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Hanna-Barbera’s favourite character, Yogi bear, appears in this platform romp from 1990, based on a made-for-television film (released in 1987) of the same name. Coded by Gary Antcliffe - who’s previous efforts include the awful Future Bike Simulator and the even worse T-Bird - made this title a stepping stone towards much better games such as 1995s Dragonstone and the graphics intensive adventure Universe. The game comes on one disk and was designed mainly for the 000 chipset. As such, Yogi's is generally incompatible with newer chipsets outside of a WHDLoad installation.
The back-story, taken from the movie, sees our hero in desperate times. Jellystone park is set to close and Ranger Smith has the task of sending all the bears to the zoo. Yogi gets wind of this and sets out on a mission to save the park by any means possible, taking along his good friend Boo Boo with him. The scenario involves moving through six platform ridden levels, avoiding all and sundry of creatures, traps, and hunters thrown in along the way.
Jellystone Park
The first thing to do, however, is to get the heck out of Jellystone before Ranger Smith closes it down. The clock ticks as we make our escape along the 32 colour pseudo-3D landscape in search of the park gates. According to the plot of the movie, Yogi can also collect parts of a 'supercar' which he will use to make his getaway - and there are six parts of the car to collect for a super bonus. Watch out for falling branches and sinking stepping stones as these require a little timing, and trappers too - who will chase after Yogi and make life more difficult. Yogi starts with three lives, and there is an invisible extra life on this level if we can find it.
The Swamp
Yogi escapes Jellystone in favour of the swamp. This area requires more skill in the timing of jumps and includes falling platforms and a hidden invulnerability pill to get past one of the trappers. The trappers also begin to fire their guns at Yogi, and the avoiding of those bullets takes top priority. There is also a pixel-perfect jump to master before we arrive at the road leading West.
The Wild West
To the West we find an old ghost town, inhabited by a small group of Indians. Jumping over these guys is made harder because of a tall feather in their hair, and also because the Indians can fire arrows in our direction. There is also a bonus item to be collected in the form of a bag of gold. According to the story, Yogi is framed for the theft of this gold and must find it all in order to clear his name. Although not critical to the game, collecting all the gold gets us a nice bonus at the end of the level. There's another hidden life to be found somewhere around here too.
Mumbo Jumbo Marsh
Leaving the Wild West we enter a spooky marsh inhabited by ghosts, spiders and flying beasties. Avoiding these is often tricky as we clamber over a series of boats and barges to the other side. A hidden chamber must be used to progress the level, and a switch can be used to unlock a bonus hoard of roast chickens. However, time is at a premium on this level, and a rapid advance is necessary to avoid all the ghosts and make it to the far shore.
The Circus Carnival
On the other side of the marsh is a huge circus, complete with toffee apples, dodgem cars and silly hats. Yogi's progress is now hampered by Blackbirds who appear from the side and fly in our way. The hunters have taken to riding dodgems; making jumping over them more about luck than button mashing skill. A further bonus can also be collected if Yogi can find six parts of a hat which he can wear as a disguise.
New York City
Yogi then procures a hot air balloon which he flies all the way to New York hoping to speak to the President himself. This final level is a gravity-force type affair where the balloon will drop from the sky unless the player can provide it with enough lift. Yogi can then lift and lower the balloon around the tall buildings of the capital until he finds the Empire State Building. At which point, the President steps in and gives Yogi, and Jellystone, a reprieve.
Smarter Than The Average...
Yogi's Great Escape is a straight port from the 8bit systems, losing almost none of the instant playability those versions offered, along with a very nice upgrade in the graphics department. Yogi's now boasts a much wider colour palette and a very nice layered parallax effect; which helps to give the game a pseudo-3D effect. The levels flow smoothly and progress is initially quite fun and rewarding. The main sprite, although quite large, moves and jumps with just enough agility to be user friendly, and the obstacles within the level design are easy to fathom and navigate around. The SFX, what there is of it, is well done and reminds the player of the sound effects used in the real cartoons - such as the 'neoww!' sound cued as a platform collapses. There is also a fun musical score to be heard over the stages, and on the mission complete screen, which bumps along at a good pace and can be quite catchy too.
A Bear Behind
However, that's not to say Yogi's Great Escape is a pic-a-nic basket full of goodies. The whole game has obviously been designed for younger players and as such each level is rather short, and generally quite easy. The difficult parts of the game contrast this by being very difficult - especially when jumping over hunters (especially the shooting kind) and the Indians. Some long jumps are very awkward, and require trial and error to get past; which was not such a problem when players would take time to get to know a game like this, but not in an age where players demand everything to be fast and furious.
The game isn't without its share of bugs either. Falling off a collapsing platform will send the player back a few steps, but will not re-spawn the platform - making progress all but impossible. The bonus items can be rewarding to collect but play no part in the game - and can be skipped as necessary - which is a shame as the game could have benefited from following the movies plot outline more closely. High scores could have been the saving grace here, but unfortunately, although the game allows the player to enter their name along with their potential high score, the programmers have forgotten to incorporate an actual high score table within the game itself, rendering the name entry system useless!!
Overall, Yogi's Great Escape could have been so much more. Sure, the graphics, sound and initial playability make an interesting combination early on, but after level three things start to get hairy, and players begin to lose lives at the drop of a hat. Animation would have been nice between the levels, as would the inclusion of Ranger Smith creeping up behind us as the time ticks down. None of these have been implemented; helping to turn Yogi's Great Escape into a largely missed opportunity. A poor sequel, Yogi's Big Clean Up, arrived two years later.
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The cartoon graphics of Yogi's are not to be sneezed at. All the graphics have a good polish, and the parallax backgrounds are something worth showing in a shop window. Yet, with a title based heavily on an animated character, it's a pitty there are no animations anywhere during the game. Even the hunters and Indian characters are bland to look at and static except for a basic walking movement.
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The music of Yogi's is fun and catchy for the main part, and rarely gets annoying even though it repeats endlessly over each level. The SFX are fairly clean and clear, and reminds the player of those used in the real cartoons. There could be more of them though, and the sound of Yogi walking is not a great noise.
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The early levels can be fun once the player manages to get over the stepping stones and over the heads of the hunters, although Robocod it ain't. After level three, the timing of jumps over baddies gets a little tedious and more trial and error. By the circus level, jumping over dodgems becomes highly unlikely. However, the very last level is WAY too easy, and something of an anti-climax. The levels in general are too short and with only six levels in the game the whole thing can be completed in under 20mins.
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| Great graphics and cartoon sounds do not necessarily make a great game, and Yogi's Great Escape is proof of that. There is fun to be had along the way, but untimately the game feels too short, too easy (and yet too hard to jump over large baddies) and fails to capture the essence of the movie or the main character. Not a real stinker, but an opportunity missed. |
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