Elroy Goes Bugzerk

Headbone Interactive

Review by Alice Cary

Elroy Goes Bugzerk just may drive you berserk, but you'll want to come back for more. Billed as an "interactive comic adventure" for "kids age 7-97," it's full of offbeat humor and hours of excitement, with intriguing insect lore thrown in.

Young Elroy's favorite pastime, we are told, is watching reruns of Rocky & Bullwinkle, which becomes immediately understandable once you've given this CD-ROM a spin. Throughout this adventure Elroy's trusty hounddog Blue gives a running commentary that would give Bullwinkle himself a run for his money.

Of course, more than a few wisecracks will zoom right over the heads younger players. (Elroy: "I hereby proclaim us honorary members [of the Bug Club]." Blue: "I think you mean ornery members.") However, there's plenty of humor for all ages (a good many bug dung factoids), and the added layer of sophistication may encourage some parents to make this disc a team effort with their kids.

At the start of play, Blue narrates a five-minute or so setup scene: this is the weekend of the 10th Annual Insectathon, and it's up to Elroy and Blue to defend their title. Their archrival, Gordon Smugs, has a six-inch-long Hercules beetle, leaving Elroy with only one chance for victory: locating the elusive Technoloptera, part insect, part robot, the "Loch Ness Monster of the insect world." All hopes seem dashed, however, when Elroy's parents head for a weekend yoga retreat, stranding Elroy and Blue on a farm with a curmudgeonly farmer.

Once the intro is over you decide where Elroy and Blue will go and what they will do, with each move activating a short animated scene. Some background farm scenes look like sepia photographs over which the animation moves; others are pure animation. In either case, the look is unusual and funky. The action is fast paced-the publisher claims there's more animation here than in a feature-length film. That sounds believable-there's certainly more to explore and think about here than in many of the CDs I've seen targeted for younger audiences. There are plenty of places to poke around: the Bug Club, the Farmer's off-limits tool shed, a maze-like cave and more. Then, just when you think you've finally caught up with that pesky Technoloptera, yet another problem flies in your face.

Pay attention! Some younger players are likely to find the challenges overwhelming. Along the way Elroy encounters a good bit of insect lore, which he needs to remember in order to progress to the next scene. (These tidbits are fun, ensuring that the disc never feels didactic. Did you know, for instance, that the most dangerous insect in the world is the common fly? Check to the disc to find out why.) To get to a new scene you need to answer questions at Riddle Machines along the way. The quizzes are tricky, and all bets are off if you don't answer correctly-back to the starting gate. Winning isn't at all easy!

My only frustration with the adventure is the game-saving mechanism, which marks only a few selected points in the action. As a result, I often found myself having to repeat sections of the adventure to move on-I couldn't directly navigate to a particular location. Once the intro starts, however, you can avoid it by hitting "Skip Intro" in the control panel-however, you have to start it first.

Despite this one beef, thumbs up for Elroy. Kids are likely to want to spend more time with him and Blue than with some of the other multimedia friends they've encountered.

Good news: This title is part of a projected series called "What the Heck Will Elroy Do Next?" The next installment of this dynamic duo's adventures, Elroy Hits the Pavement, will be released early in 1996-and I look forward to hitting the pavement with them. Meanwhile, I'll be busy tracking down that tricky Technoloptera.

For PC: 33 MHz 486 processor or better, Microsoft Windows 3.1 or higher, 8 MB RAM, 256-color display, double-speed CD-ROM drive, Windows-compatible sound card, speakers, mouse

For Mac: 25 MHz 68040 processor or better, System 7 or higher, 8 MB RAM, 256-color monitor, double-speed CD-ROM drive