Frak! is a side scrolling platform game in which the player controls a caveman named Trogg. In each level, Trogg's object is to find three keys located on the level. The platforms and ladders constituting the level are laid out in a very tricky form. When Trogg steps off a platform, he does not fall straight down, but instead slides diagonally downwards. Added to the fact that long falls will kill Trogg, this calls for very skilful jumping among the platforms. Trogg exclaims "Frak!" each time he dies. When the user manages to complete the three levels, they are returned to the first level with the screen displayupside down. The game then repeats the same three stage sequence, following which it rotates 90 degrees and repeats again. Subsequent loops consist of video being displayed in black and white and rotated, and also the display being flashed on and off in three second intervals. Enemies in Frak! come in three forms: the large, hairy Scrubbly, pig-like Poglet and large-nosed Hooter, balloons and daggers. The statues obviously stay still, whereas the balloons fly straight upwards and the daggers fly diagonally downwards. Contact with any enemy will kill Trogg. To combat the enemies, Trogg is armed with a yo-yo that he can launch straight horizontally. The yo-yo will kill any enemy it comes into contact with. Each level also has a time-limit, which can be topped up by the occasionally found light bulbs. However, if the time runs out, the level does not end - instead, the game continues in the dark. After this point, the yo-yo can still be used to remove the static enemies from the level but will not affect balloons and daggers. Frak! encodes high scores as nonsensical secret messages, such as Hairy gonks kiss green Buddhas slowly.
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Ports and revisions
When the original BBC Micro version was converted for the Acorn Electron, the screen mode was changed from four colours to two because of the Electron's inferior video speed. The extra RAM freed up by the smaller frame buffer made it possible to include extra levels and a screen designer which was not in the BBC original. The C64 version was written by MicroProjects Limited who were subcontracted by Statesoft to do the conversion. It has six levels. The BBC version had a higher resolution than the C64 and so some of the active playing area was off the screen, and has a distinct graphical style and catchy background music. There was a popular cracked revision of the game for the BBC named Frakup! where many of the sprites were replaced by lewd or pornographic ones. In the 1990s, an attempt was made to port Frak! to the Amiga, with updated graphics, but the port was never finished.
