New Zealand. Full of great scenery. Teaming with sheep. Home to the Kiwi, a flightless bird unique to the country.
Now imagine pitching that as the theme for a blockbuster arcade machine way back in the late 1980s. This was a time of blockbuster action movies, action figures, action games and action words like "Rad" and anything else Bill and Ted might say. A hard sell you might think, but it actually happened and came in the form of this quirky little arcade platform game from Taito. So all you Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Island fans gather round, and I'll tell you folks the strange tale of a blue sneaker wearing yellow kiwi bird skilled in archery, scuba diving and balloon flight.
In The New Zealand Story, the player controls a little kiwi, named Tiki, on a standard rescue quest to save loved ones from Wally, a less than standard huge blue seal. Tiki is an instantly likable main character and is very responsive to control, which is crucial given the fairly high difficulty level this game delivers.
Taking into account the Master System's limited graphical abilities, The New Zealand Story looks nothing short of stunning on such a humble 8-bit console. From the large, colorful sprites to the smooth scrolling, the presentation oozes quality. Best of all, the quality remains solidly consistent across the whole game.
The graphics rank amongst the best seen on the console and shows what could be achieved so late in the Master Systems lifespan way back in 1992. The soundtrack is catchy but repetitive, and not quite up to the golden standard of the graphics. Overall presentation is good with clear arrows pointing the way to go and a minimal clean interface that leaves ample space for the action.
The action comes in a variety of play styles, such as scuba diving, a balloon flight, etc. This serves to keep The New Zealand Story fresh. Our little Kiwi can shoot projectiles like arrows that fire at a speedy rate to tackle the enemies. Gameplay swaps around various times mid-level which stops a common issue in other games having entire levels that were hated due a players preference in gameplay style. The game switches up play so often, you're never more than 30 seconds away from something new.
Levels are divided up into stages based on actual parts of New Zealand. But don't expect realism, as the levels are full of crazy animals and obstacles all wonderfully realized in that classic Taito art style used to great effect in Bubble Bobble. Crazy could also describe the only major fault with the game, which is the unfair random spawning of enemies. They can spring up right in front of your character or directly above as Tiki floats up in the balloon, and are sometimes near impossible to dodge. This tarnishes what is a fair game overall and may put off casual players. There is also a strict timer to be wary off which sometimes feels a little short for what your required to achieve in the level but never seems completely impossible to beat.
Overall I'd recommend The New Zealand Story to seasoned players and retro arcade fans as a difficult but fantastically polished platformer with great graphics and buckets of charm. I'm now off the recreate it with a small chicken, some blue baby shoes and a large helium balloon.
