A TRI BUTE TO
BIZARRE CREATIONS
ALTHOUGH NOT FORMED UNTIL 1994, BIZARRE CREATIONS WAS JUST THE LAST
IN A LONG LINE OF TRADING NAMES USED BY MARTYN CHUDLEY. MARTYN
REVIEWS THE FIRM, FROM ITS EARLIEST INCARNATION AS POWERSLAVE
DEVELOPMENTS TO ITS HIT PGR TITLES AND ITS CLOSURE IN 2010
Words by Rory Milne
The origins of Bizarre Creations date back to a mid-Eighties partnership between Martyn Chudley and school friend Dominic Frazer, who traded as Powerslave Developments and created Combat Crazy, a hard-as-nails C64 shooter/platformer.
In the early Nineties, Martyn worked under the names Lunatic Software and Raising Hell Software. During this time, he co-created the 16-bit hits Wiz ‘N’ Liz and The Killing Game Show for Psygnosis, where he met his future wife Sarah.
In 1994, the pair founded Bizarre Creations and began developing for the PlayStation, with two successful Formula 1 racers being their initial output.
A subsequent release, Metropolis Street Racer, reviewed well but sold poorly. However, Bizarre later adapted the Dreamcast title for the Xbox as Project Gotham Racing, which shifted millions of copies and spawned three sequels.
Project Gotham Racing 2 incorporated a retro shoot-’emup – Geometry Wars, which proved so popular that later PGR games continued the series, and it ultimately became a standalone franchise.
Bizarre proved its versatility further with the super-cute thirdperson shooter Fur Fighters, the 3D adventure Disney’s Treasure Planet, the XBLA rhythm game Boom Boom Rocket and the ultra-violent The Club.
The reluctant sale of Bizarre to Activision in 2007 led to the release of the power-up orientated racer Blur and the Bond title 007: Blood Stone. Sadly, these would be the firm’s final titles, as Activision closed the studio in 2010. But it had a good run, made possible by its earlier incarnations and the high quality of the Bizarre Creations games that followed.
MARTYN CHUDLEY
After developing for the C64, Martyn Chudley moved on to the 16-bit systems. He later cofounded Bizarre Creations, and gave the world Project Gotham Racing.
A LOOK AT THE WACKY PLATFORMER’S GA LAY
WASCALLY
WABBITS
■ At its heart, Wiz ‘N’
Liz is a rescue mission.
More specifically, you
have to rescue all the
rabbit-like Wabbits
hopping around the
game’s levels.
MAGIC
WORDS
■ Clearing Wiz ‘N’
Liz’s stages depends
on spelling out magic
words. This is done
by rescuing Wabbits,
and then collecting the
letters they release
COOL
COLLECTIBLES
■ Once you spell a
level’s magic word,
Wabbits release timeextending clocks, fruit
you can make spells
from and stars you can
trade with in a shop
BRILLIANT
BONUSES
■ Mixing fruit in a
cauldron produces spells
that give you bonuses,
such as extra points,
subgames, palette
swaps or practical jokes
at your expense!
WHO’S
THE BOSS?
■ You can’t have a
Nineties platformer
without bosses, and Wiz
‘N’ Liz has its fair share,
including an enraged
pumpkin, the moon and
a sentient tree.