Category:

Review

Duration: 12:18

728 views

18

Huge playlist archive with AY / GFX improved games: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxOanVBhqd3t74YnYAJA9p4vMQYZYCJWX
INTRODUCTION (From the manual):
Baron Von Bankjob has escaped from jail! Who comes to the rescue? It's Hong Kong Phooey, emerging from the sticky top drawer of his special file cabinet, with the help of trusty police station cat, Spot. The latest living legend of our time emerges, mask and kimono askew, the indispensable Kung Fu manual tucked firmly inside his pocket.

Otherwise known as the bumbling janitor of Police Headquarters, Penrod Pooch, our hero leaps into the fray. He remains supremely confident of his dazzling footwork, lightning quick reflexes, and keen powers of perception, despite continual trips, flip-flops and bungles. In Phooey's mind, the power imbued through his Kung Fu manual cannot but triumph. In reality, victory over the many colourful villains must be attributed to the backstage manoeuvres of shrewd little Spot.

REVIEW:
The Baron's hideout is located in a deserted warehouse in the docklands, and you have to locate the Baron and bring him to justice. The warehouse is full of faithful servants of the Baron, and they can kick, punch, shoot and throw knives at you.

When entering the warehouse you will find out that you can not go anywhere you like, some doors are locked and you have to find the switches to open them. The warehouse is old and decrepit, some platforms aren't too safe. Too much pressure and they're sure to collapse, so don’t stand on these for too long.

Besides that the game is a typical platform game where you have to jump from platform to platform, avoiding oil and acid patches, falling debris, and you can use conveyors and elevators.

Hong Kong is able to kick, punch, jump and duck. Energy is lost by contact with any of the bad guys or their weapons. This is depicted by the famous Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu slowly dissolving as you become weaker. To regain energy, drinks must be collected. These are scattered throughout the warehouse. Once all your energy is lost the game is over.

Graphically this game is nothing special with it’s monochrome graphics, but the details in the graphics is okay, and it is quite fun to play. The biggest letdown is that there was no soundtrack in the original version because it was made for a standard 48k, but okay – there was also no soundtrack in the C64 and Amstrad CPC version, only the 16 bit versions had music.

This re-release for the 128k has got a soundtrack similar to the one in the Atari ST version added, an extra loading screen is added, and trainer options is added!

The game was published for ZX Spectrum 48k by Hi-Tec Software Ltd in 1990, and re-released for ZX Spectrum 128k by Goodboy/Slider/Tiboh in 2018.

Rating = 84%

Beta Disk .scl file (The program SAMdisk can convert .scl to .trd so the game can run on a DivMMC device) can be downloaded here: https://vtrd.in/gamez/h/HKP_SGT.zip