Pi-In'Ere

Crash

Use of Computer 78%

Graphics 81%

Playability 79%

Getting Started 75%

Addictive Qualities 75%

Value For Money 76%

Overall 77%

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Producer: Automata UK Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £6.00 Language: Machine code Author: Jason Austin Burt has been miniaturised and injected into that favourite playland of so many programmers - a computer. His mission is to track down the Big areas of RAM, collecting all the objects in each memory location. There are a variety of minor bugs in each location. Red bugs have the power to tunnel after you, but the white, green and magenta bugs can only follow in your tunnels. Tunnelling under the edit keys, win cause them to fall, and if they fall on a bug, you send it back to its starting position and gain points. Lighting up the letters of the word EXTRA at the bottom of the screen gives you an extra life. COMMENTS Control keys: Q/A up/down, O/P left /right Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2, Cursor type Keyboard play: well placed and responsive Use of colour: very good Graphics: reasonable size, smooth and cheerful Sound: good tunes and spot effects Skill levels: 1 Lives: 5 Screens: 61

The start of the trouble in PI-IN-ERE, and the beginning of 61 screens of it.

ZX Computing

Instructions 90%

Presentation 95%

Addictability 95%

Value 95%

ZXC Factor 9/10

David Harwood 9/10

The last of the bunch is PI-IN'ERE by Automata U.K. Limited. Automata is a trendy company, doing to computers what the SEX PISTOLS did to music. PI-IN'ERE is another game where you have to go around screens and collect even the greatest 'Arcadist' among you, there should be no times of boredom. A nice feature of the game is that after all your lives have been used up, the next game can be started from the last visited screen or from afresh. This is a great idea and I hope that many more software authors will follow, as sometimes it can be tedious going through all the same screens when wanting to discover new. You can also save or load the last position and high score, which will stop you from going through 59 screens to get to the 60th each time. A random life will also be granted, if the word EXTRA is lit up at the bottom of the screen. The idea is as follows: You are Burt, who has been injected into the computer where his mission is to track down the elusive 'BIG BUG'. Isn't there one in every computer? As you go through many screens, collecting the various objects (I would love to know how milk bottles managed to get into the computer, but you cannot trust electronics all the time...), your progress is hindered by minor bugs, each with their own degree of intelligence. The red bug is able to tunnel after you, whereas the other three cannot. And then there are the EDIT keys, which when loosened from the walls, will give you an extra 30 points if they fall on a 'bug'. The only problem being that if they fall on you - BANG - a life gone. One unfair screen is when the EDIT key starts falling on you right at the beginning and you have to get out of the way immediately, or else! With clear but not too detailed graphics, with good sound and joystick option, with the wonderful music of just Kooks on the 'B-side' of the tape, a definite must for any computer game freak and lover of KOOL musik.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Graphics 8/10

Sound 8/10

Value 8/10

Playability 8/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48k SUPPLIER: Automata PRICE: £6.00 Automata getting desperate for Pi-sounding titles for their games. Quite what Pi in 'Ere has to do with a character called Burt hopping round the insides of a computer, I'm not sure. Oh, and before you ask, Burt isn't of the Q variety. He may have a big nose and look like a long lost cousin of the PiMan but he's been given a rest from jumping around a load of blocks and turning the air blue. Burt, so the story goes, has been miniaturised and placed in a computer. His task is to track down the Big Bug by exploring the various areas of the computer's memory and collecting the objects which lurk within. There a 61 different screens and, on your way to an encounter with the Big Bug, you'll meet lots of other nasties which have to be avoided. Although set in a computer, you wouldn't know it unless you read the inlay card. The graphics are good, though, especially the loading screen which has some cute pictures of the characters from the game. Sound effects are average, which is more the fault of the Spectrum than the program itself. Control is from either the keyboard, or with Kempston or Interface 2 joysticks. Incidentally, if you ever get fed up with this game and want to swap it with your friend for a different cassette then you're perfectly entitled to do so as long as you don't make copies, despite warning to the contrary on the cassette inlay card.

Your Spectrum

David Lester 3/5 MISS

Roger Willis 3/5 HIT

Ron Smith 4/5 HIT

JOYSTICK JURY Success in the charts doesn't always mean it's the best game around. Check out the thoughts of our jury this month - Ron Smith, Roger Willis and David Lester - and you'll see what we mean... PI IN 'ERE Automata £6.00 David: The tedious scenario for this arcade game casts you as a miniaturised BURT inside a computer. Your mission? To track down the 'Big Bug', by tunnelling through RAM and collecting items along the way. And if you think that sounds like an original idea, I don't know where you've been for the last few months. The graphics are very reminiscent of Pi-Balled's characters, and are both colourful and well-animated. The game's actually quite difficult to succeed at, especially when you're creating new tunnel knowing that there's a band of nasties on your tail. I must admit though, that it didn't inspire the 'just one more go then...' feeling that should come with a good game. On the other hand, it's a reasonable version of its kind and is well supported by good graphics and sound. While it does have a Kempston joystick option, I found it too unresponsive to be useful and ended up back at the keyboard. This game certainly won't stun the computer world by leaping up the charts - but it should a success among Piman fans.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

Personal Computer News

Overall 4/10

Stuart N Cooke 4/10

PRICE: £6.00 PUBLISHER: Automata, [redacted] Not too long ago we found the intrepid explorer Burt, from Automata, helping to paint in a pyramid in Pi-Balled. Burt now finds himself reduced in scale and transported to the inside of a computer where his mission is to track down the elusive Big Bug. Burt also has to avoid contact with the minor bugs that infect the machine, and if he does happen to touch one of the bugs it's an early grave for him. Scattered around the numerous levels of the computer are a number of items which Burt must collect. Once all of the objects are collected he will automatically be moved to the next level. There are a number of revolving edit keys scattered around the computer and passing under one of these will cause it to fall, squashing any bug that happens to be too close. Moving up a level brings a greater degree of difficulty. The monsters tend to get a little meaner: you'll find Burt being chased around the computer by red bugs that can tunnel around the computer after him, white speed bugs, green grabbers and magenta menaces. Visually Pi-in-'ere is good. Our hero Burt is quite large and extremely well animated, and the rotating keys spin very smoothly. The fact that the graphics are large isn't really a good thing, since it means that the playing area is very small and you don't have the room to manoeuvre around the nasties that are chasing you. You also get the normal Spectrum problems with the colours becoming confused when objects get close to each other. Sound can't really be described as being good. The reverse side of the cassette contains what has now become the standard piece of 'music', of the same quality as earlier releases by Automata - bad. Pi-in-'ere is not an original game and there are others that are a lot more playable, even if they don't look as good.