The 12 Days of Last Christmas

The Official Father Christmas - ZX Spectrum / Commodore 64 / Amstrad

Christmas is the time of year that brings joy, hope and happiness to one and all, especially to the retailers out there looking to make a fast buck selling Christmas themed tat to the over spending public, once again caught up in Yuletide "we'll" pay the credit card bill next year" spirit.

Picture the scene. It is late summer at the Alternative Software offices. The cash cow that is Christmas is months away but some 'creative' managerial spark suggests that their next game is based around Father Christmas and, to put the icing on the somewhat premature Christmas cake, the game will be official tm . One of the staff is then sent unceremoniously over to the North Pole to track down the bearded one, hand over a 6-figure royalty fee and before you could can say "what the hell is wrong with that reindeer's nose?", the official Father Christmas game was born, probably.

"Bah! humbug".

What we have in this £3.99 festive barrel of 'joy' is a game split over 3 levels, each lacking fun with a capital 'F'.

Level 1 sees the player controlling the red cheeked, sack carrying chappy in the red through his vast Grotto (well 6 screens) in order to find the MFI flat pack sleigh that has lost its packaging and been scattered over the screens. Retrieve the sleigh pieces and stage 2 beckons.

"Bah! A whole bag of humbugs".

Stage 2 involves you, the player, choosing presents to go on someone's Christmas list and then having to collect them as they fall from the frosty sky air. Time to take the dog for a walk methinks. Coming back to the game will see that magically, in your absence, all the presents you selected have been collected (must have been the elves) and are ready to deliver. I love these interactive games. Ah well, onto stage 3.

Stage 3 involves delivering the presents all over the stereotypically landscaped parts of the world - mud huts in Africa, terraced houses in Europe, sheep in the Welsh valleys! (Surely not? ED). All pretty realistic stuff, if you believe in Santa that is.

And there you go. The one saving grace for this game is that it was all done for a good cause, Children in Need. No excuse though for Alternative to develop such drivel for the unsuspecting Mum to pick up, with good intentions, for her little Charlie to play on Christmas day. This game really is a Christmas turkey.

James Pond 2 : Robocod

The late Richard Joseph was indeed a musical genius. Before even firing up James Pond 2 on the Playstation, I found myself humming out loud Richard's tunes from the game. Musical scores etched on my sub-conscientious for ever from the days when I originally played this fantastic game first on Commodre's Amiga.

It also has to be said, Robocod is visually a drop dead gorgeous looking game. From the moment the game kicks off the player is bombarded with bright, bold, larger than life graphics depicting Santa's workshop.

You play our intrepid star, James Pond. Half fish, half robot, all ma....ermm, hero. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to rescue your penguin friends from the ever so nasty Dr Maybe who, in typically egotistical bad guy fashion, is doing his best to take over the world. Booo, Hisss!

Dr Maybe has hidden himself discreetly in Santa's workshop and it's your task to hunt him down, exploring Santa's entire workshop full of huge levels filled with mechanical toys, sweets and ice cream, in search of your penguin mates. As your fiends are rescued, doors to new levels are unlocked and your adventure continues into the depths of grotto land.

Robcod has, as his name suggests, robotic skills that allow him to extend his torso in reach of higher planes. Within each level the style of game play changes and is complimented by Pond acquiring new methods of exploring his surroundings. Gadgets found around the levels allow Mr Pond to take to the air with wings, or speed along in a car or zoom along in a plane.

James Pond 2 : Robocod is an incredible festive filled, feel good about the world, game that has appeared on a myriad of platforms, spanning from the 8-bit platforms up to modern handhelds such as Nintendo's DS. The game is huge and will take the arcade adventurer all the holiday season to complete and then to go back and explore all the nooks, cranny's and hidden rooms this game has to offer. A Christmas cracker indeed.

Santa Claus Junior - Gameboy Color

When the Gameboy Color hit the shops back in the day I was there at the front of the queue forking out cash for Nintendo's new console. A color version of Zelda on the new console was what the doctor had ordered to heal my gaming woes. And although pretty much the same as its monochrome cousin, I was blissfully happy with the colorful fest that was Zelda: Links Awakening.

Literally hundreds of GBC landed on shelves in stores around the UK with not one of them so much as causing a single blink on my radar. Which was a shame as I missed out on some corking little games just like Santa Claus Junior?

This game is a platformer - so nothing new there then for the GBC you may say.

The game sees you take control of a little kid called Nick who has been drafted in by the scaredy cat Santa to save the day. As Saint Nicholas is trembling with fear under his empty sack, young Nick has to explore a total of 36 levels of colorful locations across Toyland, encountering toys and animals that have fallen under the spell of an evil witch who it seems has got bored with the depressing black's of Halloween and has invaded the colorful Christmas season instead.

The game throws more than 30 different enemies at Nick (go on count em!) as each of the levels is explored. The graphical theme of the game is very similar to that found in Robocod 2, which is a marvel for the low powered Gameboy and maintains interest, encouraging the player to keep exploring and ridding Toyland of all that is evil.

This game is definitely one that should be put in the stocking over the open fire for a loved one this Christmas. A Christmas gem.