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noticed an intriguing little 12k archive called RSIbreak_lha which<br />
I felt deserved a mention because it's become a permanent fix-<br />
0<br />
_ ture<br />
hile checking<br />
on my hard<br />
the<br />
drive<br />
recent<br />
already.<br />
uploads<br />
RSI Break,<br />
on Aminet<br />
by a chap<br />
the<br />
called<br />
other<br />
James<br />
day, I<br />
Allen, is a small commodity that is designed to remind the user to take regular<br />
breaks when typing, so as to avoid possible RSI problems. Repetitive<br />
Strain Injury is, of course, now a recognised condition which causes considerable<br />
pain to sufferers. It can affect anyone who performs repetitive movements<br />
regularly, such as piano or guitar players, and, of course, computer<br />
users.<br />
PSI Break flashes the screen every three or four minutes to remind you<br />
to shake your hands, and every half an hour or so an alert appears telling<br />
you to get up and walk around a little. The frequency of these reminders is<br />
totally configurable via the icon tooltypes,<br />
R51 Break is an excellent idea, and is highly recommended. Now let's<br />
take a look at the best of the rest from this month's PD and shareware<br />
mailbag.,.<br />
IPEOUT 1.3<br />
Programmed by: Tero lehtonen<br />
Available from: Your Choice<br />
Disk No: GA600<br />
Wipeout is an unassuming blast-'em-up,<br />
written in assembly language for the maximum<br />
possible speed. Your task is to control<br />
a small spaceship which flies around<br />
IDS ONLY<br />
Programmed by: Mark Meaney<br />
Available from: Seasoft<br />
Kids Only is a collection of seven linked programs<br />
aimed squarely at youngsters_ It was originally intended<br />
for commercial release but the three disks are now<br />
available for a termer.<br />
Big kid that I am, I had great fun playing with the<br />
on-screen musical keyboard in the Music Maker<br />
n Kid., e h? One of Ca nnon's nippe ri a ppa re ntly<br />
drew a picture a nd ca lle d I t 'Lucy I n The Sky<br />
With Dia monds', inspiring John to write the<br />
song D o we be lie ve him boys a nd girls?<br />
C The Love ly R ita from<br />
Surrey: "I ll go for Se a n<br />
Connery, Weems, Pout.'<br />
Buzze r thing, "So.:too-doe -<br />
duo." Audie nce : "Ahh...." Wit<br />
Wipeout<br />
n Ca n you I dt• wha t it is ye t?<br />
Ira Ge tting Be tte r a ll the time<br />
program. Six different instruments are available and<br />
there are some accompaniments too, and whilst it's not<br />
quite on a par with the Fun School build-a-band<br />
thingy for sheer entertainment value, it's nevertheless<br />
extremely good.<br />
Dot 2 Dot is also well implemented, with a selection<br />
of pictures for completion which can then be coloured<br />
in. Unfortunately, some of the numbers next to the dots<br />
can run into one another on the more complex patterns,<br />
but since the program won't let you draw a line<br />
that's Out of place, this isn't a big problem.<br />
There's a computerised version of I-Spy, which uses<br />
AMIGA COMPUTING<br />
MARCH 1996<br />
V<br />
Dave Cusick's back with another<br />
bumper-sized bag of budget stuff<br />
trying to destroy every other moving thing.<br />
Each level has its own graphical style, and<br />
the visuals throughout are impressive, with<br />
parallax scrolling and well defined sprites.<br />
The sound effects are more than adequate<br />
too.<br />
Gameplay is fairly tough, mainly<br />
because getting used to the incredibly sensitive<br />
controls takes some time. Fractional<br />
joystick movements can result in massive<br />
changes of direction for your little ship, so<br />
a steady hand and a fair bit of patience is<br />
required to be successful.<br />
Because the portion of a level visible at<br />
any one time is relatively small, using the<br />
scanner to pinpoint enemy ships is a<br />
necessity. On the early levels you can<br />
afford to toddle around picking off the<br />
enemy one by one, but on higher levels<br />
the baddies don't react kindly to your<br />
a<br />
t<br />
i<br />
..--and it's mime a va ila ble in gre e n<br />
presence and will actively seek you out<br />
and fire at you_ Whilst it's scarcely going to<br />
win any awards for originality. Wipeout is<br />
nevertheless a pretty playable game, and is<br />
an excellent way to relieve frustration once<br />
you've cracked the control method.<br />
BEING FOR<br />
THE BENEFIT<br />
OF MR KITE!<br />
eve Bye, the nice chap at El Licenceware who<br />
eated the Absolute Beginner's Guide to<br />
orkbench (of which volume 3 is now available)<br />
s just written a little booklet called First Steps<br />
ith The Amiga MHO. It contains sections on car-<br />
g for floppy disks, loading software, formatting<br />
d copying disks, deleting and recovering files,<br />
eating bootable disks and detecting and dealing<br />
•th viruses, The 20-page booklet is available free<br />
anyone who wants one; just send an AS SAE.<br />
colourful pictures absolutely jam-packed with A<br />
objects and beasties of all kinds. The object is to<br />
guess a certain number of them in as little time as<br />
possible.<br />
There is one of those fiendishly difficult picture slide<br />
puzzles too, as well as a colouring pad, a word search.<br />
and a pairs game.<br />
Virtually all the programs have multiple difficulty levels,<br />
and the visual appeal of the entire production is<br />
immense. It is practically guaranteed to hold the attention<br />
of even the most restless of kiddies for some timeit<br />
kept me busy anyway.
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