Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun

Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun is a video game developed by Gray Matter under developer Chris Gray and published in 1990 by Mindscape. It originally appeared on the 16-bit Atari ST, IBM PC and Commodore Amiga, before later being converted to the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC. The Commodore 64 version was included on the bundled cartridge of the ill-fated Commodore 64 Games System.

Plot

A corrupt businessman, whom the circus owes $10,000, arrives on the scene with the intent of demolishing the circus unless it can pay up. He plans to build a set of luxury hotels on the terrain. In a fit of desperation, the showmaster organises a display of six events to raise money for the doomed circus: diving, juggling, trapeze, knife throwing, tightrope and the human cannonball. The performance in each event is judged by five clown judges, who offer money depending on the quality of the show. The businessman has no intention of letting the circus raise the cash though, and he sends his lackey, the evil Fiendish Freddy, to sabotage the acts.

Premise

The game was similar to many of the multi-event sports games of the time such as Epyx' California Games, Winter Games and Summer Games. However, Fiendish Freddy differed not only by its surroundings (circus events) offering a comedy element, it also offered a plot and a clear goal of winning $10,000. The six events were thus:

Diving

The player is challenged to jump off four diving boards of increasing height into containers of water of decreasing size, beginning with a huge wooden container, and ending in a glass of water. Money is earned by completing all four levels, as well as performing a set series of stunts. Freddy attempts to hinder the player by blowing the diver off course with an enormous hair dryer.

Juggling

The player must make their way through four juggling sessions of increasing difficulty. Each level brings more balls to juggle, but not just balls - sometimes babies get lost in the mass and must be thrown back into their prams. Of course, Freddy throws a surprise or two into the mix, in the form of bombs, which can be thrown back at Freddy to consequently explode in his face, or missiles which must be juggled as per other objects. Dropping bombs or missiles will cause them to explode and kill the juggler.

Trapeze

The aim of this section is to proceed from right to left over three levels, jumping from rope to rope. Along the way there are rings of fire and moving targets which have to be mastered. Freddy, as usual, is omnipresent with a jet pack and large pair of scissors to cut your act short if you are too slow.

Knife throwing

The player must throw knives at balloons on a rotating wheel with a female assistant strapped to it. The assistant is not a target, and will scream if hit, as well as the screen getting covered in blood. There are a limited number of knives available. If the player does not manage to burst all of the balloons before the time or knives run out, it's over. Freddy contributes to the challenge once in a while by throwing smoke grenades in to hinder the player's vision.

Tightrope

The player must walk across three tightropes armed only with a pole to keep balance. Freddy intervenes occasionally with his jet pack, attempting to knock the player off the rope, or with razor blades to cut the player in half. The blades can be deflected with the pole.

Human Cannonball

The final event involves an attempt by the player to launch him or herself into a target from a cannon. The amount of gunpowder in the cannon is predetermined, and the player has to judge the angle necessary to launch the character into the target. Freddy plays a smaller role in this subgame - he only gets involved if the player takes too long to decide upon the angle, upon which he destroys the cannon.

Endings

There are two endings to the game.

If the player collected enough money to save the circus, the performers get their revenge on Freddy by launching a portly diva with a seesaw, crushing Freddy.

If the player failed to get enough money, the circus is demolished and a building labeled as Freddy Towers is erected in its place.

Graphic violence

The game's humor was principally very dark and the violence was surprisingly graphic for a title of this period - the tightrope walker gets sliced in two through the midriff when hit by a blade and the juggler is blown to pieces when hit by a bomb, for example. The lack of any kind of media panic in retrospect might seem surprising, although such public outrage only became common from about 1992 onwards, following the releases of Wolfenstein 3D and Mortal Kombat, which contained actual blood and gore.

Critical reaction

ZX Spectrum

Your Sinclair awarded the game 80%, but reviewer David Wilson clearly stated that this was for the disk version - the tape version suffered from an extremely unwieldy multi-load system. CRASH awarded it 90%.

Amiga

German Amiga magazine Amiga Joker awarded the game 81%, CU Amiga 80%.

Commodore 64

Zzap! magazine awarded the game 91%.

External links

• Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun at MobyGames