*** Note: This game is based on the Atari XL series and my review is based on the game Hazard Run ***
The Dukes of Hazzard was a TV series that ran from 1979 till 1985 obviously spanning seven seasons in total. Peaked around season three (1980 – 1981), the TV series met a slow decline until the final show in Feb 1985. With most popular TV shows will have some sort of spin offs and considering the video gaming market is on its all-time high during the early eighties and like every friggin person out there, decided to make a game out of this franchise titled ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’. Released in 1983 where the TV series have lost momentum (and the gaming industry too if I might add), and just like the millions of other wannabe spinoff games, this game is a total write off. I’m not sure why on earth did they decided to release this however it didn’t stop other high-profile games doing the same only to witness the gaming crash of the century (I’m looking at you ET).
So here we have The Dukes of Hazzard, in all of its orange glory. You do get the chance to drive ‘The General Lee’ (I really like that name), the 1969 Dodge Charger and even sports the, and very crude looking, Confederate’s flag on top of the car. However, there were a lot of attention to detail as The General Lee has the number ‘01’ on its sides however in this game, exhibits the number ‘10’. I’m not sure why on earth this happened however maybe developers Artworx had one too many moonshines.
After loading the game (or booting up if you got the cartridge version), you will witness both Luke and Bo bolt into the General Lee in all its stick figure glory whilst blaring a very short version of Dixie Land. Then you select one of the five tracks being Chicken Run, Walton Wood, Bryan's Pond, Hells Canyon and finally Random Run. They are all presented in difficulty order as well so Chicken Run is the easiest (and shortest) and Hells Canyon the longest / hardest track. Random Run is just that – random so it can be easy or hard. Also, as the names suggests, Chicken Run has a lot of chickens dotted the track, Walton Wood plenty of trees and so on. And if you manage to complete all five tracks, there’s no reward or even a congrats fanfare.
The controls are simple enough – left and right requires moving the joystick in that direction and the fire button to break. Yet you cannot speed up at all – that’s done automatic. And to add more of a challenge, the brakes can simply die if you use it too often. And because this game is so ‘clever’, you have no idea when this will happen unless you play this a couple of times. At least put a brake fluid indictor there but no, that requires more programming thought – we can’t have that happening. Yet there is a fuel gauge so go figure. And stating the obvious, if you run out of fuel, you slow down then eventually stop thus ending the game; no matter how many ‘lives’ (cars) you have left. If your breaks ‘die’ then the General Lee will speed up to maximum speed (as expected) hence you can still pass the track if you are good enough (but that will be a rare occurrence unless you are near the end).
At the start of the game, you have five General Lees (lives) and gain another one when achieving a certain score that I cannot remember. You can refuel by driving over the fuel tanks (just like River Raid and that was released a year ago – 1982) yet if you are smart enough, you can break just short hence able to fuel more. The collision detection is a joke though – that is sometimes the slightest touch at a tree or even a chicken causes the General Lee to flip and crash. Yes, you have read it correctly; a lone chicken can cause the General Lee to flip. Yet, a saving grace is that at top speed there’s a minimal chance to flip when running over a chicken (or ten); yet smashing into a tree does not knock the tree over – at least that makes sense.
A nice touch to this game is when you launch over a riverbed. All you have to do is aim for a river then another screen appears. This screen you get to witness the General Lee hurl itself over the river and if you have enough speed, you’ll land safely on the other side all in the tune of Dixieland – basically you will be watching a mini ‘cut scene’. Of course, if the speed is not fast enough, the General Lee will simply enter the water and lose all your lives. If you hit a solid object (or chicken) approximately half of the car, the car will flip sideways hence you’ll be driving on two wheels. You can steer to correct the alignment or, if you steer incorrectly, you will flip over. That’s another feature that’s nifty to witness however don’t rely on this too much as the collision detection is close to hopeless.
Graphically it’s a bit of an eyesore. The colours are pretty basic with no real diversity – orange is orange and brown is brown (and so on). The graphics are all blocky with little imagination – that is almost everything has a 90-degree angle to it, including the chickens. Yet the sounds are passable – barely. The Dixieland song certainly is recognisable and the engine sounds are decent. The highlight for sound quality is when you run over a chicken as it makes a ‘squelchy’ noise – nice touch there. As a saving grace, it’s programmed using machine language hence the game plays fast and fluent.
It really doesn’t take long to finish off all the tracks – maybe a minute or two max for each track. Of course, the more difficult track the longer to complete it and because there are five, I guess there’s some value to it. As far as replaying the game over and over again, it really depends upon if you want to beat the highest score as conquering all five tracks shouldn’t take too long.
Overall, the game lacks imagination as it seems that the product was rushed to capitalise the booming computer gaming market. Also, because the TV series is on a decline, I’m guessing that releasing the game may have the potential of gaining more viewing audience or rekindle the Duke’s deteriorating flame. Granted it’s a nice touch to see the General Lee being hurled over a river however I was expecting more from this game like get to see Daisy or even see Boss Hog capturing Bo and Luke. Just add a little more imagination can go a long way, especially when it’s based on a well-known series.
4.5 / 10