Your Commodore - Commodore Is Awesome

POWERPLAY
REVIEWS
There have been many attempts to bring question and
answer quizzes to computer screens but most have tried to
copy Trivial Pursuit too closely. Powerplav forsakes the pie
slice board game to provide a new and exciting recipe.
The screen display is taken up by a chessboard matrix in
a classical setting like Ancient Greece. At the corners of the
board stand two pieces and the idea of the game is to conquer
your challengers by superior general knowledge and fast
reflexes.
The questions appear beneath the board and the four
optional answers appear. Whichever option you think is
correct can be selected by keyboard or joystick and the
answer affects the boardgame.
A correct answer allows you to move one of your pieces
one square on the board or to increase its power. When two
opposing pieces are on adjacent squares a challenge can be
issued. The combatants must prepare to spot the correct
answer to randomly selected questions and the one who wins
diminishes the power of the opponents piece. If the pieces are
both very strong, the speed battle must be repeated on
successive moves until one of the players decides that it is
time to run for cover before his character is destroyed.
Flashing squares around the board act as a teleport
device which allows fast movement around the board to
another flashing square. This is especially useful for a fleeing
piece, as long as it doesn't take it to a square near an even
more powerful foe.
The questions are varied and taxing with three sets
available with the game. Also included is a question base
compiler which allows you to construct your own quiz. This
is especially useful for families where children would find the
questions far too difficult. A quiz centred around nursery
rhymes or even school work would turn the drudgery of
learning into a pleasure.
When we played the game in the office the interest was
high with everyone trying to get in on the action. This is the
supreme accolade which few games seem to achieve and even
fewer manage to sustain. Perhaps its addictive qualities
derive from the ability to clobber your opponent with
superior knowledge, or even by successful guesswork, but it
certainly has pulling power.
The graphics are quite cute with the pieces evolving from
a lower warrior towards a top ranking minotaur. Once the
higher eschelon has been reached further correct _answers
merely add to its strength and very powerful battles can be
PLIIVER W I S D O M
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joined at the climax of the game.
Although the game is well devised and professionally
executed I still don't feel that the ultimate game of this type
has been achieved. Powerplay goes a long way along the
road towards the definitive work and as it stands is on a par
with US Gold's Mind Pursuit. Together these games are
streets ahead of their rivals but the road is long.
TOUCHLINE Title: Powerplay. Supplier: Arcana.
Machine: CM.
Originality: 8/10. Playability: 9/10. Graphics: 8/10. Value:
8/10.
PARALLAX
Y
scientists o have landed on an artificial world. Everything was
going u well until you discovered some secret information that
showed
,
that the inhabitants of this world were planning a
surprise attack on Earth. The once friendly natives immediately
t
turn hostile and it is up to you to find your fellow
scientists o and an Intergalactic Teleport in order to make
good g your escape.
e The planet is divided into five main zones, alpha, beta,
gamma, t delta and epsilon and there is one of your friends in
each
h
zone. There are many other scientists in each zone and
you
e
must capture or kill them in order to learn about the
password that will admit you to the next zone. These are to
be r found in hangars which also contain computer banks,
shops w and intelligence units. These can only be entered on
foot i and so it is necessary to leave the relative safety of your
ship t and wander round, making sure that you possess
enough h oxygen and ammunition for your journey.
o
As you eliminate the scientists, so you can pick up their
data cards which serves you two useful purposes. Firstly, it
allows
n
you access to part of the code, but it can then be
exchanged e at the bank for a number of credits with which
you o can then stock up on your requirements. You need to
capture f one of the scientists but he will refuse to help you
unless t you have acquired some drugs and use them on him.
h
Having explored your immediate surroundings on foot,
e
you will want to move elsewhere so it's back to your ship and
ready for take off. Your craft is highly manoeuvrable and
Ecan
fly under as well as over certain parts of the superstruc-
ature.
This is just as well as you are under constant attack
rfrom
the enemy forces. You can gain extra speed by flying
tthrough
a black hole and can teleport to another part of the
hzone
again by flying over the appropriate unit. You *yin
'
certainly need to activate your shields and remember to put
your landing gear down before you land again.
s Parallax is a fast action packed shoot-em-up that will
mcertainly
appeal to fans of the genre although I felt that the
odifferent
elements of the game didn't quite fi t together
sproperly.
The graphics are certainly very slick apart from an
t appalling opening sequence which seems designed to induce
e
fits of epilepsy with its stroboscopic effects. G . H .
mTOUCHLINE
iTitle:
Parallax. Supplier: Ocean, Ocean House, 6 Central
nStreet,
Manchester M2 5NS. Machine: C64. Price: Cass
e£8.95
Disk 112.95.
n
t Originality 7/10. Graphics: 8/10. Pla_vability: 6/10. Value:
6/10.
YOUR COMMODORE november 1986:62