From one classic to another, as we leave J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit – which followed Bilbo Baggins as he trekked across Middle-Earth with a group of Dwarves tackling Goblins, a Dragon and also claiming the ring with the essence of Sauron within – we now turn to a tale of an egg! Not just any egg mind you, as our next game in the Your Sinclair Top 100 – coming in at No.#41 – is Fantasy World Dizzy, from Codemasters.
Fantasy World Dizzy was the third tale in the Dizzy saga, created by the Oliver Twins back in 1989. This was also the final Dizzy game in this format delivered by the Oliver Twins until 2015. Here you control Dizzy in the Fantasy Land and your girlfriend Daisy has been kidnapped by the Troll King whilst out for a stroll in the forest. Now it’s up to you to rescue her, but it’s not an easy task as there are numerous puzzles to solve along the way, and you also need to collect thirty well-hidden golden coins too.
Sometime back Three Weeks in Paradise was in the Your Sinclair Top 100 and Dizzy falls within the same genre as this, where you wander this land collecting objects, before returning to another location to use said objects to solve puzzles and then progressing further into the game. Though whereas Three Weeks suffered from not only bizarre puzzles, colour clash and a horrendous plodding speed of our main character, Fantasy World Dizzy in doesn’t. The Oliver Twins – Philip and Andrew – devised a game that not only follows a relatively sane path of logic with its puzzles, but looks quite brilliant and runs at a fantastic pace even at today’s standards. Considering Fantasy World Dizzy is three years off turning thirty the Twins clearly knew their stuff back in 1989!
Even today Fantasy World Dizzy could be played and not be snorted at by the Next-Gen Gamers. The gameplay, visuals and of course the classic music from David Whittaker [listen to that here] show why sometimes the budget label games put the full-priced licensed games to shame.
To find out more on Dizzy games and also to play the 2015 Dizzy game “Wonderland Dizzy” visit YolkFolk.com.
Originally published July 18, 2016. Updated October 26, 2022.
