Loco-Motion

Sinclair User

Overall 4/5

Clare Edgeley 4/5

Publisher: Mastertronic Price: £2.50 Memory: 48K Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair, Fuller A gem has turned up in Mastertronic's range of budget software. Locomotion is similar to Incentive's Confuzion, which itself was by no means original. Despite that it is surprisingly addictive with well graded difficulty levels. You are a track layer on the railways trying to lay a section of track ahead of a train before it catches up and goes off the rails. The track is lying around in jumbled sections and you have to create order from chaos in the same way as those slide puzzles where you have one empty space into which to move the tiles. Assembling the track within the time limit is simple at first but as you move from London to the continent, the tracks from Paris and other stations become progressively more difficult to unjumble and piece together. The game can be slowed down by depressing the fire button - that will give you one minute's breathing space before the train charges ahead at full speed. Coal and water should be laid along the train's route when ever possible to earn bonus points. Up to four players can play this simple game which for its price is a bargain. Well worth digging into your pockets for.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Sinclair Programs

Rating 59%

Colette McDermott 59%

PRICE: £1.99 Remember those sliding puzzles you used to win as prizes in lucky dips, or buy for a few pence in the shop on the corner? They contained 15 plastic squares and one empty space. By sliding the squares into the space you could form them into a picture. Mastertronic have taken up this theme with Locomotion. The idea is introduced by an excellent loading screen which starts with a mixed up picture and then shuffles the elements around until the screen is complete. The aim of the game is to move your train from the top left to the bottom right of the screen by sliding tracks around to keep it on the rails. Moving the track would be straightforward if it were possible to keep a level head, but the train keeps moving, and the pressure is on all the time. As the levels progress the track becomes more confused and obstacles such as trees begin to appear more frequently. Eventually it is necessary to push the pause button which allows you to hold the train for a minute whilst you frantically push track around. A gripping game, excellent value for money, Locomotion is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Mastertronic, [redacted].

Crash

Use of Computer 79%

Graphics 60%

Playability 75%

Getting Started 80%

Addictive Qualities 72%

Value For Money 88%

Overall 81%

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Producer: Mastertronic Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £1.99 Language: Machine code Author: M Child and P Bates Crossing Europe by train is a chancy move, now Mastertronic set out to convince us that it safer by car, even across France. Locomotion is based on a train race across Europe, through ten of its major cities in fact. The game really seems to capture the European spirit - as you journey city to city you will find that the locals have torn up and rearranged the tracks, they have even gone so far as to place themselves, their cars and sundry objects in the way. The playing area consists of a box with 55 squares, one of which is left empty to allow room for the others to be shuffled about. On most of the boxes there is a piece of track, it may be a bend a 'T' junction or simply a straight piece. The player must re-arrange the boxes so that the track is continuous, thus allowing the train to make its way to the next station. As each screen is completed more track boxes are replaced with obstacle boxes which include cars, trees, boulders and Europeans. Clearly these cannot be included in the track so they must be kept out of the way. The more squares that the train crosses the more points are awarded to the player and extra points are given for passing through squares with water or coal symbols. The puzzle is very difficult to solve and quick thinking is essential to build up a complete unbroken line. The authors have thoughtfully included a feature that will arrest the trains progress while you think, but even so you are only allowed one minute between stations. Most of the screen is taken up with the playing area, however, on the right hand side the name of the destination station is given, below that a clock shows how much of pause time you have used and the number of lives remaining. Initially each of up to four players have three lives each. COMMENTS Control keys: cursor keys Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2, Fuller Keyboard play: very quick Use of colour: fairly simple Graphics: smooth neat and clear Sound: little but good Skill levels: 1 but each screen gets harder Lives: 3 Screens: 10 Special features: a superb 'trick' loading screen which describes the game idea excellently - a bit time consuming though

A nightmare network of lines, curves, points and cross-overs.

Three stages in the clever loading screen for LOCOMOTION.