Game:

Repton Infinity (1988)

Duration: 7:37

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2

The last two levels of Repton 3 Take 2. Like the corresponding levels of Repton 4, these two have no maps; and another thing they have in common is monsters existing on the initial layout rather than being contained in eggs. This was not possible on Repton 3, but in Repton Infinity, since characters can be redefined, the level editor allows any character to be placed on the map. We've already seen Repton 4 levels with "off" photocopiers and cracked eggs, but it's Trakker that has the weirdest case of all (and I'll briefly describe it here since I'm not going to be videoing those levels).

A set of Repton Infinity characters contains 48 sprites, of which 16 are just animation frames (and these cannot be placed on levels). Fourteen of these are for Repton's animation; the other two can be given to any two characters you want to be animated. The Repton games use them for the monster and spirit; Robbo, the orb and fish; Trakker, the Jagga and Repton. If you want more than two characters in a game to be animated, you have to use a pair of the "main" 32 sprites, and Trakker does this with the spider and Kevin. And one level actually places the spider's second animation frame on the map, which has no definition and so does nothing! (Kevin's second frame, however, does have a definition; the detonator works by changing all Kevins into the second frame, they detonate the dynamite and immediately change back.)

Getting back to Repton 3 Take 2, my route through the first of these levels is clearly not ideal as I spend a long time waiting for one spirit. We see that monsters are the same as spirits in that Repton can safely release them from the left or above but not the right or below; as testpilotmonkey pointed out in my previous video, this is certainly due to the way Repton Infinity scans left to right and top to bottom, so Repton gets away because he is always moving before the monster. After the first four monsters, the other two free monsters on the level can only be released from the right or below, so more care is needed to make sure they are not adajcent to Repton when he frees them.

I had wanted to show off the fact that the upper key can in fact be obtained, since keys are not curved in this game (they are also not curved in Repton 1, something I didn't know until very recently). But getting this key first just leaves you trapped behind the two cages, so I ignored it. Eggs are also not curved in the Repton Infinity games, which I think might have been noticeable in one of my previous videos, but I forgot to comment on it at the time.

The last level is a much easier "breather level" to finish with, something I'm glad of after Level 3 :) You do, however, have to take care that the falling rocks do not block off access to the right-hand half of the level, unless you choose to do that half first.

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