Food and drink brands appearing in games is not a new concept, from Penguin biscuits in James Pond II Robocod, to Pepsiman in his own appearing in his own game, these brands have made subtle appearances, or indeed have had whole games written around them.
Here we look at a game that is tied in with a very British snack, which is still very popular today – KP Skips, and that game is Action BIker on the Commodore 64.
Action Biker stars Clumsy Colin, who is in fact a character devised by KP for their Skips product originally appearing in a comic called Buster, but was also selected as the perfect character for this tie-in game with Mastertronic.
The game is a simple premise, you control Clumsy Colin on his motorbike, riding around an isometric level, collecting various bikes, parts, clothing and other items such as a personal stereo, with the ultimate goal to get yourself ready for a race along a drag strip! Sounds easy enough, but there are a few tricky obstacles to navigate around.
All you need to do to get to the end of this game is to memorise where the next item appears once you’ve collected the current item. Since you are against the clock, you can’t spend too long riding around searching.
You also have a fuel meter which can be replenished at a petrol pump. That’s all there is to the game in terms of gameplay, but this is another classic 80s 8-bit game where its charm is half of the experience.
Verdict
Action Biker has a short, looping but the catchy soundtrack and some annoyingly addictive gameplay, everything you needed for a good time in 1985! Plus it was a budget title, so at £1.99, you really couldn’t complain too much!
This one brings back great memories of discovering C64 games around friends’ houses, and since hearing that tune over and over once again, I’m not going to be forgetting it anytime soon! A great game to go back to try!
A lifelong avid gamer and computing enthusiast, Matt has decades of Retro Gaming experience. Now over 40 years old, Matt now even considers himself retro, but fortunately, nobody has developed a Matt emulator (not yet at least!).