| Drol | |
|---|---|
Screenshot of Drol |
|
| Developer(s) | Benny Aik Beng Ngo |
| Publisher(s) | Brøderbund |
| Designer(s) | Benny Aik Beng Ngo |
| Platform(s) | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, NEC PC-8801, Sega SG-1000 |
| Release date(s) | 1983 |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | One player only |
| Media/distribution | Floppy disk |
Drol is a 1983 computer game published by Brøderbund. It was originally released for the Apple II, but was later ported to the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit, and Sega SG-1000. The original list price was $34.95. [1]
The player controls a robot flying through a four story maze, attempting to rescue people and cute animals while avoiding traps and enemies such as alien creatures, snakes, eagles, magnets and axes.
There are only three levels, but the game starts over in a more difficult version if the third level is completed. This level is, however, fairly difficult to complete, in good deal because in order to reach the final floor without being eaten by a plant sprouting from out of nowhere, the player must choose between three different trapdoors, and the correct trapdoor varies from game to game. However, with hair-trigger timing, a player can avoid this particular death by quickly flying back up when they've hit an "incorrect" trapdoor, before the plant actually reaches them - while it's a deathtrap, the player is given a chance to avoid it, just a very tiny one.
Drol's reviews by the magazines of the era were generally positive. RUN (magazine), analyzing the Commodore 64 version in May 1984, gave it an "A" — its highest rating — and described it as "fun, funny, and exciting," although it was criticized for slow loading times due to the Commodore 1541 disk drive's notorious sluggishness. [2]