Pyjamarama

Mikro-Gen’s worn out working class hero Wally is back again — well he’s almost back again in this new adventurish arcade game. Wally’s actually asleep in bed and in danger of not hearing the alarm clock which ought to wake him up in time to get back to work in that appalling car factory. But Wally’s having a terrible nightmare.

You star as Wally Week’s sleeping alter ego, wandering around a vast house as a pint-sized figure in pyjamas and night cap. As this is a nightmare, nothing is as it should be in the dreamscape. Apparitions waltz about the place, hands snatch at your feet from beneath the floorboards, axes fly through the air, there’s even a floor which gives you that feeling that you’re trying hard but getting nowhere. The object is to find the key that winds the alarm clock and get it to wake Wally up. You are allowed to collect objects littered all over the place which have various inter-related uses, but only two may be carried at a time.

The controls are simple, left, right and jump. Being hit by a nasty isn’t the end; above the playing screen is a glass of ‘Snooze Energy’ milk, which is drained a little bit every time you are hit and goes down steadily throughout the life. Finding some food to snack on is as important as finding the key and alarm clock. Scoring is quite a novel process — you are told how many paces Wally has walked and what percentage of the adventure has been solved.

There seems to be a move afoot from software houses to repeat use of successful heroes, and Pyjamarama is a sequel to Automania — is it as good?