Agent X & Agent X II

I think Mr. Gremlin liked Turbo Esprits as much as I did in the '80s

AGENT X IN THE BRAIN DRAIN CAPER

(Mastertronic, 1986)

You never quite knew what you were going to get with Mastertronic. For every Finders Keepers there was a Voyage Into The Unknown. So it paid to do a little research in advance, though they always gave you a screenshot or two on the inlay to help you out a bit. Some games look too good to be rubbish, and this one was certainly quite the looker, so how good was it actually?

And who didn't want a cool jumping car with a big rear spoiler? I still do

A stereotypical mad professor has only gone and kidnapped the president! Please let it be Trump. You, as the chain-smoking Inspector Gadget sans the gadgets, Agent X are just the man to get him back, dead or alive. But preferably alive if we're being honest. First you have to drive to his lab, cunningly hidden in a mine. The road section scrolls diagonally like Highway Encounter, and you have to make sure your Gadget Car doesn't get nudged into any big potholes (bloody council). This bit looks great and is a gentle start to your quest, since you'd have to be a total numpty to fail it.

It's getting tasty down in the mine but X still keeps that fag lit regardless

Next find the prez in the mine, kicking your way past the robot guards in a Kung Fu Master stylee, timing of your kicks and jumps being the thing. I'm sure I saw Donkey Kong career past me in a minecart at one point, but that might just be flashbacks.

The mad prof has clearly been swotting up on his evil villain banter

Then things get harder as you must shoot various objects the mad Prof lobs at you (used tissues, his undies etc.) before they hit you in the mush. This gets fast after a while and is usually as far as I get when playing this game. Unless you slow it down in an emulator of course, gwa ha ha. Finally you can helicopter away to safety, preferably not forgetting the POTUS, praying to God you don't run into any of those godforsaken Airwolf walls.

The guy who I nicked this screenshot off is much better at this than me. Thanks guy!

All the levels are quite different and quirky, with great visuals throughout, not to mention Tim Follin's outstanding music on the menu screen. But I think where the authors have nailed it is the way your health level is always carried over into the next stage, making it essential that you keep as much in reserve as possible at all times, and ensuring things stay quite frantic through all the levels. On the whole, a really good budget offering with variety to burn, a little reminiscent of Future Games, another 'Tronics winner.

So, Mad Prof, which of the two Agent X games is the better?

AGENT X II: THE MAD PROF'S BACK!

(Mastertronic, 1987)

Every good game deserves a sequel, even if the odds are that we would have been better without one. This time the eponymous mad scientist is going to make the world's population insanely spotty with his Zit-Ray, then everyone will have to buy spot cream by the ton and the global economy will fall over. And in the land of the spotty, the spotless man (that's the Prof) is king. What an odd plan, couldn't he just murder everyone instead? Typical megalomaniac over-elaboration I suppose.

Like Sidewize but with more colour and ace sound. And... lemon drops...

We're treated to a mere three games this time round, not the four of the original title. So they should be better, right? Let's see. First Gadget, sorry Agent X, must simply fly to the moon with his jetpac(k) and infiltrate the loony's lunar base. It's basically a horizontal scrolly shooter which looks quite nice, but plays rather generically despite a quite brilliant Follin eargasm. Although the impressively spooky tune surely belongs in some other game, you'd say.

X has given up smoking and now wishes he hadn't

In stage two, X has to jump up and down various levels of the base, trying to collect codes to enter into security computers. This part seems very awkward and I struggled to make much headway. Again it looks alright, but the gameplay is really quite annoying, the enemies constantly managing to hit you and deplete your strength rapidly. Me no like.

And the last level is a pain too. It's Arkanoid, Jim and exactly as we know it. Only there are way too many bricks, the Prof has a bat too, and it's way too fast to enjoy until you crank it down some in your emulator. Then it's just plain dull.

Play Exploding Wall instead of this, it's much more fun. So's Thru' The Wall

There's no carry-through of X's health level, unlike the original game, and this pretty much nullifies a lot of the tension that that game generated. And despite impressive presentation throughout, unfortunately the three games are highly standard and forgettable, lacking the first title's quirky charm. I suspect this might have been quite a hurried affair and it shows. Not quite X-rated but a definite comedown.

X-RATED SCORING

AGENT X IN THE BRAIN DRAIN CAPER 83%

AGENT X II: THE MAD PROF'S BACK! 56%