Nicotine Nightmare

Sinclair User

Overall 2/5

Clare Edgeley 2/5

Publisher: Atlantis Price: £2.99 Memory: 48K Joystick: Kempston This game is sufficiently unplayable to send any non-smoker straight back to the pack. It is boring, slow and written in Basic. The ultimate aim is to rid the world of cigarettes. Before stamping out the fag factory you have to prove your determination in a silly little test 20 which is virtually impossible to complete. Extinguish six cigarettes out of 10 happily burning ones. Every time you pour water over a glowing tip a little demon creeps up to the sodden dog-end and relights it. Perseverance finally pays off and the next task is to get into the factory. Dodge and jump rolling cigarettes and the irate shop steward, and turn off all the cigarette machines. More could have been made of Nicotine Nightmare. The pace, graphics and feel of the game is about two years out of date.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Graphics 6/10

Sound 5/10

Value 7/10

Playability 7/10

MACHINE: Spectrum SUPPLIER: Atlantis PRICE: £2.99 Save the world from the evil weed - tobacco, that is. Your task is to break into the cigarette factory and work your way through the various departments switching off the production lines and bringing the factory to a halt. An arcade adventure that's a bit of a wheeze. Soon to be released for the Amstrad.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT Buying computer games can be an expensive business. Some can cost anything up to £14. To buy all the latest titles as they come onto the market would cost a small fortune. And that's beyond the pocket of most people. So it's no wonder that software companies have started producing a range of games costing no more than a couple of pounds. Unfortunately, besides being cheap, some were very nasty and a waste of money. It seemed far better to save up and buy a top price game. But such is the potential of the market that the quality of the games has improved while the prices have been kept low. So Computer & Video Games thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at some of the current budget games on the market from software houses. Firebird, British Telecom's software company, is now in the process of updating its Silver catalogue which was launched in October 1984 with great success, with all the games selling for £2.50. Star of the original 20 titles was undoubtedly Booty on the Spectrum 48k and Commodore 64 which, claims Firebird, has sales now in excess of 100,000. It's now being converted to the Amstrad and should be available by late summer. In Booty, Jim the cabin boy faces death by drowning or at the hands of the Ghost Pirate as he searches through the hold of the Black Galleon in search of treasure. Another favourite is Gogo the Ghost on the Commodore 64 which has, believe it or not, 150 frames of haunted happenings. New games shortly to be introduced into the Silver range are Microcosm for the BBC B, Subsunk for the Commodore 64 and Don't Panic for the 16k and 48k Spectrum. Mastertronic, formed in April 1984, now claims to be the brand leader in budget games - its extensive range sells for just £1.99 each. In its first 12 months of trading, Mastertronic says it has audited figures of sales for two million games. New developments for 1985 in the £1.99 range include two semi-educational games in its Mistertronic titles - Make Music with Mistertronic and Type Rope - aimed at the six to 11 age range. Earlier this year, Atlantis Software launched three games under its new Atlantis Gold label, selling at £2.99 each. They were the Dungeons and Dragons-style Adventure Velnor's Lair for the Commodore 64 and Nicotine Nightmare and Self Destruct, both on the Spectrum 48k. The last two have proved so popular that Atlantis is in the process of converting them for the Amstrad - a move which again points to the growing popularity of the machine. Mike Cole, of Atlantis, says: "We believe in the Amstrad as the next thing to come. It's a lovely machine. We will be supporting it." Being launched this spring is The Sparkler range of games from Creative Sparks at £2.50. Sandy Mackenzie, of Creative Sparks, says: "There is a a need to supply good quality software at prices affordable to kids". The company's decision to produce cheap software was prompted to a great extent by the large number of excellent games sent in by amateur writers. "By promoting games in the budget range," says Sandy, "we are opening the industry to new talent, and also serving the interest of games buyers by publishing good games at reasonable prices. After all, low prices doesn't have to mean low quality." Soit seems that pocket-money power is being recognised at last and computer star wars could soon become computer price wars. About time, too!

Your Computer

Overall 3/5

ZX Spectrum Anti-smoking Atlantis £2.99 Should deter dad from blowing smoke all over you when you're trying to use the Spectrum. First you have to put out six cigarettes, then you have to find your way into the evil cigarette factory and stop them making the little gaspers. Graphics are a little primitive, but not bad value for the price of two packets of fags.

Sinclair Programs

Rating 34%

Colette McDermott 34%

PRICE: £2.99 GAME TYPE: Arcade Save the world from the Evil Weed! Your aim in Nicotine Nightmare is to stamp out all cigarettes by bringing an entire cigarette factory grinding to a standstill. The game begins with smouldering cigarettes on screen. You must douse six to escape before any one of the cigarettes burn out. This short sequence is supposed to test your commitment to stamping out smoking. What it in fact tests is your patience, as cigarettes appear to light spontaneously and some refuse to be doused. The main body of the game takes you through the factory which is built in a style reminiscent of Manic Miner. Accurate movement is difficult although, in many cases, the game requires absolute accuracy. Frustrating rather than fun, Nicotine Nightmare is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Atlantis Software, [redacted].

Crash

Use of Computer 70%

Graphics 71%

Playability 78%

Getting Started 84%

Addictive Qualities 62%

Value For Money 88%

Overall 78%

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Atlantis Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £2.99 Language: Machine code This is the Atlantis contribution to the anti-smoking campaign, not perhaps as revolutionary as banning smoking on the London Underground but it is just as frustrating. The first page of the program reproduces the Government health warning together with some spiel asking if the player was sincere in wanting to banish smoking from the face of the Earth. Replying 'N' results in nothing. Before you can start the actual game you will be given a test to determine if you are the sort of person who could bear up while under the sort of pressure experienced by antismoking agents across the world. The literature explains that the first game is to test the player's 'strength of character and determination to stamp out the evil weed'. The game involves guiding a little man up and down the screen. There are five on each side of him, with the aid of watering cans he has to put out six cigarettes periodically returning to the bottom to refill with water. A little chap in red, the fiery devil, is dashing around like a lunatic re-lighting them, seemingly faster than the player can put them out. Should one of the cigarettes burn down then you have failed the test and will have to take a re-sit. Should you make it past the first game then you will allowed out on your mission; to shut down the cigarette plant. First you must guide your man into the plant and through each of the departments. As you make your way you will have to avoid obstacles such as a cascade of cigarettes, water traps and revolving doors. On your journey you will be required to find the numerous switches that will eventually shut the plant down. As you discover each switch and turn it off the entrance to the next screen will be revealed. Each new stage of the game presents you with different obstacles, the switches become harder to find let alone get to. There is a little chap who will be trying to stop you in your endeavours, the factory manager, if you succeed he will lose his job so it's in his interests to interfere with you as much as he can. When the plant is closed down then you will have succeeded in your mission. Should you use up your five lives you will be awarded a score, this is given as a percentage and depends on the degree of damage inflicted. COMMENTS Control keys: Q/A up/down M/N left/right SPACE to jump Joystick: Kempston Keyboard play: M/N keys the wrong way round otherwise responds well Use of colour: effective Graphics: effective but basic Sound: nothing adventurous here Skill levels: 1 Lives: 5 in main game Screens: scrolling screens

Giving up the weed may be a nightmare but playing computer games can seriously damage your health.