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Tamagotchi's? Bah! We had something far more interesting on the C64 over fifteen years ago, namely the 'house on a disk', or Little Computer People. See, those innovative chaps at Activision found out why your C64 kept crashing whilst trying to load Blagger, and why it went all funny just before you finished the last screen of Monty on the Run - a little person was living inside your computer, pining for attention.
Little Computer People enables you to coax one of these little people out from all the wires and circuit board into the rather nice house that's provided on the disk. It has to be said it's a pretty nice place too - in fact, I got quite jealous the first time I saw it. The Little Computer Person (LCP) has a two-and-a-half story house which includes a plush living room, a kitchen, a bedroom, bathroom and study, and in the attic a leisure room and a place for his typewriter and piano. Now, that last item puts these little guys leagues above those plastic Japanese monstrosities - not only can they play piano, but they have great range - from blues to jazz to boogie-woogie, they can tinkle the ivories like nobody's business.
However, Little Computer People isn't just an electronic goldfish, and you can use the keyboard to interact with the little guys. Type in a request, such as "please play a game" and they may or may not respond, depending on how they feel at the time. 'Please' does actually help too (being rude to one of these digital people for any length of times will mean they ignore you for ages, or type you sarcastic letters on their typewriter). In fact, playing games is one way of keeping on your LCP's good side, but be careful - it will probably only take them thirty minutes to clean you out playing poker, and their anagrams get quite tough!
If you're feeling particularly generous you can also provide your LCP with gifts such as books, computer games, and records (although most of them seem to only bother playing music from Master of the Lamps for some reason). One thing you must send them is food, along with keeping their water topped up in the kitchen. If you forget to do this they eventually slow down, go green and go to bed. Eventually they will pass into silicon heaven and you will then be arrested by the RSPCTLCP (Royal Society for the Protection of Little Computer People) - well, maybe not, but it's not nice seeing them dying on you, so keep them well fed. They also have a dog, which is fed by dog food that you send to your LCP. The dog seems to be a bit hardier than the LCP though, as it never seems to sleep or wither away after long periods without food.
Overall, this is a great little curiosity piece, and even now is every bit the superior of any modern "God-sim" or Tamagotchi. One thing is evident though - my C64 never used to cause that much trouble, but today's LCPs must be somewhat more boisterous, judging by how often my PC crashes...
Downloads: Music, Advert
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| GRAPHICS - 7/10 |
Quite basic, but well animated.
| | SOUND - 7/10 |
LCPs' tastes in music leave a little to be desired, but their piano playing
is pretty good. The other spot-effects are okay, from dog yelps to slamming
doors.
| | PLAYABILITY - 9/10 |
Can be left running in the background whilst you are doing other things, but
curiosity will drive you back on a regular basis.
| | OVERALL - 9/10 |
Timeless, really. What with the current crazes for 'Sims' and Tamagotchis,
it's funny to see how it's taken the world fifteen years to catch up with
David Crane's ideas!
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| COVER |
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; "Click to zoom!")
; "Click to zoom!")
