The Coffee Break Shootout / Total Refill – C64 Game Review

Psytronik Software have been at the forefront of supporting new Commodore 64 games in the 21st century. Not only do they publish titles from experienced development teams such as Icon 64 (Legend of Atlantis, Sizzler, and many more) but are willing to give new developers there moment of glory. Such is the case with Stephan Katteneder who makes his C64 debut with two new arcade titles bundled under one release.

The first game in the twin pack is The Coffee Break Shootout, a fun twitch-shooter that features bright and vibrant backdrop landscape and some of the best animated birds to every grace the Commodore 64.

The game sees you spending your coffee breaks shooting down birds as they majestically fly their way across the screen using either your joystick or mouse. As you are using a rifle as your weapon of choice,  the shot detection mechanism works off a ‘bullet pixel’ basis which means that you need to get your shots right dead centre of the crosshair centre otherwise you will miss your target. When you do just miss your shot, the birds will mock you with various comments and fly away to survive another day.

You need to achieve the target amount of points on each level before you can proceed to the next level. Just note that if you are playing with a mouse then your target score will be higher. The birds fly at three different speeds, determining whether you are rewarded with 100, 200 or 300 points for each successful shot.

The Coffee Break Shootout features four different scenery levels, representing each season of the year. The bird animations are one of the best to be presented on a C64. Moving the cross hair around is quite responsive and the background music supports the game very well and enhances the overall arcade experience.

The second title of the package is Total Refill, a pump ’n’ run game that sees you take control of Chris, a down-on-his-luck bartender who is trying to impress his new boss by looking after the thirsty patrons at the Knocker’s bar.  

To do this, you will have to ensure that your beer pitcher is constantly being refilled,  the customer’s glass are always topped up and the barrel is changed when it runs empty. These actions are all performed via the press of the fire button.

Each patron has a drink status bar showing the amount of beer left in their glass. When they are empty and in need of a top up, the bar patron’s will start banging their empty glasses on the bartop and an impatience bar will appear above their heads. Failure to top up their drinks before the bar runs out will result in a loss of a life.

You also have the secondary goal of making money. This is achieved by filling up empty glasses to full. You do not get paid if you fill up a glass that is not empty or has not been filled up to the top.

Making money becomes important as it is used to buy pump upgrades increasing the flow of beer into your pitcher. This will become essential as the longer the game goes on the faster the patrons drink their beer.

When the beer barrel turns red then it’s time to change it over by taking it over to the cold storage for a quick swap over before going back to the urgent business of attending to your patrons.

Total Refill features vibrant graphics and large sprites, all backed up by another good backing tune. The overall presentation is high.

Stephan Katteneder has made an impressive debut with his double fun arcade game bundle. The quality of the coding on offer with both titles is of a high standard with both games running pretty much flawlessly. Those looking for something with a bit of depth of game play will need to look elsewhere, but if you enjoy casual arcade games then this double pack should satisfy your needs.

If you want to see more on The Coffee Break Shootout / Total Refill double pack, check out the video show case below.