Mr. Wong's Loopy Laundry

Your Spectrum

Alan Grier HIT

Alan Hunter HIT

Alex Entwhistle MISS

JOYSTICK JURY On the jury this month are Alex Entwhistle, Alan Grier and Alan Hunter - all members of the Saltcoats Computer Club. Meeting every Tuesday evening (7.10pm) at the Argyle Centre, [redacted]. Contact Daniel Canavin on [redacted] if you'd like to join them. MR WONG'S LOOPY LAUNDRY Artic £6.95 Mr Wong is being chased by a clothes iron, a stack of dirty washing and even soap suds, as he tries to collect the laundry. So it's up to you to help him out by spraying his pursuers with starch to stun them.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 5/10

SOAP OPERA UNINSPIRED Memory: 16K/48K Price: £6.95 Joystick: Cursor, Kempston, ZX Interface Welcome to the Artic Computing loopy laundry. If you expect to do any washing, however, you had better forget it unless you are very fast on your feet. Mr Wong's Loopy Laundry, for the 48K Spectrum, is too much like the last Artic game, Bear Bovver, to be a great step forward in games software. The idea is to rush round the platforms and up the ladders, gathering clothes and depositing them down the chute at the top of the screen. Unfortunately there are soap suds, a giant iron and a dirty bag of laundry waiting to pounce on you if you cannot avoid them. You can turn the wayward washing utensils stiff by blasting starch in their direction, although you must be careful not to exhaust your supply of powder. The game is good clean fun but is unlikely to be a best-seller. The graphics flicker and the actions you have to perform are repetitive. It might appeal to children but even they might be washboard-stiff after a time.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Crash

Use of Computer 65%

Graphics 69%

Playability 62%

Getting Started 68%

Addictive Qualities 55%

Value For Money 55%

Overall 62%

Unknown

Unknown

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Producer: Artic Computing Memory Required: 16K Retail Price: £5.95 Language: Machine code Author: J. Prince Computer games do seem to run in cycles - now it's the turn of the Chinese with Ocean's Chinese Juggler and Artic's Loopy Laundry. Mercifully, considering the verbal possibilities, Artic have contented themselves with a very short scenario on the inlay, merely pointing out that as Mr Wong contends with the laundry, he also chased by soapsuds, an iron and a bag of dirty laundry. The laundry takes the form of a very traditional looking five platform game with between two or three ladders connecting each floor. To the right of the screen a laundry chute runs from top floor to the bottom and it is into this chute on the top floor, that the items of clothing to be found, must be flung. Mr Wong is only able to carry one item at a time (presumably underlining that famous old Chinese proverb about many hands making light work). He is aided in his oriental perambulations by starch, which may be fired at the pursuing laundromaniacs, stiffening their resolve but freezing their action for a few precious moments. The starch, however, runs out very quickly and leaves Mr Wong vulnerable until a new box appears on the screen somewhere. To be active it must be collected before it vanishes again. On the ground floor there is a washing line stretched out which shows the items of clothing that must be collected. These float around (unmoving) on the different floors. A busy washing machine calculates points remaining, which start at 990 and tick down. COMMENTS Control keys: Q/A up/down, O/P left/right, bottom row to fire starch Joystick: Kempston, ZX 2, AGF, Protek Keyboard play: responsive and sensible positions Use of colour: very good and varied Graphics: good, smooth and well detailed Sound: average Skill levels: 1 with increasingly difficult screens Lives: 5 Screens: 1 Originality: a variation on the 'Panic' platform type

Velly crean wash in Mr Wong's Loopy Laundry, but the starch is velly stlong.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Getting Started 8/10

Graphics 8/10

Value 8/10

Playability 8/10

MACHINE: Spectrum SUPPLIER: Artic PRICE: £6.95 A rather wishy-washy game is this latest from Artic - the company that did for the articulated lorry what Esther Rantzen did for dental Surgery. It's a climbing game - a mixture of Donkey Kong and Burger-time but based around washing and laundry. You take the part of Mr Wong and your job is to collect the various pieces of laundry which are scattered around the screen. You then have to return to the top of the screen and tip the garments into the chute. There are about half a dozen items on screen one and this number increases on following screens. You have to collect the items one at a time. If you are carrying something, then you'll have to drop it into the chute before you can collect another. The only entrance to the chute is at the top of the screen which is quite annoying. The Burgertime aspect is apparent in two places. Chasing you round the screen are an iron, a sack of laundry and a froth of soap suds. These may not be as tasty as sausages, tomatoes and chips but the way they move is very similar. Your defence against these hazards is a box of starch. A box is good for five shakes and a quick shake in the right place will paralyse a pursuing enemy. When stocks of starch fall low, a new box will appear and you have a limited time in which to pick it up. This is a good game. There's not much variety, though, as the screens are all very similar. The only difference between screens one and two is a slightly different layout of the ladders and the introduction of an extra nasty. Control is via a Kempston or Interface 2 joystick. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard. The keys are well laid out and easy to lay fingers on in a hurry. As it says on the cassette inlay, it's all good clean fun.