Athlete

ZX Computing

Clive Smith

To keep the Olympic spirit go out and buy this tape. There are five events which you can take part, 2 sprints, 2 hurdles (110 & 400 metres) and the hammer throw. In the track events you compete against two other athletes. To win each race you have to press a key which increases your effort as you run. Too much effort and you will fall flat on your face with exhaustion, too little effort and you come in last. A scale at the bottom of the screen shows you how much effort you are using and also a scale of what distance is left to run. In the hurdles you have another key to press to make your man jump. There are facilities for training and a choice of event. Graphically it's not bad but there is an awful lot of time wasted with menus between each event. Overall 'Good fun' and your money is not wasted. 'Athlete' is for the 48K owners only. £5.95.

Crash

Use of Computer 60%

Graphics 58%

Playability 47%

Getting Started 57%

Addictive Qualities 39%

Value For Money 45%

Overall 51%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Buffer Micro Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £5.50 Language: Machine code and BASIC Author: D. Webb Like Micro Olympics (Database, reviewed this issue), Athlete employs animated figures in the running events. These include the 100m and 400m sprint. the 110m and 400m hurdles. The only other event is the hammer throw. This is seen directly from above with the figure of the thrower as a pair of arms and a head in the circle. In the running events you compete against two other runners controlled by the computer - this is a single player game. There are two bar codes at the base, one for power and one indicating distance to go. The speed of your runner is key controlled, but judgement is required to ensure you don't run out of power before the race finishes. In the hurdles the jump key is used to get over the obstacles and power is again a factor in winning. In the hammer throw the character starts to spin and you must judge the right moment, as his speed increases, to loose the hammer. Waiting too long will result in a No Throw. Before each event, which follows on automatically from the other, you may select the skill level from 1 to 10. The hammer throw is interspersed between the other events. COMMENTS Control keys: 5 or 6/7 and 8 faster/slower, 0 to jump Joystick: AGF, Protek, Kempston, ZX 2 Keyboard play: responsive, easy to use Use of colour: not much Graphics: average to fair, reasonable animation Sound: very poor to none Skill levels: 10

One of the track events in Buffer's Athlete.

Yes, that's 'you', flat on your face after tripping over a hurdle.

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 3/10

Sound None

Originality 2/10

Lasting Interest 4/10

Overall 4/10

Bob Wade 4/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K CONTROL: Curs, Kemp, Sinc FROM: Buffer Micro, £5.50 Another in the spate of Track and Field copies, but this doesn't measure up to the arcade original or Micro Olympics, reviewed elsewhere in this issue. Five events have to be completed, the 100 metres, 400 metres, 110 metres hurdles and 400 metres hurdles against two opponents, and a hammer throw, the aim being to score as many points as possible. There is none of the adrenalin pumping thumping of keyboards or joysticks. Your speed in the races is determined by your chosen effort between one and nine. However you only have so much power to cover the distance and therefore have to ration your effort carefully. It makes the game less harsh on the hardware and more dependent on skill rather than on wrist power. But this also means it is far less exciting. The program runs through the title screens for every event and you can spend almost as much time waiting for these as you can playing the game. The limitations of power mean you spend most of the running races just watching three badly animated men jogging across a white picture with two lines across it. No grass, no crowd, no distance markers, no sound. Nothing to get even my Grandad's pacemaker beating faster. The hurdles involve rather more skill - you have to time jumps carefully to clear them. But your character gets hidden by the hurdles when leaping them and disappears completely if he falls over one. You also collapse in a heap if you run out of power, which is all too easy to do with your apparently feeble resources. The hammer throw is the most enjoyable event. It's fun carefully timing the release of the weight - but one good event can't make up for the inadequacies of the rest of the program.