Graphics: a beautiful game indeed. Parallax scrolling and excellent animation are well done!
Sound: simple sounds that go well with the game. No background music.
Gameplay: fun, addictive, and challenging. Not too hard, not too easy. An excellent job in the platform game genre.
Overall: if you liked Super Mario Brothers and/or Sonic the Hedgehog, this game is for you!
Reviewer: Dos-Games-Online Released in the middle nineties and developed specifically for the DOS format on the personal computer, Charlie the Duck is a very smooth, parallax side scrolling platform game that is very reminiscent of classic arcade hits, such as the Super Mario Brothers series from the Nintendo Entertainment System.
As one could guess from the title, the hero of this tale is an adorable little animated duck named Charlie. The user will have to navigate little Charlie through several levels of platform play. Charlie has some distinct advantages over other platform heroes, such as the Mario Brothers, and that is the fact that he is a duck. He can jump into the water, swim and dive without suffering any loss of life or health, whereas many other protagonists are automatically dead in the water… literally.
The game play of Charlie the Duck is very similar to that of Super Mario Brothers. The basic goal is the same. Charlie, a ten year old duck, has to manage the levels and collect coins, gems and other fun things while avoiding the waves of hostile enemies that make their way across the side scroller to him. He also has the option of jumping on their heads and knocking them out of the screen. Charlie will have to bounce on, bounce over, or just plain avoid many hostile animals, such as stinging bees and angry frogs. Unfortunately, despite its many similarities to Super Mario, Charlie the Duck does not offer any cool power ups that will let him throw fireballs at his enemy. He is a duck, after all. There are a lot of mysteriously floating platforms that will drift in and out, requiring some superbly timed jumps. There are also some hidden areas where the user will be able to collect some bonus treasures and coins for bigger scores.
Charlie the Duck, while adorable, lovable and addictive, does have its drawbacks. The graphics in the backgrounds and of the enemies, are very colorful, but the graphics are outdated, and there are no sound effects at all, which is disappointing. There do seem to be a few standard Windows bleeps, chirrs and chords, but that is all.
Overall, however, Charlie the Duck is a very playable little game and its ace in the hole is the fact that it is exceedingly family friendly. It is cartoonish, colorful and nonviolent, all of which are points that lend nicely to family oriented play.
