The game Fire Ant came out in the early eighties on the old Commodore home computers, and will probably be most popular with those gamers who are feeling nostalgic for the good old days when playing a game was preceded by waiting impatiently while a tape player screeched as the game loaded. But it’s still simple fun with instant playability and an odd, insectile charm.
Scorpions have taken over the ant nest, capturing the queen. It’s down to you as the lone surviving soldier ant to save the day and rescue her.
Eight levels consisting of simple maze like chambers where scorpion sentries wander around. Luck and patience play their part in avoiding them as they don’t deliberately pursue you, rather they move randomly about and should they come into contact with you, they do so purely by chance. (Do you wait until the scorpion has idled his way to another area of the chamber, or take the chance that you can avoid his haphazard path?) Fortunately this game has no time limit so those of a more cautious nature can wait until it’s safer and the scorpion has wandered elsewhere. (This has the additional benefit of earning you points. The longer the scorpions wander around, the more eggs they lay which can be quickly
collected for bonus points.)
The best element in this game is the puzzle solving. It does have to be said however that trial and error play as much a part in this as does lateral thinking. (Or maybe that’s just me, always missing the blindingly obvious.) And it’s true that once completed, and all its secrets are revealed, this game has little replay value - but getting there that first time is fun enough to be going with.
You have to collect keys and other odd objects and place them down in the correct order to open each new chamber, various puzzles where you have to create mud-slides, even enlist the assistance of a helpful bee to break through a troublesome gate (honest! I couldn’t make this stuff up,) progressing through the levels until you finally release the Queen.
