The Flintstones

In this 1988 action game based on the TV series of the same name by Hanna-Barbera, Fred and Barney want to go bowling but Wilma has other ideas......and guess who's left holding the baby? Join The Flintstones in this officially licensed arcade adventure based on the famous Hanna Barbera cartoon characters.

First, poor grasp of the source material. Despite appearing on the cover and loading screen, Betty Rubble doesn't appear in the game at all. Aside from bowling with Fred in level 3 and rescuing Pebbles in level 4 if Fred loses all his lives, Barney plays no significant role in the game, not even as an optional second player. Meanwhile, the graphics on the Sega Master System, Atari ST and Amiga versions are really good, and faithful to the show.

The music is a poor rendition of the Flintstones theme that plays throughout the whole game, which, at certain points, sounds very similar to the theme music of Chubby Gristle, another Grandslam/Teque game that had equally repetitive music. The Amiga version's music sounds really horrible, sounding like a muffled version of the theme song from the Atari ST and 8-bit versions. The music can be turned off, thankfully, in the ZX Spectrum and Master System versions.

The game is very short, with only four levels that can be beaten in about 20 minutes with enough patience. The first level involves Fred painting a wall within the time limit, all while babysitting Pebbles and making sure she doesn't draw on the wall and ruin the paint. It's as tedious as it sounds, for numerous reasons:

• The brush has a limited amount of paint that runs out very quickly, and it only paints certain parts of the wall.
• If you try to stop Pebbles, Fred will drop his brush, as he can't carry them both at the same time for whatever reason.
• You have to paint every single pixel of the wall in order to advance to the next level. If you're off by one pixel, or if Pebbles even draws one drawing on the wall, the level may ultimately end in failure.
• The time limit in the first level is also very strict.

The second level has Fred driving Barney to the Bedrock bowling alley within the time limit, playing like a poor man's version of Moon Patrol. If Fred trips over a rock, he ends up losing a wheel from his car, even though wheels are also made of rock. And sometimes, when arriving at the bowling alley, Barney may say that it's closed, even if the player still has plenty of time left. There's a practice mode for the painting and bowling levels, however.

The third level involves Fred having to beat Barney at bowling. It takes way too long for Fred to roll his bowling ball, as when he rolls the ball, it takes about 10-15 seconds before the bowling ball shows up to hit the pins. Additionally the bowling physics are completely unpredictable. Sometimes, Fred may end up rolling the bowling ball well and only hit a small amount of pins. Even if the player ranks up enough speed to hit the bowling pins, the bowling ball may end up rolling really slowly.

The fourth level involves rescuing Pebbles by platforming through a construction site while avoiding clouds and other obstacles. Fred has fall damage, as he loses a life if he ends up getting pushed by a cloud and falls from a great height. And when you reach Pebbles, it doesn't end the level. You have to get her back down to the ground, as if reaching her wasn't already difficult enough.

Not sure if this is a good game or not...