Computer + Video Games - Commodore Is Awesome

1
1 AMSTRAD) MSX
tio SUPPLIER: ULTIMATE
, to
: , (E9.99)/AMSTRAD/MSX
: IP
P
M,
SPECTRUM
R10
AV
I,
Quite CE
honestly I'm at a loss.
C•
Mystified. HR
Confused. Stumped.
How
ER
IS
the hell do you get off the
first : E screen of this game?
NI
MV
Since the latest offering from
the EO
O I tight-lipped mystery men
from SN
O E Ashby de la Zouch arrived
in : T
( W
the office, I've kept returning
to SE
it every few days. And I get
absolutely SE
PS
nowhere. I've
watched PR
ET
other people try to
play E:
it. And guess what? I've
still CE
CP
not seen anything other
then TD
TA
the opening screen.
R:
RU
There a whole new game
lurking UA
UL
in my computer but I
can't
M find it. So this "review"
will M
, S
tell you the game's
about ) and what happens on the
first 'T
/ screen.
RThe
evil wizard Vadra
controls A the ancient city of
Irkon. D The inhabitants have
been / imprisoned and you have
been turned into a blob. Huge
bottles have been constructed
which ozze bubbles — which
turn into strange mutant
creatures, Hence the title Bubbler.
But life's not all bad for you as
a blob. You can move and spit
lire globules at your foe.
Around the city are magic
corks, hidden under trapdoors.
Find all these corks, to bung in
the bubblers and Vadra's
powers will be ended.
The game is as far as I can
judge - like Marble Madness
'
'
SPECTRUM
to SUPPLIER: BUBBLEBUS
'10-
MICE: ESIS CASSETTE/
" €12.95)/DISK
Ito VERSIONS TESTED: CEIM 64/
g AMSTRAD
a10
g.
Bubble
rR
Bus has always been
known
eE
for huge, sprawling
games. Remember Starquake?
Well tV
now there's another mega
maze tI
offering with The Fifth
Quadrant,
• E
around 230 rooms
and locations to explore.
SW
Once again we set off into
deep AE
space. The Galactic
P
Survey R Vessel Orion is on a
mission
- : to explore and map the
galaxies of the Hercules Cluster.
After I P
20 years of work just one
sector : A remains.
CU
The crew put themselves into
suspended
PL
animation and set
off to go boldly where no one
A has boldly gone before. And
6then
they get the Zimens. No,
4
/
A
M
S
T
R
and Spindizzy to look at. all
ramps, causeways and
platforms over which you must
guide the blob. The starting
point of the game is a platform
with what appear to be two exit
ramps, up which you must
travel to exit the location. The
trouble was that I just couldn't
get any control over the blob. It
it's not some intergalactic space
disease but a force of alien
mechanical beings who
infiltrate the Orion. When the
crew regains its wits after
waking from its space sleep,
they find the ship's systems
have been terminated and the
computers reprogrammed in an
alien language.
As the ship's energy drains
away the crew must try and
regain control of the Orion,
To do this you have four
robots under your control
which must be used to explore
the ship, access lifts to different
levels.
Each robot has its own
identity. They are SLOG, ship's
captain and pilot, PLOT,
navigator, KNUT, engineer, and
BODO, the crewman. KNUT, in
fact, is locked in prison when
the game starts and the others
must free him.
The computers are scattered
throughout the ship.
SCORE
00000
00 41,
00
t IIiI
seemed to have a mind of its
own and a sense of direction
which kept taking it off the
platform and into the black void
beneath. Losing lives as
quick as I did meant Game Over
coming up with tedious
regularity. I did actually manage
to get halfway up each ramp but
just couldn't make it to the top.
Very frustrating.
Meanwhile a strange array of
While not the most original
idea, The Fifth Quadrant is very
playable and should appeal to
all those who like problem
solving, three dimensional maze
games. Nice graphics.
creatures floated through the
screen including crabs, mystery
bubbles and various spinning
objects.
Bubbler looks nice, sounds
intriguing and is certainly
challenging
Ir. GRAPHICS
SOUND
VALUE
PLAVAIRLITY
For ii„....,4
cBm 64 AMSTRAD
lb
. 10• SOUND 7
lb. VALUE 7
GP.
PLAY Aatury
R
A
P
H
I
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S
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