Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The Equalizer wastes no time explaining itself: move, jump, shoot, collect every piece of fruit, and try not to touch anything unpleasant. That directness has charm. In the opening levels, you can settle into a brisk rhythm of clearing enemies with goo blobs and lining up jumps, with the fruit objective giving each stage a clear reason to explore rather than simply race to an exit.

The trouble—and much of the game’s personality—comes from the way hazards occupy the same spaces you need to land. Snails, lizards, bouncing jellyfish-like creatures, and birds dropping objects from above turn ordinary platform jumps into small tests of nerve. It is one thing to make a difficult leap; it is another to make it when the safe patch of ground is guarded. Since contact costs a life, impatience is punished quickly.

That can make the game frustrating when a jump demands precise timing and an enemy narrows the margin even further. Still, the basic controls suit the challenge: left, right, jump, and shoot are all you need, and the game asks you to get sharper with those few actions instead of burying the platforming under extra complications. If you enjoy compact 8-bit games that expect repetition and route learning, the growing difficulty gives the later levels a worthwhile bite.

Graphics

The action is shown from a side-on, 2D scrolling view, with a small baby-like hero moving across fruit-filled platforms while snails, lizards, birds, and bouncing jellyfish-like enemies crowd the route. The unusual lead character and the goo fired from his navel make the game memorable in a decidedly oddball way.

Story

There is not much narrative weight here, but there is a clear progression built into the premise. You begin as a small baby-like character trying to gather fruit and survive increasingly hostile stages.

As you advance, the character evolves, eventually becoming the Equalizer. That is a pleasingly strange reward for sticking with the game, even if the real story is told through the escalating obstacle course rather than through dramatic scenes or dialogue.

The transformation gives the otherwise abstract fruit hunt a little sense of direction. You are not just repeating the same task forever; you are pushing this peculiar character toward his final form one dangerous level at a time.

Overall Experience

The Equalizer is a lean Commodore 64 platform shooter whose best moments come when a clean run falls into place: a goo blob removes a threat, a jump clears a crowded gap, and another piece of fruit disappears from the level. It has the immediate clarity of an arcade game, but its demand for careful jumps keeps it from becoming mindless.

Its harshness will be the dividing line. Losing a life to a badly timed jump or an enemy parked on a landing platform can wear you down, particularly if you prefer platformers that leave room for recovery. Here, success depends on patience, timing, and accepting that failure is part of learning a level.

At 6.3, it lands as a decent curiosity rather than an essential C64 platformer. Give it a chance if a weirdly themed, single-screen-focus style of challenge sounds appealing and you can enjoy mastering a few simple actions under pressure. If repeated precision platforming sounds more draining than satisfying, its escalating nastiness will probably exhaust you before the evolution hook pays off.

Retro Replay Score

6.3/10