[Complete Games Index]

There was so much potential with Viz. Great subject material. It's therefore almost unbearable that the game turned out to be crap.

Unlike other nominees in this section, Viz doesn't follow the norm by totally ignoring the expensive licence. It soaks up as much of the original source as possible. The irony is that the game still ends up being crap though.

The idea is that three of the cast of Viz are competing in a charity race across town. Like in most races, there's only one winner. It won't be you. Why? This game is Out To Get You.

Let me explain. You choose your character (either Buster Gonad, Biffa Bacon and Johnny Fartpants), and then you play a subgame.

The subgame is a joystick wagger, whereby you try and gain tokens. Each token provides your chosen character with a special power, usable in the main game. All sounds reasonable.

Except you don't necessarily end up playing the subgame which relates to your character. And Biffa Bacon has more subgames than the other two. And the subgames aren't very good either.

Even worse than the subgames, is the fact that the special powers you get from them are rubbish. Whilst it's somewhat amusing watching Johhny Fartpants fart across the screen (etc), there is no real practical benefit in using the powers.

This then makes the subgames completely redundant. The main game seems great in theory but in practice is rather annoying.

The first level - as that's what you'll see most of - isn't particularly long or difficult to navigate. What makes the game untenable are the 'outside infuences'. These take the form of your fellow competitors and several other obstacles such as. the Parkie and faecies-dropping birds.

Unlike regular enemies or obstacles that you would come across in other games, these aren't avoidable or beatable. The Parkie will chase after any one of the three runners. You can't avoid him if he turns his attention on you. Bang goes another life.

Also, the other two runners have variable speeds. This would not be a problem if the game kept your opponents' speed at a consistent level. You can be over a screens' width ahead of either of the other contestants and suddenly the game will remember this.