Champ Programming’s Champ Kong takes you back through a gaming timewarp to the mid-eighties when the key elements that characterised most games were simplicity, addictiveness, the ability frequently to infuriate and, above all, fun. As the title suggests, the game is a variation on that all-time classic Donkey Kong with the Mario look-alike hero (although we all know Kong was the real hero of these games. Time and again he would tirelessly and selflessly endeavour to rescue the girl from her loser boyfriend, with never a thought for his own safety.
But did he ever get any thanks? I don’t think so) clambering up a construction site in a desperate attempt to rescue the blonde-haired love of his life from the clutches of the dastardly Kong. On his way up, the hero must dodge not only the tumbling barrels that Kong hurls at him (get hit by a barrel and you’ll lose one of your six precious lives), but also avoid various other hazards such as deceptively friendly looking fireballs or the danger of dropping to his doom through a gap in the iron girders that are his only support.
Graphics wise the game looks exactly as you would expect a tribute to Donkey Kong to look. In other words, basic but functional – the animation
is more than adequate to convey the appropriate sense of satisfaction when you reach the top of a building and send Kong hurtling head first into oblivion. The music and sound effects are also far from sophisticated, but then, these games were always about the gameplay, not about wowing you with an audiovisual feast for the eyes and ears.
And on the gameplay front, Champ Kong delivers in spades. You can adjust the difficulty level to match your skill (or lack of skill) level. However, even on the easiest setting, once you get past the first couple of levels, the game is no pushover and you really have to work to achieve the gratification of seeing the ground fall out from under Kong. In the early stages of the game, it is simply a matter of walking along the girders, climbing ladders and either jumping over the barrels or smashing them with the hammers that can sometimes be picked up (note – while you have a hammer you cannot climb ladders so you will not be able to make any upwards progress, but smashing barrels will help get you the valuable bonus points that will help you secure that coveted top spot on the all-important High Score table). Soon enough, though you are confronted with a host of other obstacles such as the fiendish ladder-climbing fireballs, gaps in the girders that must be leapt across and moving platforms. As you work your way through the levels the barrels and fireballs become progressively quicker and more numerous.
Overall, Champ Kong is what Kong in its various guises has always been – a fun way of wasting the odd idle half an hour trying to post an unbeatable high score on the high score table. There was one thing I never figured out about the game though and that was why, whenever the hero got to the top of a particular stage and was briefly reunited with his love, he didn’t grab her and run for his life but instead chose to stand around like a lemon while Kong grabbed her again and climbed up to the next level. The girl should seriously have considered ditching that ineffectual Mario wannabe and hooking up with Kong if you ask me.
