Titus the Fox

Titus the Fox is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Titus for a variety of platforms, from Amiga, MS-DOS to Atari ST.

It was released in 1991 under the name Lagaf: Les Aventures de Moktar, it got renamed and retooled to fit the game's mascot and came out as Titus the Fox: To Marrakech and Back in the year 1992.

So the story goes down as follows, Titus is a fox who lives with his beloved girlfriend Suzy in their sweet two-bedroom semi in Essex. They look pretty well off considering the huge gleaming rock on Suzy's paw and the extravagant Ford Capri with furry dice. But as always, happiness is not long-lived; Suzy gets kidnapped while she was doing her job, where she works for the magazine Fox and Locks. Whisked away into the night by bandits in the Sahara Desert, it is up to Titus to save his beloved foxy chick who is enslaved in a secret room belonging to the Knights of Shah Hassan.

The gameplay is pretty similar to Titus's previous hit title, The Blues Brothers, and it is laced with a little bit of ''Sonicness'' in it. There are 16 levels to complete in the game, and close to 50 different enemies are out there ready to tan your hide. What is interesting to note is that each level has a different graphical theme. That makes way for some epic combinations; some levels are based on the sandy dunes found in the Sahara Desert, whereas some are based upon the dodgy backstreets of Marrakech filled with rabid dogs, thugs, and overflowing sewers. It's always something new. The graphics in the game are spot on with charming little details, people watching the telly in the background as a fox fights for his life is always amusing.

Titus is a speedy little fox; he can sprint around, jump, duck, and crawl around the place; however, he cannot use his 4 paws for offense or defense. Instead, he is put in the mercy of finding items to aid him do so. No ! jumping on their head trying to a Mario won't kill the bad guys either, the pickups come in various shapes and sizes. From bottles, paint buckets, boxes to sacks, Titus can use all of these to knock the living daylights out of his enemies. However, the best items come later on, such as Titus's skateboard, portable trampoline, golden scooter, and not to mention his own magic carpet!

The game provides you with 4 lives, and in my opinion, it goes by pretty fast. The tricky puzzles in certain levels and spots requiring precise timings to pass really do bring up the heat. The controls are pretty helpful in this context, designed to provide fluid gameplay; it allows Titus to pick up objects, jump and even change direction midair, all in quick succession.

Overall the game is a fantastic piece of work. Even though it does feel a bit unoriginal, the Arabic theme's, middle eastern tunes as Titus whizzes around the screen, the vast array of enemies chasing after your foxy hide bring great delight to the player. In my opinion, the game deserves a spot on anyone's ''To be played" list.