Backpackers Guide to the Universe

ZX Computing

Instructions 90%

Addictability 90%

Graphics 90%

Value For Money 85%

ZXC Factor 8/10

David Harwood 8/10

This game bears no relation whatsoever to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, which I am sure is where Fantasy Software pinched this title from. Side one of the tape is the GUIDE, which takes you pleasantly through your mission of saving the creatures on this planet, where the evil Scarthax threatens to pull the plug out in 24 hours time, and a magnified picture of each creature is given, along with a description. Side two of the tape is the actual game, and you start off by selecting either the keyboard or joystick option and then fire away. You are equipped with one of the most advanced creations of our time, the backpack, which takes you around the planet, provides storage for the creatures and a flame thrower, which is your only weapon in your plight. Damage to the backpack will not only take you back to the ship for repair, but also if too much activity occurs while fighting the fireball enemy, the creatures that you have saved will perish, and you will have to start afresh. You can also choose to go back to the capsule for repair, but as there is a time limit of 12 hours per game and repair always costs time, it is advisable to do this only when absolutely necessary. As you travel along the passages of the planet, various objects can be picked up for later use, keys, indicator discs, which will help you find the location of the exit key, transporter crystals and dynamite. All these will help you travel across the planet and rescue as many creatures as possible. At the end of the adventure, when you go back to the capsule for backpack repair, a score is given and also the option to save the state of the game so far. This game is truly another arcade adventure and although the graphics are not up to the standard of Ultimate, they are still superb. The security coding at the beginning of the game is a very good idea, where you have to enter a code from a special grid, but I did find it a trifle confusing.

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 6/10

Richard Price 6/10

BACKPACKERS GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE Fantasy Software Memory: 48K Price: £7.50 Joystick: Protek, Kempston, Sinclair. Meet Ziggy - again - as he takes on the role of a metagalactic zookeeper. Having found the dread Scarthax is out to pull the plug on the universe, our hero is visiting Thallis, Planet of Exile. Here are assorted caged monsters who may prove some use against the great adversary. Caverns measureless to man stretch out in screen after screen of graphics and poor Ziggy, bless his little backpack, has to go round getting the beasts and returning them to his module back at the entrance. The reverse of the cassette contains the Guide itself which describes a variety of mainly unpleasant beasts such as the Pricklepuss. Dedicated followers of Ziggy are bound to enjoy it and the tasks are complicated without being impossible. Those not so dedicated may find it all a yawn. If you can't manage to get the animals back to your module you can always see how many screens you can get through. It numbs the brain after a while and should appeal strongly to ashen-faced arcade freaks.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 8/10

Sound 0/10

Originality 7/10

Lasting Interest 7/10

Overall 7/10

Martyn Smith

Peter Connor 7/10

Steve Perkins

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K CONTROL: Joystick FROM: Fantasy, £7.50 The scenario pits Fantasy's hero Ziggy against the 'infinitely evil Scarthax' who has found the Great Plug of the universe and is threatening to send the whole of creation down the drainpipe. Ziggy's not the sort to take this lightly. He accepts the challenge to tackle Scarthax - but he only has twelve hours to do so. Arriving on the planet of Thallis he has to assemble a hit squad of creatures. Details of these are found on the flip side of the tape in the Backpackers Guide. They include such weirdos as the schizoid Double Headed Emu of Thwark, the paranoid Googly Bird and the disgusting Snottoid. Ziggy's backpack is singularly capacious: he can store all eleven critturs at the same time. Unfortunately they don't all rub along together very well - they may eat each other -and they all require different diets. Working all this out, as well as finding them, is what this first part of the projected Backpackers trilogy is all about. Thallis consists of a huge underground maze, with lots of colourful flora - but fauna is a little thin on the ground. As Ziggy goes hovering around he has to shoot aliens: but these are just rudimentary balls and become very boring indeed. Even worse, there's no sound at all in the program. This is not a game which you could call exciting. It requires patient exploration, map-making and note-taking in order to work out the various combinations of animals you can carry. The absence of sound is a disappointment, as is the fact that Ziggy's backpack is not yet convertible to submarine or buggy - we'll have to wait for parts two and three for that. Backpackers is not going to give instant fun, and will appeal more to those with time and tenacity to spare.

Crash

Use of Computer 82%

Graphics 87%

Playability 81%

Getting Started 90%

Addictive Qualities 78%

Value For Money 80%

Overall 83%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Fantasy Software Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £7.50 Language: Machine code Author: Bob Hamilton In collating this review the office was full of odd sounding comments like, 'What's a Googly Bird like to do?' Reply: 'Sleep mostly - with it, because Fluffels lick everything to death.' There was a time when army commanders were cautioned to make sure their men looked after their feet properly and everything else would be okay. That was in the days when men marched everywhere. The old caution is a good pointer to playing Backpackers Guide to the Universe, because in Part 1, your main task is to collect a hit squad of wierd aliens who have been isolated in cages on the Planet of Exile, in order to go up against the egregious Scarthax who is threatening to pull the Great Plug of the Universe. Fantasy's favourite hero Ziggy is back in the saddle - or to be more accurate - in the harness of his backpack. The backpack is quite a marvellous invention (see the October issue of CRASH for more details!), which is capable of holds all the various wierdos that Ziggy frees. The problem is knowing what also to collect to both feed them and keep them happy so that they won't die of heartbreak or become a meal for some other creature. To help you in your nurse-maiding task is the Backpackers Guide which is located on the reverse side of the cassette from the actual game. This colourful device will introduce you to the creatures and their needs. Ziggy's backpack also allows him to fly about, but it uses up more energy than walking, as does use of the flamethrower which deflects the wraiths that flit about the planet's caverns. Contact with the wraiths also depletes energy. When the energy runs too low you will be beamed back to the main capsule and repair time is added onto your overall playing time. This is the interesting facet of Backpackers. The three projected parts must add up to only the 24 hours Scarthax has given the Universe before he pulls the plug. To have any hope of getting through to complete all three parts you must complete part one in under 12 hours (real time), which is why something like backpack repair time is important. At any time during play you can press SYM SHIFT and a blue status box appears with scrolling information. This informs you of amount of backpack damage and interesting details like how your creatures are doing. Backpackers Guide to the Universe Part One is played in a giant complex of caverns, a large maze, in which keys and useful objects constitute a large adventure and strategy element. COMMENTS Control keys: O/P left/right, Q/A up/down, bottom row to fire (when flying) and to pick up (when walking), BREAK to beam back to capsule, SYM SHIFT for status report Joystick: Sinclair 2, Protek, AGE, Kempston Keyboard play: responsive and well laid out Use of colour: excellent Graphics: excellent, imaginative and varied Sound: none Skill levels: 1 Lives: N/A Screens: not known, but loads Special features: game on Side 1, guide on side 2 of the tape

Just one of many zoologists dreams.

Knock knock, what's there.

Sinclair Programs

Rating 75%

June Mortimer 75%

GAME TYPE: Maze You remember Ziggy, star of The Pyramid, and Doomsday Castle. Now he is back. In a game entitled Backpacker's Guide to the Universe, part 1. A title very similar to that of a well-known radio program, book, record and television program . Ziggy's aim is, naturally, to save the universe, although his method or doing so is a little bizarre. Moving around a maze of underground passages, he must collect all the strange creatures he finds there, and return them to his ship. As Ziggy left his ship, a giant stalactite fell, blocking his way back. He can beam his way back, using his backpack, but this is only possible four times. Either he must find the key which will allow him to pass the stalactite, or he must be very careful which animals he stores in his backpack. Some will kill each other, some will kill themselves, and some will simply die. Produced for the 48K Spectrum by Fantasy Software, [redacted].

Your Computer

Overall 2/5

Spectrum 48K Fantasy Software £7.50 A real Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy game is rumoured to be on the way from Douglas Adams. Fantasy have made an attempt to cash in on a cult - but the game and the name are mutually irrelevant. No jokes, primitive sub-Atic-Atac graphics. More complex than previous "Ziggy" games.

Personal Computer News

Overall 8/10

David Guest 8/10

PRICE: £7.50 PUBLISHER: Fantasy Software [redacted] Navigate caverns, avoid free-floating obstacles, collect items, decipher clues, and return triumphant to safety. It's a familiar recipe, but you may not have seen it served up as well as this for the Spectrum before. The backpacker is Ziggy, faced not by the Universe but by the superbly designed Caverns of Exile. Ring wraiths patrol the caverns, where exotic creatures are exiled among the iridescent stalagmites and corals. The scrolling is smooth and Ziggy's progress, whether on foot or through the air by jet-pack, is a treat to watch. His flame-thrower flickers like a lizard's tongue. The game comes with more information than you can take in immediately. Coast through it a few times, rattling around the caverns like a pin-ball. Items go into Ziggy's backpack. Symbol Shift gives you a progress report on their status, but don't be dismayed by the news that the Googly Bird has died of a nervous breakdown. It's quite happy decaying slowly in the backpack. Later the status report will add Flock to news of the Googly Bird's demise, suggesting that it was just hard luck that you picked up a neurotic specimen. Many of the game's best features turn up through trial and error. Short-cuts, barrier-breaching combinations of backpacked items, and hand-like rock formations all help you on your way. The time allowance is generous enough for you to take your time. The main point of frustration is that the flame-thrower doesn't settle the ring wraiths' hash for very long - next time you visit one of their screens, they're back on patrol intent on causing you even more trouble. Keys and a talisman are the ultimate objects of the game, and the talisman is due to come in handy when Part II is published. Part I should keep you entertained until then.

Your Spectrum

THE FALL AND RISE OF ZIGGY Armed with fresh inspiration, Fantasy Software has dug up cartoon character Ziggy for its new game The Backpacker's Guide To The Universe Part 1. Described as the first in a trilogy of games that step into the interactive arcade/adventure arena, you'll be treated to a wide variety of caverns to visit as you guide Ziggy in the ultimate quest. The idea here is that Scarthax - the villain of Doomsday Castle - has returned having located the great plug of the universe (another software house obsessed with bathroom humour? Ed.). Our intrepid hero Ziggy has a mere 24 hours to assemble his merry men, collect the 'one lock' and 'one key' (no, don't ask!) and then face Scarthax just in time to prevent Oh Evil One from pulling the plug on the universe. The game is a double-sider, the first side containing some very complex instructions, the other containing the game (with a brief summary of the weapons, etc, you have at your disposal available at the touch of a key). Fantasy is planning to give this one lots of customer support. It's even creating a Backpacker's Club where users can swop things. The Backpacker's Guide To The Universe Part 1 should have materialised in a micro shop near you. 42 I say!

One of the many colourful caverns Ziggy mut visit before he can save the universe.