Frantic Freddie

Frantic Freddie by Kris Hatlelid, Gregor Larson Disk version published by Commercial Data Systems in 1983. Tape version published by Audiogenic.

Longplay Information

Author(s): MadMattyMadMatty
System: Commodore 64
Region:
Language:
Subtitle Language:
Additional Info: No information available
Publication Date: 30/12/2022
YouTube Release: 31/12/2030
Duration: 00:13:11
File Size: 27.08 MB (27728.00 KB)
Downloads: 289 downloads
File Links: Download Part: 1
Download Part: 2


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Player's Review

"Freddie is a telephone engineer who has accidentally come across a secret magical phone network. Pots of gold are sitting on the wires, and Freddie is so greedy that he has to get them all. Unfortunately, the gold is guarded by the dreaded Greeblies. The Greeblies may look cute but they are ruthlessly efficient at disposing of anyone who comes to steal their gold!

Plug your joystick into Port 2. Use the stick to move Freddie sideways and up and down. When Freddie meets a telegraph pole he must go up or down it The Greeblies can go through it, but Freddie can't! When he has grabbed all the pots of gold, the game advances to the next level. You score 10 points for every pot of gold, increasing by 10 points each new level. 100 points are scored for bonus characters, increasing by 100 points each new level.

It may help you to know that the Red Greebly tracks you up and down, searching for the floor level that Freddie is on. The Blue Greebly tracks Freddie sideways, and the Yellow Greebly has a random up and down movement."

This is one I originally played on the Amiga as a coverdisk free game and one that I would go back to as its catchy music and gameplay keeps you interested. The difficulty is just right lets you get to at least the second half of the game before ramping up the difficulty. It keeps you wanting to retry instead of leading to outright frustration like a lot of similar games do.

I didn't play the C64 until years later more to just compare the two games than actually play but the C64 game is the original and plays just as well as the later Amiga game. multiple music tracks and a difficulty curve that is again just right although I feel that the tape version is ever so slightly easier.

The only real annoyance is the collision detection which can sometimes claim your life even with a notably large gap between you and the enemy. The game is short with just 16 levels. I wouldn't want a 100 level grind like many arcade style games but 20, even 30 would have been enough. Just like many games from this time though it has that annoying bug that doesn't allow you to enter a high score if you complete the game!

I have played through both the disk and tape version. No real difference except for the publisher/loader screens. The tape version is more of a bonus video and not worth adding a separate record for.