Commodore Amiga

Garfield: Winter's Tail

Take a rotund, ginger tomcat. Give him an insatiable appetite for lasagne. And leave the fridge door open. What do you get? The sequel to Big, Fat, Hairy Deal, that's what. Winter's Tail is a three-part program, with the option of playing each section in whichever order you desire. Part One rests your paws at the top of a steep ski slope. The next load contains two separate levels, the first of which is more akin to a bonus stage, where you must waggle the joystick at great speed to scoff as much lasagne as possible. The second part moves you over into the Chocolate Factory. Achieve success in this section and you are whisked off to the final load. It's Torville and Dean time as you skate around an iced-over lake in pursuit of an escaped Chocolate Chicken. Winter's Tail does have its drawbacks, however. The sprites, although large, colourful and immediately recognisable, tend to move too slowly, especially on the skiing level where a hasty slide to the left or right is essential in avoiding some of the obstacles (I also noticed that collision detection was somewhat suspect on this level, too). Still, Winter's Tail deserves to do well, being an instantly playable, enjoyable tie-in of everyone's favourite moggy.