The Prize

Your Spectrum

Dave Nicholls 2/5 MISS

Roger Willis 1/5 MISS

Ross Holman 2/5 MISS

JOYSTICK JURY What's on your software shopping list for Christmas? Let Ross Holman, Dave Nicholls and Roger Willis help you make your mind up! This month, our motley crew of Joystick Jurors include Dave Nicholls, a self-confessed adventure fanatic and seasoned hacker; Ross Holman, ace games player and winner of the Jet Set Willy prize; and, last but by no means least, Roger Willis, a relative newcomer to the Spectrum scene. Dave and Ross you'll already know from our monthly major games reviews. Roger Willis, on the other hand, is probably more at home in the saddle of a massive motorbike... but that was before he discovered the thrills and spills of the Spectrum. Check out what they thought of the latest in games software... THE PRIZE Arcade Software £5.50 Dave: The Prize is a variation on the maze theme. You have to control your spacecraft through the maze, collecting 'code pods' as you go. The pods are numbered and must be gathered in the correct order; reaching number five promotes you to the next level. Those hitting the fourth level are asked to find the 'special code', photograph it, and send the evidence to Arcade Software. This entitles you to enter the competition that goes with the game. The competition has a prize (cunning title isn't it!) of £5000, but the catch is that the money will be divided between all the people who send in correct answers before January 1985. On the game front The Prize is quite good, the maze is very large and your ship moves nice and smoothly. This is, however, really a game that will appeal more to cartographers than to shoot 'em up freaks.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

Sinclair Programs

June Mortimer

WE LOOK AT THE LATEST SPECTRUM RELEASES TO DISCOVER JUST WHAT JACK WAS DOING UP THAT BEANSTALK. THE PRIZE The Prize is a phenomenally complicated maze game. The player's first task is to collect five code pods in numerical order. There are forty nine locations in this section of the maze, and each is populated by deadly monsters which must be avoided or killed. The death drones and mutants shoot at you, while the crushers block your way, squashing you to pieces. There are only tWo points in your favour. Firstly, it is possible to find extra lives hidden in the maze. Secondly, somewhere in the maze is an energy base which provides immunity from enemies for a limited period of time. Once you have mapped this level, avoided the drones, mutants and crushers, and collected the pods in order you find yourself transported to the next section of the maze, where you must repeat the process. Prize money will be awarded to the first person to send a copy of the code screen on level four to Arcade. The Prize is produced by Arcade Software Technology House, [redacted] and costs £5.50.

Big K

Raj Singh

The Prize is you actual maze game. The quest here involves putting the three types of Guardian under heavy manners and collecting the vital 'code pods' in the correct order in order to progress through the levels. Getting to the central maze chamber might give you even more than a gloat - Arcade are offering £5,000 cash money for a snapshot of the final screen. Could this be the final winkling of the walnut of life? Raj didn't think so. "I think it's a real cheat. For starters it's too much like Berserk, and the graphics are poor and gaudy to the point of naff. It may have a few more screens, but it's basically a shoot 'em up , now what I'd call an adventure. The money is just a gimmick to entice you into playing what is basically an uninventive game. Even money won't make you play a dull game. I think it's boring."

Crash

Use of Computer 60%

Graphics 82%

Playability 75%

Getting Started 69%

Addictive Qualities 70%

Originality 55%

Value For Money 69%

Overall 69%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Arcade Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £5.50 Language: Machine code This game takes its name from the fact that Arcade Software are offering a prize of £5,000 to the first person to locate the innermost chamber of a massive maze and discover its secret. You are in control of a space ship armed with laser torpedoes to be used against the various guardians in the maze. These include Death Drones, Mutants with vulnerable pads which you must discover as they won't just die by being shot anywhere, and Crushers, large ladder shaped objects that work in threes and which kill on contact - and keep on killing! On each level of the maze there are energy bases which charge your ship so that it can withstand contact by the guardians and destroy them instantly. Once charged, the ship alters colour and will remain in this super-state for a random time. Time running out is indicated by the force field flashing. Whilst in this stage also, you can search for the coded pods to aid your progression to the next level. The pods are numbered 1 to 5, 5 being the transporter pod. These must be collected in the correct numerical order. Photographing the special code off the screen on level 4 is required for entry into the competition for The Prize. COMMENTS Control keys: cursors Joystick: Kempston, AGF and Protek Keyboard play: responsive, though made harder by use of cursors, and generally better with a joystick Use of colour: very good Graphics: good Sound: above average Lives: 5 Originality: standard giant maze type game

There's a lot of money at stake in the mammoth maze shoot 'em up - in fact, it's quite a prize.