Desktop Repton
Mat Thompson on the latest Repton Release
Repton, what can I possibly say about this game that hasn't already been said? Not a lot probably but I'll have a go anyway! This is a re-release of the recent Desktop Repton which lets you play Repton 3 in the desktop! This new version is based on that, but has a number of new features added, and the traditional CD album case has been replaced with a DVD style box.
A quick introduction, for those of you that may not have ever encountered Repton before, the object of the game is to collect all the diamonds on each screen, diamonds can be hidden in safes (key needed) and also in in spirit cages (Repton2 onwards) you can kill the monsters by dropping boulders on them and use the transporters to get to other parts of the screens, (Repton2 onwards) each level has a time limit and when all diamonds are collected (there is a map available to check where they are) you will be given a password to start at that level next time.
Upon loading Desktop Repton you are greeted with the following menu.
Choose which game you want to play by clicking on it and it will load into the iconbar, if you should require help click on the little help icon next to the game title. There is an HTML manual supplied with more in depth help for those that need it. If you want to install the game onto your hard-disc then all you do is drag the !DeskRep application to wherever you want it to go and it will copy it across and then it can be run from the hard-disc.
With the Repton icon on the iconbar you can click on 'Select' to start the game, or if you click on 'menu' there are a couple of game options - music and sound on and off and you can select either a CGA or VGA display and whether you want to play it in the desktop or normal out of desktop, and whether you want a big desktop window or a small desktop window, make your choices and click select on the Repton icon and away we go.
You should now see the main Repton screen, press space to start and its Repton 1 all over again, everything about it is identical from the original release, so if you could complete it once then you should be able to do it over again.
Repton 2 is again (from what I can see) an exact copy of the original, you still have to collect everything with 3 lives which in itself is quite a task, and I've still yet to finish this one so maybe I'll try it again now.
Finally we come to Repton3, which includes not just Repton 3, but Around The World in 40 Screens, Life Of Repton and Repton Thru Time, and of course the game editor you can edit the games screens & graphics using the editor, or create a whole new game.
So there you have it Repton 1, 2, 3, the extra screen levels and an editor, this is the ultimate Repton package! It would be pretty difficult to improve on this version, all the levels and tunes are the same as the originals, and as expected the graphics are improved and run much faster than the originals, try running Repton 1 in small desktop window and you'll see what I mean.
My only criticism is that while this is the best version of Repton that has been done, I have (and sure many others) have seen all these screens before so its not that much of a challenge to want to play through them again (particularly the really annoying ones) so I was hoping perhaps some new levels would have been included. There wasn't, but from what I have heard, Superior Software are now re-developing Repton for the PC (and for portable devices such as mobile phones -ED) and that the new levels that it has will be useable with Desktop Repton - so this sounds very promising indeed - anyone fancy converting Repton Infinity? Or how about a desktop Ego?
Desktop Repton is highly recommended as you get just about all the Repton games (minus Infinity & Ego) all games work with RISC OS4 & Select 4.32/StrongARM, and with the prospect of new levels makes it hard to refuse - lets hope that it happens) - was it really 17 years ago when all this began?
Product details
| Product: | Desktop Repton |
| Supplier: | APDL |
| Price: | £19.90 (£10 as an upgrade from the first Repton CD) |
| Address: | 39, Knighton Park Road, Sydenham, London, SE26 5RN |
| Tel: | 020 8778 2659 |
| WWW: | www.apdl.co.uk |
| E-mail: | sales@apdl.co.uk |
Mat Thompson