Splat!

Your Sinclair

Life Expectancy 70%

Graphics 45%

Addictiveness 79%

Instant Appeal 62%

Overall 68%

Jon Pillar 68%

SAM CENTRE Salutations SAM fans! It's time to wave your arms in the air and welcome JON PILLAR. Hurrah! SPLAT! Revelation £7.99 Reviewer: Jon Pillar More raiding of the Speccy back-catalogue with this SAM adaptation of the game that launched Incentive. You play Zippy, a sort of sentient 'X', who has to traverse a giant maze eating grass and plums. Hmmm. The big prob is that the maze is moving independently of old Zip, so that you're constantly in danger of being squashed against the walls. Later levels have water traps and stun tiles, but your biggest enemy is always the maze, or rather mazes. Y'see, this version has two completely new and even trickier landscapes thrown in. As regards presentation, there's a jolly, upbeat music track, but the graphics are rubbish. There's no animation and the scrolling is blocky and jerky. To be fair, this was true of the Speccy version, and anyway, in this sort of game the graphics take a back seat to the gameplay. This is old-style, sweaty-palm business as you tear around the maze, never quite knowing if you can risk nipping down that corridor to grab those plums. The rough graphics belie the great playability, it really is incredibly addictive. And, as the maze moves pseudo-randomly, it's practically a different game each time. Having said all that, Splat! is a game based on a single idea, and one that can get somewhat repetitive after a surprisingly short time. On the whole a thumbs-up, but you'd do best to give it a try before you buy.

Capability Brown was the finest landscape gardener of his era. Here's his justifiably famous 'lozenge layout'.

Mr Brown was also an inveterate paddler and was quite a whizz with waterways, the more unnatural the better.

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Crash

Presentation 65%

Graphics 59%

Sound 81%

Playability 66%

Addictivity 71%

Overall 70%

Alan Green 60%

Mark Caswell 80%

SAM Revelation/Incentive £9.99 disk only Fancy getting plastered all over a garden hedge, drowned in a river or completely lost within a vast and hostile maze? ALAN GREEN's a bit of a closet masochist so he 'volunteered' to enter the labyrinth and check it all out... Cripes, the very thought of negotiating any sort of maze makes me go all weak at the knees (not to mention the head, but that's nothing new - Ed). I have enough trouble finding my way back from the toilet to my CRASH desk let alone navigating some immense version of Hampton Court gardens (that explains the soggy chair - Ed)! in Splat! the aim's to explore, survive and eat grass. Sounds like a Sixties' hippy in search of true liberation to me, but that's what you, as Zippy, have to do. You trundle around the maze, dodging all sorts of trouble and grazing on the patches of lush, green grass. No, you're not a cow, but Zippy sure ain't gonna win on the beauty stakes - he just a cross! Not a lot out of ten for inspiration, methinks. DIFFERENT MACHINE, SAME GAME The maze isn't exactly ordinary - hedges and walls automatically scroll as you play. And they're nasty, too, 'cos if Zippy touches one, it's SPLAT! - one dead cross (crucifying stuff, eh?). There are also spikes, running rivers end all kinds of other obstacles to avoid. Grass keeps the little chap going but for nutritional variety there's the odd plum scattered hers and there (I reckon he gets a better diet then our Pot Noodle-chomping CRASH crew). Seasoned Speccy owners will remember Zippy's exploits from the original. It's so old CRASH wasn't around when it was released (we're talking prehistoric!) but was considered a right royal corker for its time. This version, many years later and on a vastly superior machine (don't gloat, SAM owners!), is unfortunately pretty much the same. Aside from Zippy's lack of charisma, the rest of Splat! is also fairly dull. All the 'action' is depicted in a regressively crude blocky manner, and I've seen a more exciting choice of colours on an ancient Binatone console! TERRIBLE LOOKS, GOOD GAMEPLAY The randomly scrolling maze moves about as smoothly as a grasshopper, jumping from one position to the next in a frenzy of unpredictable movement. It's so hard to keep your attention on this migraine of a screen you'll probably get splatted in no time at all. The SAM version has a wistful little ditty that plays away to all this graphic mess, plus there's a snippet of digitised speech, but it's only Zippy going 'Yippee!' at the end of each level. That said, it can be quite addictive. You've really got to think fast if you want to survive all seven levels and escape from this vicious place. At the end of the day, I'd try and get hold of the old Speccy one - it's just as good and plenty cheaper.

A-MAZING stuff peeps. Let's all play running around aimlessly for hours, bashing our heads on environmentally friendly walls!

Everyone's got their cross to bear but actually being one must make you cross!

Round and round the mulberry bush like a jar of jam, then you fall down on your face, blimey that hurt - damn!

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Sinclair User

Graphics 44%

Sound 42%

Playability 72%

Lastability 70%

Overall 65%

Stephen Brentwood 65%

LABEL: Revelation MEMORY: 256K/512K DISK: £9.99 Ever thought the mazes in Gauntlet were tough? Well this game is tougher than old boots and win test your skills to breaking point! Cast your minds back a couple of years, and try to remember the Speccy classic, SPLAT! (Ask your big brothers about this one folks) This game has now been converted to SAM, and has captured the playability and addictiveness of the classic. The only differences this time around, are enhanced graphics, more levels, and a SAM-ised sound sample when you move onto higher levels. The aim of the game is, obviously, not to get erm, well, SPLATted!. To avoid this horrible fate stay within the boundaries of the screen for the length of the timer, and your skills will pay off by progressing to further levels. The playing screen displays a segment of a scrolling maze, you must move around this, avoiding walls and collecting bonus fruit and grass as you go along. But believe me it isn't simple. There are awkward obstacles to overcome (could have guessed that) including spikes and dead ends. Certain death will face you if you do not escape the maze quickly enough. There are also small streams and bridges to cross, so don't fall in. Although the graphics and sound are acceptable they don't go near the real capabilities of the SAM but this is generally made up for by good playability. Obstacles and bonuses are hidden in some levels, so learning by experience is the order of the day. If you want a game that's cheerful, fun and stands the test of time then SPLAT! could be the one for you.

A-maze-ing isn't it? Aggh.

Big bonus points boyo! How to survive Splat! and get high scores.

Hmm, where are my hedge clippers?

Crash

Nick Roberts

THE SAM PAGE Yippee! I'm back and I'm bad! And have I got some scrummy SAM news for you? (Yes.) Crash is the mag for SAM coverage, so put on your kinky boots and walk this way... SPLAT! Revelation £9.99 Another classic Spectrum game, this time the Incentive hit, Splat! You're Zippy, a character that can only be described as a 'thing', who has to escape from a really weird land. You've no control over the way the landscape scrolls, but you have to guide Zippy away from the walls and death! On the way out you can eat grass, plums and avoid traps like spikes and water. There are 21 levels to play, some of which are totally new!