Phantomas

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Graphics 6/10

Sound 3/10

Value 5/10

Playability 6/10

Brian (C+VG)

MACHINE: Spectrum SUPPLIER: Code Masters PRICE: £1.99 Code Masters must be using some sort of games designer program for their Spectrum games. The similarities between Phantomas and Vampire are many. The graphics are similar in style. Clouds in both programs are identaical. The gameplay in both is very similar. Even the way the energy levels are represented are the same and the rate of descents are identical. You play the part of Phantomas who comes from a far away galaxy. His only abilities are to rob and plunder wherever he goes. As Phantomas you must find the hidden treasure in the millionaire's mansion. To do this you must travel to the planet Earth-Gemma and search out the mansion using helicopters and planes. When you arrive at the mansion you must always be on the look out for trouble which includes boulders that chase your To help you in parts of the game there are riddles on the game cover. This is a good game but it is too much like Vampire. Let's hope they can find a new set of graphics to use in the next Spectrum release.

ZX ComputingZX Computing Globella

Overall Great

Codemasters £2.99 Phantomas is a mutant. No ordinary mutant mind, but one specialising in robbery, plunder and pillage intended for use in the battle of the red moons on Alpha Centauri, his talent for eluding capture has worked against his manufacturers and Phantomas escaped, becoming a free agent. Stories of great wealth abounded in the local press and one that particularly caught his eye was details of the miser Goldter's horde secreted somewhere in his mansion on the clone planet Earth-Gamma. Naturally, the mansion was designed to be burglar proof, but a little thing like that had never stopped Phantomas before. The mansion comes in three different parts. Parked outside are a variety of flying craft which will transport you to assorted outposts. Then there is the palace itself and an underground complex. In order to 'liberate' the strongbox, Phantomas must find and throw thirty-six levers scattered about the house and grounds. There are also jewels to be found but you must first solve two riddles if you are to succeed. The game features many other little twists. When you fly off in the helicopter, you see a switch lying next to a pile of machinery. Pull the switch and you are immediately pursued by a giant snowball. The only way of escape is by rapidly hitting two keys a la Daley Thompson's Decathlon. Energy cubes lie all over the place to replace whatever you lost in unfortunate collisions with the nasties. Another nice touch which separates this from run of the mill platform games is that Phantomas has two distinct types of jump available to him - a long jump for added distance and a high jump that enables him to leap tall buildings (well small obstacles really) at a single leap. There seems to be a trend at the moment for mixing platform games with arcade adventures in order to produce a new hybrid and Phantomas is definitely towards the top of the range. Full of original and inventive ideas, the eighty screens will keep you hunched over your keyboard for many a long hour.

Sinclair User

Overall 1/5

Graham Taylor 1/5

Label: Code Masters Author: Enrigue Cervera Price: £1.99 Memory: 48K/128K Joysticks: various Reviewer: Grhaam Taylor If I have to bounce my way around any more mansions looking for treasure and dodging obstacles I may go mad. Phantomas, one of the first releases from Codemasters, a whole new software label, has finally sent me over the edge... Screen after screen of funny (ie not funny) shaped objects hopping backwards and forwards, objects you need to collect that flash, things that must be jumped over. It goes on... I can't stand many more cute characters either. This one like an orange with feet and a beret leaps around unpredictably, the way the jump button is pressed seemingly having little relationship to the height of the jump. I tired too of backgrounds constructed of featureless bricks and steps that don't have any function because you can jump over them. There is, I suppose, something to be said for the sheer volume of material in the game, there are screens and screens of it. Three sections: one is a sort of junkyard of odd vehicles and rockets, the next is the palace and then there's the underground world. Eighty different rooms it says on the front of the box. proudly. Well, different is stretching a point a bit. It's more a case that the silly sprites all come in various guises...

Your Sinclair

Graphics 7/10

Playability 7/10

Value For Money 9/10

Addictiveness 8/10

Overall 7/10

Tommy Nash 7/10

Codemasters £1.99 Reviewer: Tommy Nash What d'you get it you cross Jet Set Willy with Daley Thompson's Decathlon? You get what? Leave this page at once, that's positively disgusting! Of course, you get Phantomas, one of the first releases from a new software house called Codemasters. And for an opener that won't rock your pocket. It's not at all bad. Yes, it's JSW only the sprites are a bit bigger. Plenty of nasties going up and down, plenty more going from right to left and plenty of platforms so that you can avoid them. Only one life though, but you can replenish your energy by picking up the little coloured squares that are scattered around the screens. And there are plenty of screens. You play the thief, Phantomas, out to 'alf-inch the jewels hidden on the planet. But first you have to get hold of the strongbox they're kept in by switching 36 separate levers. So, it's jump, dodge, switch on, swan out. Like all good platform games, it comes down to timing - in this case, have I got time for just one more go? But why? There's nothing really remarkable about the game. On a scale of one to ten it scores minus four for originality. Even some of the sprites are stolen straight from JSW. But it's fun with a capital Ph. And it's full of good things. Like the music. One of those tunes that you end up humming weeks later. Like Phantomas, a real nobody of a computer character. No body, just a head on a pair of feet. Like the variety of screens. Each one holds the promise of a surprise. And yes, like Daley Thompson. On one of the screens you're whisked away in a helicopter and deposited on a planet surface with yet another switch. Throw it and you're told that to run you need the keys V and B. Now run. If you don't you're squashed flat by a large rolling boulder. No body, no head, no game. This is one of the best arguments I've seen for still comparing budget games with the full-price stuff. There's a couple of days solid playing here at a quarter of the price. Sure, if you're heartily sick of Willy clones, steer clear. Otherwise, give it a spin. It doesn't rate a megagame; not nearly original enough. And it has a few annoying faults that would've been ironed out of a full-price game (I hope). But I'll play Phantomas again. Phor the sheer phun of it!

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Crash

Use of Computer 66%

Graphics 66%

Playability 61%

Getting Started 64%

Addictive Qualities 62%

Value For Money 70%

Overall 64%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Codemasters Retail Price: £1.99 Author: Phantomas' task in this game is to hunt out a millionaire's mansion and plunder to his heart's content. But before he can indulge in this financial fantasy he must face many dangers and, solve the odd riddle or two. All these weird and wonderful creatures must be avoided because they sap Phantomas' essential life energy. And as he only gets one life you must ensure that this energy doesn't go down to zero or the game will be prematurely ended. Phantomas's life force is indicated by a coloured bar at the bottom of the main screen. There are 36 levers on the planet Earth-Gamma. Each of these levers must be triggered. These levers are scattered throughout the labyrinth and Phantomas must switch them by jumping into them. Most of the levers are p protected by the moving nasties. Some of the other levers however, take some hunting for. Rides in helicopters and space rockets are just some of the ways Phantomas can be transported to these remote areas. Some of these locations are rigged with traps, like the huge rampaging boulder he meets after the helicopter ride. When Phantomas triggers this switch it releases a huge boulder which will crush the poor pilferer unless you're quick on those running keys and can get him successfully out of the screen. Once all 36 levers have been switched an alarm bell will sound Phantomas will get a big strong box (presumably to carry his treasures in) and secret doors will open. COMMENTS Control keys: definable Joystick: Kempston, Interface II, Cursor Keyboard play: probably easier Use of colour: rather jolly Graphics: rather flicker in places Sound: A really good un-Spectrumy tune at the beginning. Basic sound effects throughout Skill levels: one Screens: 80 separate rooms

Off on the rocket; where to next?