Review

Back in 1994, Putty Squad was finished and ready for release. Amiga Power featured a playable demo on the cover and many magazines reviewed the game, awarding it some impressively high scores. Then it vanished, never to see the inside of game's stores. A conversion did appear on the SNES giving Amiga owners a glimpse of what they were missing but it quickly became legend, regularly mentioned by gamers who were around at the time. Now, nearly 20 years later, to coincide with the PS3, PS4 and Vita remake, System 3 have finally released it for free. Miracles can happen.

Unsurprisingly, the game stands up well today. It's an enjoyable 2D platformer with a bright and colourful appearance and a unique central character. Instead of an Italian plumber, a speedy blue hedgehog or a streetwise bobcat, you'll control a small blue maleable ball of putty. You can stretch in all directions to reach platforms and squash yourself flat to avoid enemies and absorb collectibles. Different combinations of button presses and directional input perform these and as
controls are restricted to a single button joystick it can get quite fiddly, the decision not to support two-button pads is a strange one.

Like most games from the 90's it's unforgiving and there's no tutorial, the goal of each level is to rescue a number of fellow putties but the game never tells you or gives you pointers as to where they might be located. When you have rescued them all on-screen fingers will flash to tell you where the exit is but that's the only help you get. The difficulty level ramps up quickly, as you would expect and by the fifth level you are being bombarded with enemies almost constantly. The instruction manual has been provided should you find yourself being completely stuck, it's worth a read as there were abilities I didn't know Putty had until I read it!

The most important thing, however, is that the game is still a lot of fun to play. Like all the best Amiga platformers it plays to the strengths of the system rather than try to emulate Sonic. It ranks alongside Fire & Ice and Ruff N Tumble as one of the best examples there is and it's great to finally be able to play it. Well done System 3.

About the Review

Platform

Commodore Amiga

Developer

System 3

Publisher

System 3

Released

24th December 2013