Otto, Jr.) is a really wild cat, responsible for over a dozen nutty Atari 7800 games... sometimes they are janky af, sometimes they are pretty good, but they are always rife with inside jokes and an odd sense of humor. His titles include "Roof Pooper", "Fat Axl" and "Hearty Manslapper". These two are the bad news bears of the Atari 7800 programmimg scene... the preverbal gang that can't shoot straight. We now have a game created by these two mad scientists in our midst. Be afraid. Be very Afraid.
Graphics: Adventures of Olli Troll is a game presented completely in black and white. Oddly enough, I just released a movie called WJHC AM, also completely in black in white... WE BE NOIR BUDDIES! (Check out the trailer HERE. I'm not sure why they eschewed color, but they did and it exudes a distinct style. Still... with the wide array of cartoon bad guys and fairy tale obstacles, colors probably should have been implemented. The graphics are rudimentary, and the retro color scheme doesn't really add to the vibe, like the action spy homebrew "Spies In The Night" for the Atari 2600 does, for example. I would have liked to have seen these bad boys all hued up. For a game this simple and devoid of color, there is a bunch of on screen glitching at times.
Sound: Audio is very rare here... like a New York Jets Super Bowl appearance- kinda rare. There is a blip when you die, and a different blip when clear a level. That's all, babies.
Gameplay:
Along with the graphics, the gameplay is pretty simple, too. You move your man, Olli Troll, from left to right, like a reverse Food Fight. However, there are no up or down movements allowed. We need to get Olli to this wonderful woman across the way who does not seem to care that Olli is a disgusting troll, but wouldn't you know it? Haters be hatin' on blind love. There is a cornucopia of evil jazz constantly falling from the sky (like the volcano level in Crossbow), and you must dodge the rainstorm of shit to avoid being crushed, impaled, or smushed. That's pretty much it. Sometimes there's invisible traps which slide you backwards or forwards. Sometimes you need to jump. It's challenging for sure, and Olli Troll's simplicity is the game's best trait.
Originality: The game looks like an early VCS title... that's also possibly associated with the smut industry. The opening story is a conflated mess between the characters in the game, real life people, and a limited run Atari 7800 book cart called "Journey of the Snail". It's not very approachable to people outside of this clique. It IS original, though. You may care about the situation shaking down, but odds are you will not.
Value: The best feature in this game is the pick up and play Atari vibe, but at the end of the day, the entire thing feels like a forgettable Warioware mini-game. There are many levels, many boards, and the game is definitely challenging. Around level 7 or 8... I was Olli-challenged out for the day. When you reach the little girl on the right side of the screen, she says cute things like I say to my wife, like "You're Cute" or "Hubba Hubba" or "My, you are brave!" (She has to shave my back for wrestling matches). I believe I saw Frankodragon as a bad guy in the game, too! So that's cool. If you beat the game without dying... there's apparently a helluva Easter egg... but I'll probably never see that jive by my own merits.
Overall:
I like collecting Atari 7800 game carts, and I'm worried that a lot of the games being made for the system these days will only exist as beautiful ROMs, never to be released on a cart. I hate that, but times change. I will always support Gambler172 and Frankodragon, but this simplistic cart is hard to recommend to anyone but a collector. I can't wait to see what craziness these two cook up in the future, and I'll be here cash in hand ready to support their weirdness.
Additional Info: I would like to take this time to thank FrankoDragon for allowing the use of his screenshots for this review.
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