amiga-news.de - Review: 'Turbo Santa' released, 'Santa Rocks' re-released

05.Dec.2021 Review: 'Turbo Santa' released, 'Santa Rocks' re-released
The mid-November announced arcade action game Turbo Santa from Nivrig Games has just been released for free download. Here, the player must fill in for Santa Claus, who has fallen asleep, and try to deliver the presents in time to save Christmas.

We were kindly allowed to take a look at the game in advance and jump into the fray ourselves.

The 'Jingle Bell' mix created by DJ METUNE foreshadows that this will not be a cozy little game over coffee and speculoos.

Okay: collect gifts, drop them off at a sleeping child, done. Not a bit of it! ;) Let's try it.

Haha, we have the first gift firmly in our hands, but where are the kids? As briskly as they run through the area, they seem to have exciting dreams. Not so easy now to throw a gift horizontally or vertically at a child via 'fire' key and thus deliver it.

By the way, you get a multiple bonus only if you successfully deliver the gifts without interruption: If a 'shot' misses the mark, it's gone. As you can see, there are not only bonus points to collect after delivery, but occasionally also useful tools: I was able to freeze the hustle and bustle on the screen for a few seconds and collect and deliver presents in peace. And the quick-witted Grunch, who is always snatching presents from under your nose, doesn't get in the way:

The purest blessing! You realize that this is not as easy as it seemed at the beginning. Especially not for a casual gamer like me. I'll just talk myself out of it now, that it's also sooo much more difficult with the keyboard...;)

To celebrate the release, Nivrig Games has launched a highscore contest running from December 05 to 24: The best three highscores, which can be reported at the specially created website, will win vouchers or goodies from the Bitmap Soft or Retro32 online stores.

Since we are once in the Christmas fever, we also test the re-released Santa Rocks at once.

Here, too, the Grunch is up to his mischief and tries to stop us - here again as Santa Claus in action - with an avalanche of huge snowballs. The same music awaits us, so that we are immediately caught in the 'NIVRIG' universe again:

Well, that looks a bit clearer and more peaceful...Let's go! :)

Pah! We are not impressed by a few snowballs. On the contrary: we use the initial tranquility to practice a few 'moves': At the bottom right of the screen, arrows always indicate which special tricks our Santa has in store. The arrows pointing upwards mean that we can pulverize an incoming ball by jumping forward with the corresponding key:

We can do the same by double-pressing a side arrow key. It works! However - and the instructions don't tell you this: You get the most points if you switch to the corresponding track just behind a passing snowball. A full 5 points.

However, you really have to time it exactly: If you're too early, you'll be swept away by the mass of snow... And of course it doesn't get any easier as the game progresses: the balls come sailing towards you faster and faster, and at some point at an angle. The game is immense fun, which is also immensely encouraged by the sounds of Santa Claus and the grunt. And you smile proudly when the grunch behind his barrier is annoyed beyond measure.

In my humble experience, the game is easier to play via keyboard and also has the edge with me because of the somewhat more loving graphics. (dr)

[News message: 05. Dec. 2021, 13:14] [Comments: 0]
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