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,<br />
he initials stand for<br />
Multiple Use Labour<br />
Element but the creatures<br />
they refer to look very similar to<br />
the animals we know and love.<br />
Put simply this is a trading game<br />
where mules produce goods for<br />
you and you try to make as much<br />
money as possible by selling<br />
them. It is also one of the few<br />
computer games for FOUR different<br />
players, although the<br />
computer can control up to three<br />
of them, if you're on your own.<br />
The game is set on the planet<br />
I rata (Atari backwards - ho ho<br />
ho), where the four characters,<br />
which you can choose from<br />
eight aliens, try to develop its<br />
resources. A spaceship lands<br />
you in the only town with each<br />
player having a small amount of<br />
money and goods, depending<br />
on which character he has<br />
chosen.<br />
Surrounding the town are a<br />
river, a number of mountains<br />
and mostly plains. This area is<br />
broken up into plots of land and<br />
at the start of each turn a cursor<br />
moves across the screen allowing<br />
you to pick a plot. You can<br />
only get one plot per turn on the<br />
beginner's game and you will be<br />
in competition with the other<br />
players for them.<br />
Having selected your plot you<br />
can go and buy a mule in the<br />
town and outfit it. There are<br />
three resources which can be<br />
tapped: smithore, energy and<br />
food. Once outfitted to get one<br />
of these goods you can install<br />
the mule on your plot where it<br />
will produce units of the good at<br />
the end of the turn. Its success<br />
M.U.L.E.<br />
Ariolasoft, El 1.95 case, £14.95 disk, joystick only<br />
t Sophisticated trading game for up to four players<br />
/ found this to be an<br />
excellent trading<br />
game. The<br />
complexities of<br />
pricing and the need<br />
for swift action make it<br />
more absorbing than<br />
most. The graphic<br />
action also adds<br />
variety and the<br />
characters and mules<br />
are well animated.<br />
Although it won't<br />
appeal to all gamers it<br />
should interest a wide<br />
range ofpeople giving<br />
you plenty to do in a<br />
well presented<br />
program.<br />
Advanced mule marketing<br />
Once you've mastered the<br />
beginner's game you can<br />
move onto the standard and<br />
tournament games which<br />
introduce new features and<br />
are both run over 12 months.<br />
The standard game has land<br />
auctions for random individual<br />
plots and also the ability<br />
to sell plots. You will also find<br />
that mules run into short supply<br />
and vary in price, and you<br />
have more control over the<br />
auctions being able to sell<br />
below your critical level of<br />
supply and chargeenormous<br />
prices for goods in short<br />
supply.<br />
The tournament game introduces<br />
a new commodity,<br />
crystite, which sells for high<br />
prices but is vulnerable to<br />
pirates and not always easy<br />
to find. It also has collusion<br />
whereby two players can<br />
transact a private deal without<br />
the general interference<br />
of an auction free-for-all. This<br />
can be used for lots of dirty<br />
dealing against any dominant<br />
player.<br />
The comprehensive<br />
instructions and<br />
helpful hints make it<br />
easy to get in to this<br />
game. The<br />
combination of<br />
frenetic auctioneering<br />
and strategical<br />
development make it<br />
difficult to get out. The<br />
simple, but<br />
representative<br />
graphics and the<br />
boppy, catchy tune all<br />
added to the fun.<br />
Recommended to<br />
both novice and<br />
skilled traders alike.<br />
will depend on its location, food<br />
going best nearthe river, energy<br />
in the solar rich plains and<br />
smithore in the mountains.<br />
If you've got any time left you<br />
can go and gamble in the pub<br />
(you never lose), or go Wampus<br />
hunting in the mountains (bet<br />
you can't catch one). Once all<br />
four players are finished a<br />
random event may occur like a<br />
planetquake, acid rain, pest<br />
I<br />
The problem with BC's Quest for Ti res was<br />
that each of the stages was too easy , and<br />
interest waned quickly. Grog's Revenge on<br />
the other hand, has less screens and is harder<br />
but has a much longer lasting interest The<br />
graphics are better (the Tiredactyl is great)<br />
and there are a variety of amusing ways to<br />
lose a wheel. Some great little sound effects,<br />
most of which are unusual and imaginative,<br />
all add to the game's humourous and lasting<br />
appeal.<br />
One of the tunnels<br />
through the<br />
mountainside<br />
Your tyre<br />
Toll booth<br />
An impassable crack in<br />
the path.<br />
Your dams.<br />
After the exhausting task of<br />
rescuing his loved one in<br />
BC's Quest for Tires, the<br />
stone-age cartoon hero Thor is<br />
out and about again, this time to<br />
find the meaning of life. It is said<br />
to be found atop an ancient<br />
mountain, the last in a range of<br />
Grog's dams.<br />
The plan ofone side ofthe<br />
mountain showing Grog<br />
as a white diamond.<br />
24 <strong>ZZAP</strong>! <strong>64</strong> <strong>June</strong> <strong>1985</strong>
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