Mat and Paul, The Metro Boyz, have had more crashes than The Fall Guy and The A-Team put together! Insurance companies hate ‘em, garages love ‘em. Crash dummies or what?!

Spin and Slick are two hip ‘n’ happening Crash Dummies for hire. When a job is too dangerous for even Colt Seavers, the Dummies step in. They’re happy to crash and smash because their bodies simply pop apart and are easily reassembled.

Slick and Spin have been working really hard lately and fancy a holiday but haven’t got enough dosh to jet away to a sun-kissed isle. They decide to undertake a week’s worth of hazardous jobs. If successfully completed, they’ll earn them enough moola to nip onto a plane to Barbados!

The first job is stunt work for a movie. It involves leaping from the top of a burning building and crashing onto a target at the bottom. To get paid, you have to make the stunt as spectacular as possible by crashing through and bouncing on canopies and swinging from flagpoles.

Make it as interesting as possible but don’t hang about ‘cos there’s a time limit and remember to avoid hazards such as flaming window boxes and pesky birds. If the director likes what he sees, it’s onto the next job, if not, you lose one of five lives and have to repeat the stunt till he’s satisfied.

It’s in the bag!

Your next job’s the typical dummy stunt — crash a car! It has an air bag safety system but the bag deflates as the car’s driven around the course, so stay on the look-out for air canisters.

As you drive around the track, avoid crashing into barriers and other obstacles or you lose monentum. The car can take a certain amount of damage, but too much and you’ll be pushing it home!

Thankfully, there are a few wrenches dotted around the track, which reduce damage when driven over. The boss has also left wads of cash on the track and attached a few air canisters to balloons, so aim for ramps to get you airborne.

At the end of the track, crash the car into the wall to test the air bag. If it has too little air, the test is a failure and you have to repeat it, minus one life. Succeed and it’s pay time — and another money-making scheme.

Ice and fire

Day three sees you on the piste (high-grade oil!), testing out a new ski slope before tourists risk life and limb! The boss wants to know if the slalom flags are planted firmly in the ground so you’ve got to hit as many as possible on the way down (a minimum of 15). Loads of obstructions litter the slope and you get extra dosh if you plough through these as well!

The best way to tackle this job is to keep switching direction from left to right, and if you’re really clever, you can hotdog down the course. Just make sure you avoid trees and rocks at the sides of the course and hit the all-important flags. Get down in one piece, collect your wad and head for the ammunition factory!

For the fourth job you’re on the production line of a bomb-making plant. The computer has gone ape-spit and ignites some of the bombs as they come down the conveyor belts, toward the packing crates! To make matters worse, the computer’s mashed up Crash Dummies and is sending them down, too.

Dummies in space

To get paid for this job, pack 40 bombs and smash up most of the Crash Dummies parts. To douse bombs’ fuses, simply blow on them; to break Dummy parts, use a big hammer! Get these mixed up and you’ll kiss Dummies while whacking bombs with a hammer (not a good idea!).

When a lit bomb reaches a crate, it blows up and stops that conveyor belt. The other two then move at lightning speed so it’s a good idea to blow out all of the bombs, smartish.

Your fifth and final job sees you piloting missiles around a space-age landscape. This section’s reminiscent of the old computer classic, Thrust as you battle with gravity while you pilot the missile through narrow chasms and over steep mountains. When you see the crash site, plummet into it to earn the ackers. Landing on the rocks doesn’t earn you a thing!

When all five tasks are completed, you go back to the first, except it’s more difficult and has extra hazards You carry on playing until you’ve earned enough money to go on your Caribbean holiday — so get crashing!

Ade smiles... ‘SLICK AND WELL PRESENTED’

Never heard of the Crash Dummies, Mr Wooding? Where have you been?! Only someone in the wacky world of consoles could dream up transforming lifeless geezers from road safety commercials into stars of a handheld game. And do you know something, it works really well! In fact, I’m about to utter a phrase you won’t often hear fall from my lips — this is quite original!

I like my games on the surreal side and Crash Dummies certainly is a weird outing. The first round of games aren’t particularly challenging but go through them again and you find a whole host of new obstacles.

The Incredible Crash Dummies beautifully captures the tone of the cartoon and the toy figures around at the moment. It’s the most humorous GG game I’ve played in a long time.

All in all, it’s slick and well presented. My only niggle is the ammunition factory, where control’s a tad unresponsive, leading to frustration. A fun game and enormously playable.

ADE 80%

Paul purrs... ‘GREAT GAME’

Great, a fun game for the GG! I hadn’t heard of the Crash Dummies before so I didn’t know what to expect. To say I was chuffed with this cart is a big understatement! The mixture of five mini-games works exceptionally well and keeps boredom levels low- Each section’s very entertaining, although the ammunition factory’s a tad tedious the third time around!

The graphics and sound are brilliant and well up to the standard that we expect from the GG. None of the games give you eyestrain; all sprites are clearly visible.

My only complaint with The Incredible Crash Dummies is it gets slightly samey as you complete each week then start all over again with the same, slightly harder jobs.

Crash Dummies should please anyone who likes lighthearted games. A great GG game!

PAUL 82%

SF Rating

Presentation

70 - One/two-player option. Nice title screen graphics and level intros

Visuals

85 - Great graphics on all of the levels. Smooth animation throughout

Sonics

79 - Usual GG title tune. In-game sound FX and tunes are good

Playability

84 - Well thought-out controls for all sections. Easy to pick up

Lastability

75 - Complete all the jobs and it’s more of the same. Some parts get tedious

81

Good GG debut for the Crash Dummies. Keep it up, lads!

Producer

Acclaim

GG

May

Players

1

Price

£27.99

Rating

81

Reviewer

Sega Force magazine

Region

UK

Scans

Sega Force - Issue 18

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