Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Sinclair User

Arcade magic based on the Liverpool pop group, and full of the style and symbolism of their music. The object-to become 100 percent human and earn the ultimate pleasure experience. - In the meantime, wander through Mundanesville, collecting objects from the houses which open doors into the pleasure dome. In the pleasure dome, play mini-arcade games based on the group's hit singles. See Reagan spit at Andropov, shoot Thatcher and Scargill, solve a murder mystery - and you've still not seen half of the action. included with the game is a version of the hit single Relax. This is one spin-off which really does work.

Your Spectrum

Louise Cook

Peter Shaw

THE BIG BANG! Pssst. Hey, you. Wanna become a hundred per cent real person? No, this ain't no jibe. Peter Shaw and Louise Cook welcome you to the Pleasuredome to talk it over... Welcome to the Pleasuredome, says Ocean, and you're welcome to try it, says us. Frankie may go to Hollywood, but here in Mundanesville life ain't so easy for the like of Lenny Lowscore. Picture downtown Liverpoole, a downmarket version of Brookside Close, those typical Beatlesque back-to-backs - this is your lot in life, being a zilcho percent person. Wouldn't you find the Pleasuredome an irresistible temptation? So along comes Flash Frank, passing the pleasure pills and taunting you to trade in your UB40 for a life of leisure. And what do you have to do? Frank would pass your task off as simple, but where do you start, Lenny Lowscore? Having been trained in the Merseyside Mothers + Toddlers Muggers Association, you're already clued up on the finer points of breaking and entering. Once inside the trraced treasure-trove, there's lotsa goodies for the taking - including those pleasure pills Frankie promised. Although most of the doors are already open, Tricia Tenant has left some handy keys around for those that aren't. Check out the kitchen, and amongst the clutter you'll see such delights as milk, fish and floppy disks. Not too exciting - but hang on to them, Frankie works in mysterious ways. You've got a long journey ahead of you - don't overdose on the Pleasure pills, once your supply has run out you'll be lucky to find a pusher in Mundanesville. Relax Lenny Lowscore - those politically-hyped-arcade-games aren't just a fantasy of the pill popping antics - you've got to do well to prove yourself as a real person. Once you're street wise enough, Frankie presents you with a game of psuedo-Cluedo. Miss Mundane lies dead in the sitting room, killed by an unknown object by an unknown person - solve that one Lenny, you'll need to to become a real person - remember! Lust + Fear + Love + Faith x Frankie = a tough task for Lenny. Don't relax - got to it!

The path to the Pleasuredome is perilous, so persevere. Our plan follows a typical game of Frankie. Just by looking at the background colours on the screens you can tell which of the pleasure measures will be affected by your actions. As soon as each of the four pleasure powers is filled to the brim, you're on your way to the bug BANG! - at the top of each bar chart. As you can see we couldn't manage it - but then you probably know that we're not real people! THE STREET Follow the yellow brick road - to the pink door. Behind here you'll find an open back door that'll transport you onto another street. And if you want to watch telly, look out for the aerials. Welcome to Coronations Street land. There are four identical streets in Frankie - only the colours of the doors change. Pink means the house has a back door and red telly you the second door in the kitchen leads to an arcade game. Back to t'roots in Mundanesville, eh lad! You're going to find life ain't a bed of roses. When you start on your search, it's an idea to set off slowly, and systematically check everything. BATTLE OVER MERSEYSIDE This boxed off bit lets you know how many bases you have left. If you're baseless then wave goodbye to the game. It may seem a trifle laid-back but our top tactic for this game is to sit in the middle and keep your finger on the fire button. As soon as you start jigging around, you'll start to miss everything. The planes aren't the problem - the bombs are. If you want to keep your bases then you're going to have to shoot down the bombs before they blow. THE ZTT ROOM The aim of the game is to build the ZTT logo but to do it, you'll have to press the buttons in the right order. A handy hint is to start in the top left hand corner and finish where the finger is now. Start by shooting down an armed barrier. The slow but safe method is to hotfoot it in, fire one shot then hightail it out again. Trouble is you'll be collecting your pension before you've finished. As soon as you've broken down the barrier at the beginning, this stairway springs into action. THE SITTING ROOM This ain't no Habitat heaven - more a Shabitat let-down. But you're going to have to check out every drawer, retirement clock and video recorder in your pursuit of Pleaure pills... To open these drawers, you'll need to adopt the typical Merseyside strut - with arm outstretched. It's what your right arm's for! Sometimes you'll find, though, that it just isn't enough - and then you'll really have to stre-e-e-tch for the high spots. As things start to come right for you, Frankie rewards you with pleasure power on this bar graph. When all four peak, the equation: Lust + Fear + Love + Faith x Frankie is complete. BANG! MURDER, MYSTERY AND SUSPENCE Give us a Cluedo - this has all the cloak 'n' dagger elements of the full blown Basil Rathbone (no, not Baron Rathbone - BASIL! He made films stupiso!) You've got no chance of answering the quiz until you've uncovered all the clues. So, if you wander back to this room and you're asked whodunnit, don't fret that you've missed a clue - Frankie says relax. You'll turn up clues to the whodunnit as you wander around the other rooms. It's elementary, my dear Frankie. CLUEDO Even defective detectives have a good chance here. Once you've found the body, the clues appear as if by magic. Being a gumshoe was never this cushy at the pictures. It's all a case of logical deduction. Write down the clues and cross off suspects as you go. When you're left with just one name uncleared, set off for the sitting room and accuse your suspect. So, Miss Bland has a son in the RAF, huh? Well, if Frankie says the killer has no children then she's in the clear. Otherwise bear her in mind for the court case. THE SHOOTING GALLERY As you get better, the game gets harder - typical that! The number of hits you have to make increases rapidly - you start off needing only 21 in 200 but it can rocket to 25 or more. Your gun sight automatically returns to this point when you're not pushing it elsewhere. After you've shot a bullet, it's a good idea to let the sight fall back here for re-loading. It's trickier than you think trying to take aim yourself. It's Maggie - just one of the host of targets you have to shoot at - popping up at random on the firing range. Your best bet is to position yourself in the middle of the screen. THE SEA OF HOLES Worrisit then? Is it a skateboard? Is it a hula-hoop? No, it's the lust symbol on its edge - and it's just waiting to swallow you up. Here you have to make it to the purple line. Trouble is, it's all down to chance and where you're thrown out of the hole. You'll only have to take your chances on this game the once to earn your pleasure power, so steer well clear of it. Why? 'Cos it'll bore you all the way back to Mundanesville, that's why! WAR OF WORDS It's the boy-wonder of the B-movie, Ronnie Raygun. You take his part here on the left, while the Ruskies are on the right. Sounds like someone's got the politics sligthly skew-whiff! Your missiles make it through your layer of defences but break up the computer's. If you've got a partly destroyed defence barrier on your side, it'll build back to full strength if you fire at it. The Russians are coming - make sure you get 'em before they get you. Sacrifice one of your barriers and when the Moscow muppet is firing you only need to go up one step to shoot. WAR - GO FOR IT... Every second or so, one of these windows pops up and fires out a pleasure symbol. All you have to do is shoot it as it flies past - and the pleasure is all yours. If you miss a symbol and it hits you instead then you risk being put straight back onto the streets. And watch out if you're caught behind a window - you can get zapped without even realising it. As soon as you've popped a pleasure symbol another window will appear - just walk right into the next bit of arcade action. PUSSY GALORE To enter the arcade, just walk into the window. It's a whole new world in there. Playschool eat your heart out! Fill the cat's bowl with milk from the bottle and you'll probably run into the moggy as he comes for a quick slurp. As a reward, pussy will give you an arcade to play. The Power of Love. Too much attention to love makes the heart grow fonder bit it ain't going to make you a real person - keep your eye on these so you can pop a pill if things get low. THE CORRIDORS OF POWER Hey, this is really way out, man. Actually, it's the way out - your escape route. From here it's back onto the streets or into another arcade game. But don't look for a plan - it's all random. As you make your mark in Mundanesville, you're gonna start clocking in the wicker work gates. So, what are they there for? Well, c'mon in... you'll find yourself in surroundings not unlike these. Jumpin' Jehosophat! Watch out for Frankie's great balls of fire while you're on your travels. Zap 'em and new doors shall be opened unto you! THE KITCHEN Leave here and you'll be back in back-to-back land on another Coronation Street-look-alike. But remember - there's a whole new set of objects to add to your collection there. Here's everything plus the kitchen sink - but there's not much in the way of kitchen sink drama. You'll find the objects you're after in the drawers, fridge and on the worktops. The hot programs are keeping cool in the fridge - take them to the computer room to use them. PLEASURE PILL! PLEASURE PILL! Wow, man, can hardly wait to get hold of the promised power-pushin', score-liftin', real-man-makin' antidotes to Mundanesville. Reeeeeelaxxx! THE COMPUTER ROOM If you want to get passed, get a pass! You'll need secutiry clearance to make your way round the computer, so remember to pick up a pass at the main gate. For the power-crazy, this ornamental gateway leads you to the Corridors of Power. But this is no flak free zone - so, remember to take your flak jacket with you. Put your floppy disk into the computer but mind out - they have a nasty habit of being corrupted. Sounds remarkably like Microdrives! CASE SOLVED So, Sherlock, you've solved the case - but don't come over all smug 'cos there's still some way to go before your become a real person and take a trip to that Pleasuredome. This time you've cracked the case, but it'll be a completely different story next game. And remember to make notes while playing the whodunnit or you'll have no chance of solving the mystery. If you can't crack the case then tough! - no way will Frankie let you carry on your quest for ultimate pleasure.

ZX Computing

Graphics 5/5

Addictiveness 5/5

Overall 6/6

Ocean £9.95 It's been a long time arriving but was it worth the wait? This program is unusual in its creation, not just a simple matter of licencing the name but an actual joint venture between all interested parties. The end result shows what this kind of cooperation can produce - it's brilliant! The concept bears a vague resemblance to Deus Ex Machina but the implementation is totally unique. You control, via the keyboard or joystick, a large, well animated human figure and move from screen to screen through entrances and exits. Whilst in a location you can raise your arm to waist or head height to touch and examine objects. If you touch something a 'window' opens on the screen which gives you information about what you are touching, what is there and/or how many pleasure points you gain and your percentage 'real person' score. The various parts that make this up are shown graphically at the bottom right of the screen. When the window is open, and if there are objects there, a movable hand points to them and by pressing 'fire' they can be taken. To use carried, objects you have access to your inventory window at any time, and can use the hand to select the object and use it by pressing 'fire'. Icon graphics are used very successfully for this section. Built into the program are several arcade style sections, and there are over 60 problems to solve, including a whodunnit murder mystery, raid over Merseyside and shooting gallery sequence. The packaging is excellent and the game itself is easy to get started and is probably the most addictive that I've ever played. We have decided that we are going to extend our rating system with a special six star award for programs which we consider to be state of the art in one way or another. Frankie gets it! (and so should you).

CrashCrash Smash

Use of Computer 93%

Graphics 94%

Playability 93%

Getting Started 95%

Addictive Qualities 94%

Value For Money 94%

Overall 94%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Ocean Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £9.95 Language: Machine code Author: Denton Designs Frankie Goes to Hollywood was previewed at length in the June issue of CRASH (otherwise known as 17). A great deal was written about this game so a brief introduction should suffice. It's not really fair to talk about targets or objectives in relation to Frankie Goes to Hollywood but at the end of the day your ultimate desire should be to reach the Pleasuredome. That's going to be a problem because at the start of the game you play a dull and drab character, one of the great unwashed who leads a life that is special only because it is so drab. However, this dreary lifestyle is shattered by the discovery of a murder. Perhaps this single event can be the beginning of the re-awakening, an event so horrible that only a 'real' person would want to discover why? and who? To be a 'real' person (only real personages are allowed into the Pleasuredome) you must prove your worth by making the most of the opportunities presented to you in your drab world of terraced houses and Radio One disc jockeys. But the terraced houses of today ie filled with elements of the world, television and, of course, murder. Within the drab ordinary houses you are offered the means to escape to the Pleasuredome. Throughout the game you control a character (not Frankie, he has already been to the Pleasuredome) which can be made to walk through doorways and so into houses and rooms, and can also be made to reach out and touch objects. This reaching action is later extended in some of the games to a firing action. At most times the player is able to call up an inventory of the items collected so that they may be used if the situation demands. A bottle of milk can be collected and later given to a cat for instance; a key can be kept in the same way. The inventory is displayed on a sub-screen, which opens out rather like the iris of your eye to reveal a window in the main screen; a hand within the window can be moved about until it is positioned over the object required. Whenever you do something tremendous, like feeding the cat, another window will open onto the screen giving Frankie's latest opinion on your performance in the form of pleasure points and an indication as to how much of a 'real' person you have become. While you explore the houses you must touch the objects within. The touching action can open everyday items like chests, fridges and cupboards. Inside a fridge you may find a kipper or a floppy disc, these objects can be added to your inventory for future use but the number of items that can be carried is limited. You may find yourself forced to choose what to keep and what to get rid of. By touching other objects like a television or phone, you can sometimes open a doorway onto another level, when another type of 'window' opens on the main screen. If you decide to accept the challenge then move the character into the sub-screen, and it will expend to fill the whole screen and your character will be in a new location. There are a number of mini-games incorporated into the main one, which are of a pretty simple format and are accessed by stepping into them. You may only have to bounce a pleasure pill through a tiny hole, or control Reagan while he spits at Andropov over a break out-type wall. One game takes the form of a jigsaw puzzle; another requires you to solve a complex maze, yet another sub game requires you defend Liverpool by shooting German bombers as they fly over Merseyside. For some sub-games you will need acquired objects, and in that sense there is a very strong adventure element. Pleasure points are awarded if you do well in the mini games, but if you lose or even decline to play at all by not walking into a windowed gamelet, then your pleasure rating will take a tumble. Failing to complete an element of the main game does not spell the end. This is a perpetual game - you will always get another chance because although you may have activated all of the 'events' in one room, sooner or later you will be able to go back and activate another, perhaps different event. The only problem that you will have to be wary of is using an object in an inappropriate place - if you do, you lose it and it may be some time before you will be able to replace it. The game has many subtle features that can be easily missed. Associating the bottle of milk and the cat is one of the more obvious means of scoring some extra pleasure points. The intention of the player must be the achieve enough personality points to get to the Pleasuredome; only by doing good, playing and winning the games against evil and by solving the puzzles can you hope to qualify. Apart from the frequent reports from Frankie you can keep a check on your performance by looking at the four-bar graph on the side of the screen which shows how much of the pleasure equation you have managed to fulfil. The game comes complete with an audio cassette which incorporates a new idea called Datatune. The player loads the game and then plays the audio cassette which will have music and a voice over describing how the game is played. Other music, a lot of it previously unpublished is included on the 'B' side. COMMENTS Control keys: definable Joystick: any Keyboard play: probably better than using a joystick Use of colour: excellent once you accept the attribute problems Graphics: very imaginative, excellent Sound: limited but nice opening tune Skill levels: one Lives: no limit Screens: over 124 mind-boggling locations

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Sinclair UserSinclair User Classic

Overall 5/5

Chris Bourne 5/5

Publisher: Ocean Price: £9.95 Memory: 48K Joystick: Sinclair, Cursor, Kempston A shadow stalks the cloned terraces of monotonous streets. You are that shadow. You will remain a shadow unless you reach the Pleasure Dome, the world within the world within the world in which you live. Who can take you to the Pleasure Dome? Frankie can. Move your shadow through the screens of kitchens, lounges, dereliction and prissy suburban streets, collecting what may help. Floppy disks open worlds of arcade fantasy where aircraft bomb Liverpool, where only you can save the lives of your friends. There's a murder to be solved; eight suspects - where's the clue? in a revolting pair of socks perhaps, but there are many entrances to the Pleasure Dome. Screens explode with colour as windows open out onto new scenes - walk the shadow from behind and step into the frame, step into pleasure. Shoot Thatcher, watch Reagan and Gorbachev spit at each other. Once in the Dome you're no longer a shadow, but there's a dozen or more scenarios within the game, and four symbols to collect before you reach the centre. Text intrudes slightly in the form of clues - 'the sea of holes is a sea of rooms' - triggered by the successful completion of problems. You must recognise the alternative possibilities of ordinary objects - light switches, telephones, televisions - and experiment. Faithful to the spirit of the band, if necessarily less outrageous, Frankie is a beautiful program, an adventure of great imagination, with some superb programming techniques in the use of expanding windows and icon-like objects to pick up and use. The screen shots shown here are from a pre-release version, but they give some indication of the quality. The game comes with a 15 minute live version of Relax supplied on a separate cassette, recorded in the States and previously unreleased. The reverse side of this tape features playing tips for the game, narrated by Patrick Allen. Symbols x Shadow = Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Frankie x Spectrum = Buy it.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online