I’m feeling all Christmassy with a couple of days to go ’til the big day so why not dig out a Christmas themed game for my favourite computer and give it a whirl…
What’s it all about then?
So here is The Official Father Christmas by Alternative Software. Released in 1989 this was sold in aid of Save The Children and was part of their 299 range. Once loaded you are met with a title menu (keyboard, Sinclair and Kempston support) whilst playing various Christmas tunes. Very jolly. The game itself is in three parts, the first of which sees you clambering around a house looking for bits of your sleigh. Once found you have to take them out to the waiting reindeer and your sleigh slowly but surely starts assembling itself. Only trouble is, there are pesky elves running around and if you touch one, the part disappears only to be randomly placed back in the house somewhere. Luckily the house is not very big! The second part sees you making a list of presents then having to catch your chosen presents as they fall from the sky. Lastly you are flying in your sleigh dropping presents to the houses below, trying to avoid the clouds, birds and planes who obviously have something against all the kiddies getting what they wanted for Christmas.
In summary
I played through this in about 15 minutes so I am assuming it was meant for young children to play. And for young children this is undoubtedly great fun. It was originally released with the aim of making money for charity, and I have no idea of whether it was successful or not, hopefully it was. If you want a game to play on your Speccy this Christmas with your 6 year old this might just be the ticket. Download the ROMs using the WOS link below.
