| Park Patrol | |
|---|---|
Park Patrol boxart |
|
| Developer(s) | Activision |
| Publisher(s) | Firebird Software |
| Designer(s) | Tony Ngo |
| Composer(s) | Tony Ngo Russell Lieblich |
| Platform(s) | Commodore 64 Amstrad CPC ZX Spectrum |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Park Patrol is a computer game released in 1984 for the Commodore 64 computer. It was later also released for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. It was designed by Tony Ngo and published by Activision.
Players took control of a park ranger, and unusually for the time there was a choice of a male or female character. The aim was to tidy up rubbish from the waters of the lake and the shoreline. On the shore was the ranger's hut, which contained a supply of food to top up energy. To move around on the water the ranger had an inflatable dinghy with an outboard motor.
The enemies included - turtles which would kill on contact, if they fell into the water they could be rescued for points but would turn into a fast-moving green turtle if left for too long - snakes lurking in the water which punctured the dinghy, but could be scared away temporarily by dropping snake repellent (at the cost of energy) - swimmers, if they were swimming they sank the yacht, if they were drowning (HELP! appears on the status panel) they could be rescued for points - ants stole food from the hut, which could be recovered by knocking into them from the side (and killed by knocking them into the water)
There were also a couple of bonus features.
A strange plant near the hut "grew" every time the ranger walked into it. When it flowered, the ranger was granted a short period of immunity.
By approaching at the right angle, the ranger could jump out of the dinghy and land on the logs floating on the water. Surviving for long enough in this log rolling section awarded bonus points.
Once all the litter on the level was collected, a bonus was awarded based on energy remaining. The next level would then start with more enemies.