Gribbly's Day Out
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Gribbly Grobbly is a Blabgorian, the most advanced species on planet Blabgor. He must rescue Gribblets, infants who have wandered off through this dangerous world. It is split into sixteen levels - apart from the first and last, these are played in a random order each time. Gribbly can blow bubbles, as a weapon.

Levels are comprised of a giant Energy Web of diagonally-linked protective beams, parts of which can be disabled using switches. The web is to shield you from Seon, a rogue Blabgorian who uses his powers as a negative force. When there is only one Gribblet left, the barriers are released and Seon is free to chase you down.

There are two initial types of active foes - seed pods (which move) and Chrysalis (which don't). Both hurt you on contact but are destroyed by bubbles. However, if Seed pods hit the ground they transform into Topsies (which can flip the Gribblets onto their backs, making them vulnerable), and if Crysalis are not destroyed quickly enough they turn into Stompers (which are indestructible and can kill Gribblets, but die on contact with water and are not intelligent to avoid it). When a Stomper kills a Gribblet, it becomes a Flier, which can re-release Gribblets - forcing you to quickly grab them.

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Here we have Andrew Braybrook's Gribbly's Day Out, surely one of the stranger games on the c64, and a straight cross between Defender and Bugaboo the Flea (yeah I know, but bare with me). The game finds you traversing a scrolling landscape having to pick up 'gribblets' and deposit them in a cave. Although a limited form of shooting is available the main challenge is all about avoiding bumping up against the hazardous floating islands and omni-present psi-web, both of which bite into your energy levels if you do collide. 

The landscape is wonderfully realised, with waterfalls, lakes, floating islands, forests, and the well-animated psi-web. 

Now, the stand-out features for me. 

The caves - There are sixteen caves with only the first and the last being the only set ones in order of play. The rest are accessed according to how many gribblets you save per cave so most games will play out different each time - which is unusual in itself. The caves have wonderful names like, 'The Blabgorian Staircase', 'Concerto For Island And Tree', 'Floating Islands Galore' and 'The Elevated Forest'. Originally Braybrook wanted the caves to have a more technological feel to them but he said the character set wasn't big enough for him to include all he wanted so it's now all rural with only the odd power mechanism appearing in some of the caves to remind us of his ambitions. The floating islands are the thing that link this game with Bugaboo, and the flea-like Bugaboo is not a million miles away from Gribbly Grobbly. Let's just say if we saw him on Blabgor he wouldn't look out of place. 

Seon - Mutant Blabgorian! A black crab-like creature that gives everyone who ever encountered him the heebie-jeebies. The psi-web was created to hold him, and so long as you don't bubble him he will hang suspended in the web making that unnerving racket of his. Only when you have one gribblet left to save does the web come down and then he's out, erratically making his way toward you like a drunken beggar, and causing a similair consternation. As the split screen is so small, your anxiety levels at this point shoot up through the roof as he can appear from anywhere. Even if you have more than one gribblet still out but you are taking too long he will break free of the web anyway and if that doesn't shit-you-up, nothing will. Seon is in the grand tradition of the particularly nasty bad guy that is held in check so long as you show some competence, like the Baiter in Defender. And indeed I'm guessing Defender had quite an influence on Braybrook for this game. You have the Baiter/Seon connection. Humans/Gribblets to save. But also the landers/mutants evolution from Defender is taken to the extreme with ... 

The Blabgorian Inhabitants - There is in fact only one species of creature but it mutates through five different forms which gives the impression of sharing the landscape with many creatures. I don't know if any other 64 game ever tried that. 

Gribbly Grobbly control - The main way of getting about was flying (well, levitating really) but when on flat ground you could bounce along with a superbly sproingy sound effect. 

The title tune - the Seon sound-effect causes the hair on the back of your neck to stand on end, but in a good way. The title tune also causes the hair on the back of your neck to stand on end ... but not in a good way. 

Monochrome mode option on the title screen for people with a twelve inch black-and-white portable, like me. You gotta admire this guy, he thought of everything. Or maybe this was his way of making up for some of the garish colour schemes in the game ('The Flooded Cavern' - purple, blue, white and cyane if I remember right). I'm sure I remember reading he was colour blind. 

Braybrook went on to do Paradroid after this, and then Uridium after that. I doubt any other author ever managed to produce three superb games like that on the trot. This is my favourite one though. What an inventive guy he was. (An interesting point about these three games - all three were 'tuned' by him at a later date, with this game re-appearing as Gribbly's Special Day Out. Did any other authors ever do that?). I heard Braybrook left computer entertainment and got a job working with databases. I bet he even made them look classy.


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