Kosmic Kanga

Crash

Kosmic Kanga was a CRASH Smash in issue 7, but there is very little point doing more than to recall it since Micromania inconveniently went bust a couple of weeks ago, and at the moment we don't know the availability of their programs, including the recent Project Future.

Big K

Graphics 3/3

Addictiveness 3/3

Playability 3/3

Overall 3/3

Steve Keaton 3/3

MAKER: Micromania FORMAT: cassette PRICE: £5.95 After much beating about the bush, Micromania have finally delivered. Following a handful of passable (but unexciting) arcade conversions they've produced their own original game - and it's a winner! In it you must help Kanga, an alien Kangaroo, phone home. This involves leaping tall buildings (amongst other things) with a single bound and avoiding all manner of obstacles in the ensuing scenarios. These include an airport, where trucks and planes do their best to trundle over you; the ocean, where here crabs and squids lurk with deadly intent; through Atlantis, across a beach and then into the countryside. It's quite a journey! Thankfully you needn't rely on agility alone. When confronted by a deadly beach buggy (or similar) Kanga can unleash a flying boxing glove. Quite a potent weapon! I managed to hop through the airport without too much trouble, but those snappy crabs got me every time. The large cartoon graphics are excellent and Kosmic Kanga displays enough invention to disguise it's obvious Jet-Pac origins. It's also delightfully addictive. After 30 minutes of abject screen failure, I dug out my Kempston 'stick and found both success and motivation. After that there was no escape! The CBM can keep its mutant camels. Kangaroos are far more classy.

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 8/10

Sound 5/10

Originality 6/10

Lasting Interest 8/10

Overall 7/10

Bob Wade 7/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K CONTROL: Keys, Curs, Sinc FROM: Micromania, £5.95 A kangaroo... from space? Surely not. But there it was, bouncing around the moon in search of its spaceship. Kanga sets out from the Earth and has to bounce his way from screen to screen to journey to the moon. You bounce automatically and can jump higher or lower and backwards or forwards. Kanga starts at an airport and must get across it as it scrolls from right to left. On the way he can pick up bonus points by passing through bags, bottles and other airport paraphernalia. These can be on the ground, on the tops of buildings or suspended in the air on floating platforms. Meanwhile bombs, ambulances and aircraft must be avoided since they can interrupt him in mid-hop, costing a life in the process. The bombs must be carefully watched for since they can appear on platforms in place of bonus items. Most obstacles can be dealt with by firing boxing gloves at them. However bombs can't be 'knocked out' like this. If Kanga manages to survive his airport ordeal then he can proceed to further screens. These screens all follow the same pattern as the first but the other characters are changed. Every third screen is a platform screen where the usual opposition have been replaced by a bouncing ball which is just as lethal. If Kanga can get through the desert, ocean and other earthly hazards he'll eventually reach the moon and his spaceship. Like Poo-Yan, another game with a surreal scenario, I don't think it'll lead to a flood of imitations but as a one-off it's a very enjoyable game.

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 5/10

John Lambert 5/10

ROO LACKS PUNCH Memory: 48K Price: £5.95 Joystick: AGF, Protek, Kempston, Sinclair Micromania has raided the zoo again for ideas for its new game Kosmic Kanga. In it you control a Kangaroo, that moves along a scrolling landscape. By controlling the height of its bounces you can pick up objects and points, and try to avoid low-flying planes and ducks. To help you in that you can throw the traditional kangaroo boxing gloves at them. The action is smooth and all the sprites large and colourful. Controlling the kangaroo is rather haphazard and consequently zapping anything becomes a matter of luck as well as skill. When the sprites meet the colours clash very badly. Of 11 screens eight are the samc with different sprites for variety. All in all the game holds your attention for an hour or so but after that the interest wanes. There are many arcade games for the Spectrum, some good and some bad. At best this one is average. Nice graphics, shame about the game.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

CANNED KANGAROOS? One unlikely casualty of the home computer revolution could be the family pet or the local zoo. Games involving animals as the central character seem to be all the rage. Jeff Minter has been making a living out of mutant camels and laser spitting sheep for some time now. Animal lovers could easily be shocked by his treatment of furry beasts, but he claims he likes them really, having adopted a pet llama at his local zoo to prove it. So, with the British love of animals in mind, Micromania has now launched a game featuring Australia's second most famous export after Foster's - canned kangaroos. Kosmic Kanga is the story of a destitute kangaroo, left at an airport in a one-wallaby town. If anyone fancies a trip down under for £5.95 with their Spectrum, you can pick up a copy of Kosmic Kanga from Micromania in Epsom, Surrey.

CrashCrash Smash

Use of Computer 79%

Graphics 87%

Playability 89%

Getting Started 93%

Addictive Qualities 88%

Value For Money 89%

Overall 88%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Micromania Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £5.95 Language: Machine code Author: Dominic Wood, JPW Kosmic Kanga is an entirely novel game for the Spectrum by Dominic Wood who brought us Tutankhamun, Pengy and one of the best simple shoot em ups for the Stack Light Rifle, Invasion Force. All our reviewers agreed that this is not only a very original game, but also the best yet from Micromania. At the outset, we must point out that there aren't as many screens as were suggested in our competition earlier, the main reason being that in putting the original concept together as a completed program, Micromania felt that it was getting too unwieldy and spoiling the playability. The basic object of the game is to guide Kanga home, back to his base on the Moon. This takes him through eleven different screens; the Airport, the Desert, a bonus screen, the Ocean, Atlantis, a bonus screen, the Beach, the Country, a bonus screen, the City and finally the Moon. Each of the main screens is actually a very large playing area since they scroll from right to left for quite some time. Before each screen starts there is a status panel informing you of the nature of the enemies ahead and the objects to be collected, played to the tune of Tie me Kangaroo Down Sport. The bonus screens are only a screen wide, but they are designed to scroll vertically and so are quite high in total playing area. Kanga is controlled by his jumping. He can be moved left or right as far as the scrolling screen will allow, but there is considerable manoeuvring possible by making higher or lower jumps. Points are gained by collecting objects which may be on the ground, floating on clouds or on the backs of whales in the sea, they may be on the tops of tall buildings. Some objects are dangerous, like bombs, but the biggest danger comes from the various deadly objects which fly along with the screen scroll. For his protection, Kanga can do what Kangaroos have always done, hurl boxing gloves at his enemies. All the playing screens are shown in the excellent demo. COMMENTS Control keys: N/M left/right, increase jump = A, decrease height = Z, remaining keys on bottom row to throw a glove Joystick: Kempston, ZX 2, Protek, AGF Keyboard play: responsive, one reviewer thought they were all a little low down the keyboard Use of colour: very good Graphics: very good and varied, quite large Sound: good tune, nice effects, not continuous Skill levels: 1 Lives: 4 Screens: 11 with much greater playing area Originality: highly original

Tie me Kosmic Kangaroo down, Sport...

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition