Tax Avoiders

"In a league of game heroes saving the world... One decides to make a little money."

All that blasting, all that noise. All the jumping and searching and eating strange mushrooms that cause you to grow. Everyone is out to save some beautiful damsel or rescue some kingdom in hopes of being bestowed a trove of royal treasure. They all want the same shebang. No one ever credits the fabulous men and women like the one protrayed here in Tax Avoiders. He isn't to rescue some hussy or save the kingdom from he oppressive rule of an evil sorceror, or even to stop an elite army from world conquest. Rather, he's on his way to a million, dollars that is.

John Q.'s quest begins on January 1 in some arbitrary year. He has a deadline to meet. He wants that million (more if at all possible) by the end of the year. So, Mr. Q. starts out his mission in some strange, multi-floor area. On each floor is a bit of money that keeps blinking. John has to grab all the money he can around here without bumping into the red tape monsters that guard the money.

There are a few things we can take into notice here. John's world is not very colorful or visually brilliant at all. Yes, we do see a little color diversity on John Q. himself, but everything else is one solid, boring color. Sure, there's nothing wrong with one color objects in Atari 2600. However, the environment itself could have been put together a bit better. Some vibrance was needed in the platforms and in the background at least. After your eyes have settled, your ears will need to get used to the atrocious sound that is John jumping. Every game hero from the mid-80's and preceeding needed to have an annoying boing or awkward sound effect to accompany the jumps they made. John Q. is no exception. However, the pleasing beeps and bloops that you hear when you pick up items is not too bad. However, getting John to the items isn't so easy. Controlling him seems to be quite a pain, what with the stiff controls. For a while, you may actually wind up accidentally jumping in place you had not intended to as a result of the bad controls.

After John has spent some time getting some money together, it's time to invest. He's taken to a new screen where he can pick up some investments and secure them to hopefully make money. These investments are subject to the same fate as they are in real life. They could mature, or they could sour, causing your money to increase or decrease respectively. To make matters worse, it is in this screen that John meets two of his archrivals. One of them being an IRS agent named Eggie, the other is a crooked CPA named Waggie. Both wish to take a little dough off John's hands. Eggie seeks about 50% of his earnings, where Waggie only wants $1000. Thankfully, if an investment sours, John can speak to Toodles, an investment advisory.

The visuals take another moderate turn that save it from complete destruction in the final ratings. There is one character on the screen to represent Eggie, Waggie, and Toodles, but different colors equates a different character (black, pink, and green respectively). That's not the main focus, though. The investment screen's layout is actually much better than the first screen. This scene gives you a much bigger sense of action, adventure, and suspense as you must avoid the crooked bastards seeking your green.

After the investment phase has ended, it's back to the general money gathering phase you started with. As you can probably guess, this process goes on for an entire year. The object is to end the year with $1,000,000 or more, or just not end it with that amount and cry. There's not much more you can do.

The game itself, for being made by a ''lower'' company, is sheer brilliance. This isn't the typical save the planet shooter or get the girl away from he damn, dirty ape. This one is a love story like the others, but unlike the others it's a different type of love. A love for material gain and for being a crooked government worker. Yes, this is one of the many games that arises in every system's life that are usually considered the ''quirky'' or ''against the grain'' works.

The fact that this game has a very unique theme combined with non-violent gameplay, all together making an action-packed, addictive, and suspensful ride from the olden days of gaming is very impressive. This is coming from an era when most little-known companies were doing cash-in titles and rip-offs. Being 8-years-old and owning this game, I didn't know much of what to think about it. After coming to an understanding of what the game is about <shameless promotion>and writing a FAQ for it</shameless promotion>, I've come to appreciate it more.

This is one of the few and the many that will unfortunately lie in total obscurity from the gaming world. The only other time you can see this game mentioned is on a message board topic when someone asks for some weird or funny game names. Little do most of those people know what lies within that little cartridge that might be found used or in the ROM they download. It's not like every other game out there. It's a breath of fresh air.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Needs some color, but alright otherwise 7/10
Sounds: The jumping! THE JUMPING! 6/10
Controls: A bit stiff 7/10
Plot/Storyline: Original idea! 9/10
Gameplay: Refreshing, fun, and intelligent 8/10
All Together: 8/10

Perks
*Original gameplay
*Inventive and intelligent
*Neat satirical idea

Downers
*The jumping noise is annoying as hell!
*Stiff controls

Recommendations
If you're an Atari 2600 fan looking for something new to play, give this a try! Collectors may also want to keep an eye out for this one, as it is quite rare.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/07/02, Updated 03/14/03