Morris Meets the Bikers

Crash

Overall 74%

Producer: Automata, 16K £6.00 (1) Author: S Curtis Automata aren't noted for bringing out arcade games, but true to the company's mad hatter image, Morris is loopy and original. It's also a very good arcade game. Morris (a car) is shut in a nightmarish concrete multi-storey car park with several ramps connected by two creaky lifts. The car park is full of hazards like tyre clamps, tin tacks, parking fees and carbon monoxide fumes, all of which make Morris feel very sick. Worst of all are the kamikaze bikers of the title, who roar around the place. Morris has a weapon - a magic horn. You must make him travel the car park to collect enough coins to be able to get through the exit barrier. Unpaid-for exits result in sudden death. Should you succeed there are eight more car parks, each worse than the other. A dubious bonus is the hit single 'Leader of the Pac' on the reverse side of the tape by Lady Sinclive and Pimen. User-defined control keys, joystick: Kempston or AGF & Protek via user-defined cursors. A good game with an overall CRASH rating of 74%.

Crash

Use of Computer 80%

Graphics 75%

Playability 80%

Getting Started 70%

Addictive Qualities 65%

Value For Money 75%

Overall 74%

Unknown

Unknown

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Producer: Automata Memory Required: 16K Recommended Retail Price: £6.00 Language: machine code Author: S Curtis Automata aren't exactly noted for bringing out many arcade games, preferring their obscurantist misadventures like Pimania and Groucho. So it's really thrilling to get a zappo game from them - mind you, you can't get away from the PiMan that easily because he's the owner of Morris of the title. And as an added bonus, in answer to those record companies who keep boring us with their computer programs on the flip sides of hit records, Automata gives you, absolutely free, a tasteful rendition of Leader of the Pac by the incredible Lady Sinclive and the PiMen. If you're into biker songs and butchery then you'll love this hit single (say no more!) Morris has been abandoned in a multi-storey car park and he's desperate to get out (he gets claustrophobia). Your task as Morris is to drive around the car park collecting coins (you need ten) to feed into the slot on the closed barrier. Unfortunately the Phaantom, Phreaky, Phearsome kamikaze bikers from the planet of Morris Minor are loose in the car park and running into them causes severe loss of life (yours, of course). Additional hazards are walls, tyre clamps, carbon monoxide fumes, tin tacks and huge parking fees. All this drama is played out against a background of falling fuel supply and the hard concrete of an uncaring car park. The only way between multi-story levels is to use the rather unreliable lifts at either side. Should you be clever enough to collect sufficient coins you may leave the car park by the exit at the bottom right of screen which promptly dumps you in another car park. There are nine in all. You do have one weapon at least - a magic horn which zaps the bikers. COMMENTS Keyboard positions: user-defined five keys Joystick options: Kempston, although AGF and Protek with user-defined keys possible Keyboard play: responsive Use of colour: average Graphics: good Sound: good Skill levels: gets harder with each screen Screens: nine Lives: four

MORRIS MEETS THE BIKERS in the largest N.C.P. in the world.

Personal Computer News

Lasting Appeal 2/5

Playability 2/5

Use Of Machine 3/5

Value For Money 2/5

Mike Gerrard 2/5

NAME: Morris Meets The Bikers SYSTEM: Any Spectrum PRICE: £6 PUBLISHER: Automata UK Ltd, [redacted] FORMAT: Cassette LANGUAGE: Machine code OUTLETS: Mail order MORRIS ASKANCE We're suffering from a case of Morris Invaders - after Maurice Minor for the Dragon 32 comes this arcade-type game in which the family favourite does battle with the leather-jacketed bikers. OBJECTIVES You're in a six-storey car park and must exit at bottom right, avoiding hazards and collecting enough coins to pay your parking fees. There are nine screens to get through before you reach freedom. IN PLAY Morris begins at the top left of the screen, and down either side are travel lifts, which he uses to get from one floor to another. You choose which keys you want to use for moving Morris and firing or, in this case, parping. Before you can exit to the next screen you must collect ten coins which appear randomly one at a time on the various levels. You have to collect each coin, and if you try to exit without all ten coins you lose one of your five lives. You have to keep an eye on the fuel gauge, of course, and collect the cans of fuel which appear. Having worked out what to collect you must then work out what to avoid. Only by playing the game do you discover that the flashing horseshoe shapes are wheelclamps which hold you still fora few seconds, while the double-prongs are tin tacks which slow down your speed. The two lifts start at slightly different levels but can be lined up simply by riding one of them to the top. Brick walls block off some levels on each screen, and there are 'P' for parking signs which remove some of your collected coinage when you drive over them. There's no way of avoiding the hazards completely as coins frequently appear between a hazard and a wall. And finally there are the bikers. These ride from side to side on all levels save the bottom one where you have a free run to the exit. They move at the same speed as Morris (unless he's been tin-tacked) and can be blasted out of existence with a beep from his horn. You can be almost at the safety of the lift when a biker appears from nowhere and you're a gonner. You can't continually sound your horn as you don't move while it's beeping. VERDICT After the pottiness of Pimania and the glories of Groucho I was disappointed to see Automata putting out a run-of-the-mill arcade game. After just a few plays I'd progressed to the fifth of the nine screens, so ace games players should polish this off in no time. It's a silly game in the wrong sense of the word.