Potty Pigeon.

A C64 game from Antony Crowther that is very unusual. The best way to describe it, would be a “pigeon simulator” sort of crossed with a horizontal scrolling shoot ’em up. You do get to defecate on cars – that adds to the atmosphere! Your pigeon’s task on each level is to pick up some twigs to built a nest.

Along the way you can eat butterflies (for extra points) and dodge cars, as well as enemy birds. Each level gets continually harder. The graphics are functional rather than pretty. The scrolling is very good, nice and fast – watch out for motion sickness! The sound is from the top drawer, sound effects are okay, but the music (the theme tune to “All Creatures Great and Small” plays in the main game and your death brings on the “Funeral March”) really makes the game stand out. Humour is laced throughout here. It is novel I suppose. That novelty does wear rather thin after a while – there are perhaps better ways to spend your time with the C64.