I love a good platform game, I love the Amiga as it is among my favourite computers with its distinct graphics styling and sound capabilities. With all of that said, why do I dislike the James Pond series so much?
I don’t know what it is about the James Pond games but I have always had a dislike for them. The platform levels aren’t particularly bad, the graphics are pretty good, and the sound and music are OK. I have just never enjoyed the games. I know many would say it’s because I suck at playing these games (watch the videos on this site to see that) but I suck at playing most games but still enjoy them.
Anyway, this particular game is James Pond 2: Codename Robocod. It was available on multiple platforms back in the day but here we are playing the Amiga version. The colours are bright and vibrant and everything moves as it should, but there is something wrong with how the levels are laid out, convoluted paths to pick up stuff which you probably don’t need to pick up. The first level I managed to complete by accident in one attempt and had collected hardly any of the available articles. And I think this is why I dislike the game. Sonic has his rings for extra lives and saves him from damage if he loses them. Mario gets items which change his abilities, James Pond gets points. Is that all?
Am I missing anything here?
Despite all of this I gave it a go, and kind of enjoyed it, a little bit. And here is a video of me playing quite terribly, for your amusement.
