Gordo 106: The Mutated Lab Monkey

Boy, doesn't a batch of atomic soup simply ruin a good day?Just ask Gordo, the resident of Cage 106 in N. Human Labs. He's your basic laboratory-experiment monkey. An O.D. of nuclear num-nums has peaked Gordo's I.Q. Now he's trying to free all the animals held captive in the NH labs. Considering this game's average game play, Gordo might have had more fun if he'd stayed in his cage munching nuclear num-nums.

Putting a Monkey Wrench in the Works

In this standard action/adven-ture saga, Gordo comes equipped with what he grabs around the lab. Bananas boost his health, and apples are his only weapons. He's got a chimp's speed and cunning, though, and it comes in handy during his trek. Gordo can even up his standard trot to an arm-flailing run with a double tap on the Lynx pad. He can also swing on the chains and light fixtures that hang from the lab's ceiling.

Of course, his journey is fraught with danger and pitfalls. This trip is littered with various pits that lead to dungeons, often in the form of puzzles that try human psyches, never mind simians. The dungeons are a bit more dastardly than the main levels, with fireball-spitting gargoyles and falling lava flows that can toast Gordo down to a skeletal remain.

Monkey Business

Most everything Gordo does -picking up items, dispatching evil lab workers, and more -rewards him with points and 1 -ups. It won't help you much, though, as the multiple hazards make for frustrating, repetitive loss of life, especially when Gordo topples into one of the many pits. Even worse, when Gordo dies he pops back to the beginning of a level, where you'll have to start all over.

The lack of precision in Gordo's controls is as annoying as the frustrating game play. It's hard finding enough room for Gordo to gain the speed he needs to break into a quick run, especially when he's on a short platform. This usually means Gordo ends up in a pit. Having Gordo grab a lamp or a chain is also a hit-or-miss chore.

Gordo's graphics feature nice multi-scrolling backgrounds, but many of the sprites are blocky and awkward. The overall graphics and sound aren't up to par with current Lynx carts, like Slime World and Cates of Zendocon.

Gorilla My Dreams

New software releases for the Lynx have been slow in arriving, and unfortunately Gordo 106 doesn't do much to make beleagured Lynx owners feel any better. It'll have to do, though, until more highly evolved carts arrive on the scene.