1987 · Action-adventure · Horror

Soft & Cuddly

A horror platformer developed by John George Jones and published by The Power House for the ZX Spectrum. The player's mother, the Android Queen, has been dismembered and he has now to collect pieces of her body and sew her back togheter.

Released: 1987
Platforms: ZX Spectrum
Genres: Action-adventure Horror Platformer
Developers: —
Publishers: CRL Group
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Horror
Country: United Kingdom

About

Soft & Cuddly is a horror action-adventure game released for the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was developed by John George Jones and published by The Power House in September 1987 in the United Kingdom and in early 1988 in Spain. The player assumes the role of a man armed with a laser gun and a jet pack, whose mother, the Android Queen, has been dismembered. The player's task is to locate the scattered body parts of the Android Queen and sew her back together.

Jones had previously developed a game called Go to Hell. In an interview he stated that he developed the game for his own amusement; he enjoyed the reactions people gave to the game. The original, pre-release, version of the game featured more grisly images. Reviewers praised the game's graphics but had mixed feeling about the scenes actually depicted by the graphics. Some reviewers criticized the game's gameplay as repetitive but praised as being fun and akin to a horror film by others.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Soft & Cuddly is an action-adventure game set in a world of 256 rooms. The player controls the son of the Android Queen. The Queen has imprisoned her husband, the player character's father, in a refrigerator. The Queen has been dismembered in an accident, leaving her husband in danger of being attacked by evil spirits.

The object of the game is to collect the eight pieces of the Android Queen's body then stitch her back together again. The player must first find and approach the refrigerator in order to be told where the first body part can be found. Once this has been returned to the player's trapped father, the next body part location will be revealed. Once all eight body parts have been collected and returned to the refrigerator, the player must find a needle and thread in order to restore the Android Queen. The location of the refrigerator is randomized at the beginning of each new game.

Development

Soft & Cuddly was developed for The Power House by John George Jones. Jones had previously developed Go to Hell for Triple Six. revolting, crude and downright vile images." ".

To this Jones responded, "I didn't write the game because I'm a horrible person, I wrote it to amuse myself." ". the sheep was bouncing up and down on a corpse." When asked how long he would retain interest in computers, Jones stated that he had already lost interest.

Reception

Soft & Cuddly received average review scores from critics. The game's graphics were praised; Sinclair User reviewer Jim Douglas stated "Graphically, it is certainly unusual, and occasionally brilliant." Crash magazine's three reviewers also praised the graphics but raised some issues. Nick Roberts described them as smooth and slick, but stated that they were "a mite sketchy".

Roberts also stated "colour is used very well." Paul Sumner stated "There are some cleverly-animated and attractively-coloured graphics". Robin Candy said they are the game's greatest asset.