Icicle Works Longplay (C64) [50 FPS]

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AL82 Retrogaming Longplays

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Published on August 26, 2013 3:25:06 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhvlSj_gTUU

Duration: 16:35

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64

Developed by Doug Turner and published by Commodore in 1985.

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This could possibly be THE first game that I ever played back when I got my first computer at the age of 3. I owned the Commodore 16 version of this game, but they're practically identical aside from the differences between the TED and SID chips.

The objective of the game is to guide Santa around the North Pole, collecting parts of presents that he needs to assemble various toys in readiness for Christmas. You must collect a total of 16 toys, each spread across 16 rooms, each of which are fraught with danger, falling snowballs, angry polar bears and belligerent penguins.

After seeing the game, you'll realise that it's a Boulder Dash clone, but it is a very good game in it's own right. I could manage to complete only a handful of levels as a child, but now I can fully appreciate just how cunning and devious Doug Turner was when he wrote this.

The game starts out easily enough, but many of the levels require thought and planning to complete. For example, one room has only 2 presents, which are no where near enough to complete the toy. However, there are 2 penguins in the level and these drop approximately 9 presents if you manage to kill them by dropping a snowball or present on them. The required strategy is to dig a tunnel underneath the present then to lure the penguin underneath it; as soon as you see it coming, you must dig away the snow keeping it suspended and let it drop on the penguin.

In fact, playing this game with save states gives the player a much better appreciation of the working out the strategy required to beat each level; it only took me 29 years to fully appreciate your game, Doug!

Once the toy has been completed you must head to one of several possible exits. This adds a further challenge to the game since you'll need to map out exactly which rooms are connected to each other if you want to collect all 16 presents. Once a present has been completed, all present blocks turn into bonus blocks that can be collected for additional points.

A couple of levels feature strange question mark blocks. It turns out that if you left snowballs land on them, they'll filter through the block and get converted to a present; amazing!

Other levels require you to destroy enemies in certain places. Killing a penguin/polar bear results in a 3 x 3 explosion that will take out anything that occupies those squares and this must be used to break through certain walls in order to progress.

Quite a few of the levels feature hot underground springs. If you remove the blocks that keep the water in then it will spread out and fill the entire level, melting snow and trapping you in the process. Factor this in with the polar bears, penguins and falling snowballs and you have yourself one extremely tough game.

The only disappointment I had was discovering that the game has no ending. I collected the 16th present and nothing happened; Santa seems doomed to wander the pole for eternity (Doug himself confirmed the game has no ending).

An underrated gem!
#retrogaming