spectrum graphics - OpenLibra

i
That's The Spirit
The Edge
£7.95
Hello, I thought, a clone of
Ghostbusters? But no, although
the theme of ghostly beings is
the same, in reality there is really
no similarity. The game comes
complete with the Edge's usual
type of unhelpful and mildly
humorous instructions on the
reverse of which is an overlay
for the old type Spectrums
which shows which keys perform
which operations.
There are 28 actions which
you can perform and most of
these are fairly clear. Take,
Drop, Enter etc. but how and
when to use them are left for you
to discover. It is with games like
these that I wish the company
would send us poor reviewers a
hint sheet, I tried and I tried, but
no matter what I did I only succeeded
in being driven insane
the game's end condition — in a
few moves.
The screen is a well
presented two dimensional
representation of New York, and
your character moves around
meeting with various problems
and objects of which the
greatest are the ghosts. Not
state of the art graphics but very
good nonetheless. Animation is
smooth although a little on the
slow side, and there are some
nice touches of humour (try the
swear' key).
This is a game for the cerebral
arcade player and as such is
quite difficult, personally I found
it a trifle too difficult to get into
and so do not feel particularly inspired
to play it again.
GRAPHICS
ADDICTIVE NESS
OVERALL
* * *
* *
* * *
Op*
Monty On The Run
Gremlin Graphics
£8.95
Another in the Monty Mole
series. In this game he has to
escape by travelling through
many devious and delightful
screens of pure frustration. It
seems too simple to describe it
as another platform game, but it
is. Added to the usual problem
of carefully timed jumps is the
sneaky device of having to
choose and take withyou five
items of equipment from a
selection of 21 objects before
you begin an attempt. Get one
wrong and you find yourself
stuck and unable to get any further.
The screens are well designed
to provide just the right level
of difficulty, the animation is
good — I loved Monty's somersaulting
jumps — and key
response is very good.
My only moan is that collision
detection seems to be by attributes
and this often gives the
impression that you have avoided
some malignant sprite only to
find Monty expiring in front of
you. With 4 3 screens this
should keep his fans happy and
probably gain him a few new
ones. One of the better programs
of this type.
GRAPHICS
ADDICTIVENESS
OVERALL
* * * *
* *
*
*
*
*
*
Bounty Bob Strikes
Back
us Gold
£7.95
I'm afraid we only got a review
copy of this game and the aim
and action was not clearly
stated, although they claim it
compares favourably with the
C64 version.
It is a platform game in which
it appears that you have to collect
various objects within a
time limit, each time you get an
object the nasties change from
yellow to green for a short time
and can be eaten,killed by your
character.
Loads of screens, most of
whichare well designed and pre
sent a challenge, some have a
nice 3D perspective effect.
I must admit I found the game
to be a little inconsistent in that I
could clear some screens with
ease and others were a real
headache, they did not seem to
progress logically. Graphics and
animation were very good, BB's
demise is quite interesting, and
the high score hall of fame
routine is almost worth playing
on its own.
Colourful, enjoyable, I just
wish I knew what I was supposed
to be doing.
GRAPHICS
ADDICTIVENESS
OVERALL
* * * *
* * *
* * *
Macadam Bumper
PSS
£6.95
It is hard to simulate the old pin
table, bumpers, buzzers,
bleepers, nudges and all the
paraphenalia of the arcade on a
home computer. I love pinball
tables and have awaited a good
computer version for some time.
This one is as close as I think
it is possible to get. all the usual
features are implemented and
you can almost feel the balls
bouncing around, giving them
just that gentle nudge at the
right time. Not only is the
standard program very playable
but there is also the option to
design your own pinball table
layout and play it. This is a simple
matter although to get the
best results a little planning is required
at first. The screen is split
into two, vertically, and the
playing area is on the left while a
typical pinball picture is on the
right. This also shows scores
and players turns etc. In design
mode this picture is replaced by
the graphic components of the
table and they are selected and
placed on the playing area as required.
Once designed and completed
you can save your work
to tape, you can even send it to
PSS as an entry to their competition
and win your very own real
pinball machine. Not bad. As a
pinball program it is very
playable, and with the option of
making your own designs the
life of this program is extended
greatly. Get bored, design a new
game.
I must admit I enjoyed the
fact that I didn't keep losing a
game when an overenthusiastic
nudge would usually produce a
'tilt' message, this feature does
not seem to have been included.
However I keep getting the an
noying feeling that I've cheated
in some way. . .
GRAPHICS
ADDICTIVENESS
OVERALL
* * * *
*
* *
*
*
ZX COMPUTING DECEMBER/JANUARY 1985 63