Impossamole is an action platform game in which the superhero Monty Mole defends himself against deadly hazards and enemies. The game was originally released by Gremlin for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC home computers and ported in 1991 on the PC-Engine / TurboGrafx-16 console the by NEC Interchannel.
Review
STORY / GAMEPLAY The game features a caped superhero mole called Monty Mole who is recruited by aliens to retrieve their sacred scrolls. This game is almost similar to Rick Dangerous 2. There are four different levels to complete (the Orient, the Klondike mines, the Ice and the Amazon forest) all packed with action and each one with its own visuals and enemy types! Monty is running and jumping on several platforms across the screens, kicking incoming enemies such as rats, bats, birds, karate fighters and more. Note that there are several traps and pits scattered around, so you must be ready to avoid. Upon completing all four levels, a fifth one will be unlocked (which is the game's actual final level). Impossamole is a good arcade platform, but it's also very difficult (and sometimes frustrating). The gameplay is standard and it lacks the feeling of the Rick Dangerous series. You will find yourself just going from left-to-right, smashing enemies until you reach the end of each level and that's it! There are a lot things to do but little thought is required to do them. Impossamole is a nice effort, a decent game that features a funny character and some acceptable gameplay.
GRAPHICS / SOUND Technically, the game is good. The PC Engine version looks great and offers some nice visuals, comparable to the 16bits Amiga and Atari ST! The backgrounds look great, though there is nothing to get overly excited about. The colors are vivid, whilst the sprites and the backdrops move flawlessly. Occasionally, you will see some perspective changes in the form of trees and spears moving behind and then in front of you(!) The PC Engine version sports some nice sound effects and cool in-game music (along with the original intro tune we enjoyed on the Amiga computers).
Screenshots
Sounds
Intro/Menu music:
In-game music sample:
Gameplay sample
Amiga (original version)
Hardware information
PC-Engine / TurboGrafx-16 / TurboDuo
CPU: HuC6280 8bit at 3.6MHz MEMORY: 8KB RAM GRAPHICS: Dual 16-bit GPUs (HuC6260 Video Color Encoder, HuC6270A Video Display Controller), 64KB VRAM, 482 colors at once out of 512, 64 hardware sprites, Supports: 256 x 256 to 320x256 flicker free interlaced screen resolution. A 512x256 mode is possible through fiddling with registers, but not SOUND: Capable of generating clear digitized sounds and harmonized music. Use of "Turbo Booster" add-on, could generate stereo sound.