Standard Q*Bert clone
If there's one thing that's certain in the gaming world, particularly the gaming world of the 1980s, it's that as soon as a game proves successful, you can guarantee that there will be a flood of poor and unimaginative copies not far behind. The success of Pac Man and the rash of clones like Poke-Man and ACK! Man are testament to the eagerness of hack developers to jump on a bandwagon and it will come as no surprise to find that Pyramid Power is another such copy. The inspiration here though is the classic arcade hit Q*Bert, and in this case it's pretty much a case of being a straight rip-off, with barely a thing changed. In case you're not familiar with the original, you're required to jump around a series of single screen, isometric levels, with the intention of changing the colour of each individual square by landing on it. Getting in your way of this goal is a bunch of nasties with their own individual movement patterns, while rocks also occasionally fall down to cause you extra trouble. The original Q Bert is a true classic of yesteryear, thanks to its personality-filled hero and the inventive gameplay which has that 'one more go' quality in spades. As Pyramid Power is basically a straight copy, it remains almost as playable as its inspiration but it remains hard to recommend it, mainly because it is such an obvious ripoff. Visually, it's on the same level as the original but the main character lacks Bert's charm so really you're better off sticking with the original for the genuine article. If you don't mind clones though, this is still pretty fun and challenging stuff.
