1994 - Ten Years After

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 6/10

Sound 4/10

Originality 3/10

Lasting Interest 4/10

Overall 5/10

Stuart N Cooke 5/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K CONTROL: Keys FROM: Visions, £6.95 According to Visions, George Orwell got it wrong and the Central Computer didn't take over the world until 1994, hence the subtitle 'Ten Years After'. You play the one person who has dared to challenge the computer and plans to penetrate the eight levels of security to switch the computer off. The scenario sounds exciting enough but the actual game reminds me of the Spectrum classic Manic Miner where you guide Miner Willy through a number of caverns. Substitute Smiffy for Willy and you've got the whole idea of the game. On each level you have to collect the key and insert it into the lock which will take you on to the next level. To make your task difficult the computer has deployed its security cameras which fire plasma bolts at you, together with jelly droids, buzz saws and springs. Smiffy has a certain number of power points per life and contact with any of the nasties knocks one point off this. Once his power reaches zero he dies and you have to start the level again. The only things that will actually kill Smiffy with one touch are the electric floors. Unfortunately the game lacks some of the appeal of its forebear. The graphics are fairly basic and movement is a little slow. Only having eight levels, the game is little repetitive. The graphics are the same on each level, only the layout differs. It is harder to get through a level than on other similar games but with so few levels it would need to be. 1994 is a very difficult game to play but lacks rather a lot of the polish that we have come to expect from Spectrum games. If you like platform-type games and are looking for a new one to try, you may enjoy it, but the chances are that you will soon be dissatisfied.

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 4/10

TEN YEARS BEHIND THE TIMES Memory: 48K Price: £9.95 Joystick: According to Smiffy, a character in 1994, a new game for the Spectrum, George Orwell chose correctly with his Big Brother theory but had the year wrong - it should have been 1994. Apart from that there is nothing remotely interesting or startling in the game. It looks as if manufacturer Visions has pumped on the Manic Miner bandwagon. Smiffy has to climb a structure of platforms which are being bombarded continually by alien creatures. He has to climb through the nightmare world and attack the central computer which, in the best Tronic traditions, is holding the world in its metallic grasp. Switching off the computer will win the game. The screen is filled with a series of exotic blips and blobs which could be anything. If the scenario is a nightmare, the instructions are worse, as you have to grope round the keyboard to find which keys to press. The high score table and paragraph giving details of the game may be futuristic in style but they are also illegible. The 'computer-style' characters are too heavy and it is difficult to distinguish between numbers and characters on the high score table. There is nothing to distinguish the program from any of the others which resemble Manic Miner. If you are new to computers, however, and have not seen Manic Miner you may like 1994. The game is produced by Visions, [redacted].

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

VIOLENT VISIONS OF ARMAGEDDON The Visions Software Factory has really got their production line working overtime, churning out games at an incredible rate. Another six games have been added to their range of Spectrum and Commodore 64 titles. Armageddon 'a game of gratuitous violence' is a jolly little game which lets you and a friend or two blow the world to pieces as many times as you like before breakfast. Global genocide is now possible on a CBM 64 plus breaks for coffee, of course! 1994 is a multi-level game for the 48K Spectrum. You must guide Smithy (I suppose they mean Winston Smith from 1984) through eight levels inhabited by droids, robot eagles and plasma bolts to find the key that unlocks the gate to the next screen. WILLY get to the top or fall to the bottom of the mine? ...oops different game - isn't it? There aren't any speed limits on the moon so why not go for a spin across the lunar landscape with a little help from Moon Buggy. It's not all smiles though. The local aliens have got a little narked with all the noise you've been making and are trying to shoot your brains out. Sounds like a rough neighbourhood. Moon Buggy, 1994 and Articus run on the 48K Spectrum. Two other releases - Banana Drama and Gusher - run on the '64. Banana Drama is a kingdom-type game where you play the part of a dictator of a small banana republic. Taxes have to be collected, crops sown, exports sold and the population fed, otherwise you could be on the end of a very nasty revolution. All the games are available from the Visions' Software Factory or from most High Street retailers.

Crash

Use of Computer 80%

Graphics 79%

Playability 73%

Getting Started 82%

Addictive Qualities 68%

Value For Money 68%

Overall 75%

Unknown

Unknown

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Producer: Vision Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £6.95 Language: Machine code Author: Kevin Bezant Subtitled 'Ten Years After', 1984 is set in a nightmare world where computers trap people. You are Smiffy, and you've just about had enough of the Central Computer so you decide to go and switch it off. Naturally enough the computer has other ideas and plenty of defences like cameras that throw plasma bolts at you. This is a platform game with lifts and numerous bonus objects as well as hazards on route. The various lifts have electrified bases, so stepping onto one has to be well timed in order not to fry, and the screens are constructed in such a way that several lifts have to be employed, or the same two several times. On each but the last two screens the object is to get the key and put it in the keyhole to get to the next level, and do this by jumping over the jellydroids (a trifle annoying) and avoiding the harmless but annoying eagle which carries you back to the beginning again if it catches you. Each time you bump into a jelly droid or one of the pingpong plasma bolts some energy is drained. When this has gone a further contact results in an explosion. COMMENTS Control keys: 617 left/right, 0 jump Joystick: none, doesn't need it Keyboard play: responsive, but watch out for jump timing Colour: excellent Graphics: varied, detailed and reasonably smooth Sound: good Skill levels: 1 Lives: 3 (officially) Screens: 8

10 years after - coiled springs and ping-pong balls rule - OK?