Batman

Crash

Overall 86%

Nick Roberts 86%

This month's budget scene is dominated by rereleases, with only two originals in the line up. Nick Roberts sorts the wheat from the chaff... BATMAN The Hit Squad £2.99 (rerelease) This is a strange feeling! I've only just finished reviewing the new Batman game and now I've got to go back in time and review the 3-D style Batman game again. If you've ever heard of games like Head Over Heels, then that's exactly what Batman is like. Set out in a 3-D style that is just so successful. Unlike the Batman movie this game stars Robin the Boy Wonder as well as the Caped Crusader himself, in fact if it weren't for Robin there would be no game! He has gone and got himself caught by The Joker and Riddler (working together for some reason). So what is your mission as Batman? You must rescue Robin of course, but it's not as simple as that. The Batmobile is split into seven parts, and these must all be found and assembled before you can even get out of the Batcave (why doesn't he just call a taxi?). All the Bat equipment's also got to be found: things like Batboots, the Batbelt and the Batbag. All that lot's enough to keep you busy for quite a while. Even if you don't complete it first time (which you doubtlessly won't), the excellent graphics will keep you coming back for more and more. Batman has been programmed to the highest degree with excellent jingles to accompany the brill graphics and playability. Another essential purchase if you have only just got your Spectrum.

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)

Amstrad, £8.95cs, £14.95dk Spectrum, £7.95cs Skillfully are we drawn in by this masterpiece of cunning, exploring and puzzling through the delightful isometric 3D screens. How cleverly we are lulled into a false sense of security by these pleasant surroundings. Then suddenly you burst through a door, confident you know what you're doing, and run slap bang into a bat power that takes away what jumps, speed or whatever other powers you did have. Then of course there are the bat powers located in hard-to-get-at places, which after great effort to get them do absolutely nothing at all. Most nerve twitching of all is the bit of the batmobile that's hidden from view - it could take you weeks to find it. By which time you'd kill for the solution.

Batman.

Crash

Overall 73%

Will Brooker 73%

LOOKING FOR AN OLD ANGLE From Ultimate's classics to the cute and quirky Head Over Heels, we've had our arcade adventures in the strange 3-D of isometric perspective. But, says WILL BROOKER, some of those first tentative steps in the new dimension work better than today's glossy games. Way, way back when Hungry Horace was still a national hero, 3D Ant Attack sneaked out under the Quicksilva label. Its Softsolid graphics of the walled desert city Antescher were hailed as astounding, and 3D Ant Attack wedged itself firmly into Spectrum history as the first game with truly three-dimensional views. The next isometric blockbuster was Vortex's Android 2, released in the spring of 1984. In gameplay it's just a 3-D version of the old arcade game Berserk, but the graphics (which CRASH gave 96%) brought it up to this magazine's Game Of The Month standard. Programmer Costa Panayi followed this up with the impressive TLL - a fighter-plane simulation with a carefully worked-out dynamic playing area. There's not a lot of game behind it, but the flying is enough. The Softsolid technique was soon followed by the first 3-D 'adventure movie' - Hewson Consultants' The Legend Of Avalon. Its adventure element is a bit dubious, and the term 'arcade adventure' would be disputed for years after its release, but the game was a great success with its colourful, pseudoisometric graphics. In 1985 the spate of high-quality isometric games continued: Ultimate's classic Knight Lore was followed by another Vortex game, Highway Encounter, and the next technical advance was Filmation 2. An Ultimate invention, this allows graphics of Knight Lore's quality to be scrolled smoothly over a large playing area. Filmation 2 was used for Ultimate's Nightshade, but was soon knocked into a cocked hat by The Edge's Fairlight. Even back in the golden year of 1986 there were unimaginative clones which sometimes threatened to swamp all the review pages with their identical, and by then extremely boring, isometric screens. But some games brought a breath of fresh air to the already tired genre: the humorous Sweevo's World from Gargoyle Games, Ocean's surprise hit M.O.V.I.E, and Hewson's Quazatron. A Spectrum version of the Commodore 64 hit Paradroid, Quazatron amazed everyone by being superior to the original. Not so original but also well-implemented was Ocean's Batman, and Quicksilva's Glider Rider deserves a mention along with Design Design's Rogue Trooper for taking a gamble and nearly succeeding. Last year Ocean had a megahit with Head Over Heels, M.A.D. had a budget Smash with Amaurote, and Gargoyle brought out the first (and probably last) Hydromation game, Hydrofool - the sequel to Sweevo's World. CRL's 3D Gamemaker utility now enables everyone to rewrite Knight Lore, and last November saw the first real isometric adventure, Incentive's Karyssia. Of course, whether isometric perspective presents a 'true' 3-D view is arguable - the player in these games is 'positioned'somewhere up in the air, outside the playing area, so any game using the technique looks forced, like a technical drawing. Though its representation of object and rooms may be highly effective, if we're going to nit-pick we can't say isometric perspective gives a realistic view. But the technique has proved perfectly satisfactory for countless games, and it's pointless to damn them all for lack of realism. More significantly, it will be interesting to see if the market for isometric graphics ever dries up, and if the public will one day reject the genre as outdated and overused, just as it once refused to accept any more Pacman clones. 3D ANT ATTACK Quicksilva 87% Issue 1 'One day, one year, one hour,'says the introduction. He and She arrived in the walled city of Antescher, 'the signature of a long dead race, the city lost from the world of men for days without number'. But the Ants of Antescher now have your partner (either He or She - unfortunately, this admirably nonsexist feature is undermined by the program's always calling you a 'hero'), and your job is to rescue him or her with the help of some heavy-duty grenades. Complete one level and the foolish girl (or boy) goes and gets herself (or himself) captured again, but this time further away from the starting position. Well, that's life... Back in late 1983 when nobody worried about glaring white backgrounds, UDG-sized graphics and poor sound, 3D Ant Attack was a wonder to behold. But even if you overlook these faults the fact remains that there isn't much gameplay, and what there is soon grows repetitive. Next to modern software, 3D Ant Attack looks rather dismal. TLL Vortex 81% Issue 7 TLL involves navigating a landscape sprinkled with houses, pylons, cliffs and bridges in order to eliminate 'enemy dots'. This top-priority procedure (you don't know how dangerous enemy dots can be if you let them get out of hand) is carried out by swooping low over the ground (hence the title - Tornado Low Level). You always run the risk of crumping your fighter against an obstacle, and once five of the dastardly dots have been wiped out a new mission begins - it's on the same landscape, but this time those devils are hiding below bridges and in the water and all sorts of underhand places. TLL was seen as a masterpiece when it first appeared, and its appeal has hardly diminished since. The landscape is described in effective, clean washes of colour and the fighter is well-drawn, rotating smoothly. The whole thing handles really well and though destroying evil dots is a bit of an artificial exercise the dynamics of the game come together perfectly. Perhaps more a simulation than an arcade game, TLL would, I'm sure, still do well at a budget price. HEAD OVER HEELS Ocean 97% Issue 39 'The best Ritman/Drummond game yet - it's even better than Batman!' said Crash. We read on: 'cuddly',' cute'. I agree; and that's probably what puts me off Head Over Heels. I can do without poisonous Marmite jars, stuffed rabbits, reincarnation fish and doughnuts, especially when their purpose in the game bears no relation to their appearance (why should stuffed rabbits give you extra abilities?). The scenario is unoriginal (two spies from the planet Freedom are out to destroy the Evil Empire), and the graphics look like something you see on early-teatime children's ITV (not that I watch it). Yes, they're detailed and well-animated; yes, they're cute if you like that sort of thing; but there's nothing to link them all together. As isometric arcade adventures go this is probably the best of its kind - there are lots of features, and the graphics are technically the best yet - but no way is it 'the ultimate game'. I like mine a little less silly and with a lot more logic behind them. KNIGHTLORE Ultimate 94% Issue 12 'Sheer perfection,' enthused the anonymous CRASH reviewers of way back at the sight of Knight Lore's Filmation graphics. The Filmation technique allows your sprite to physically interact with onscreen objects in almost any way, and with Knight Lore, the tenuously-related sequel to Underwurlde and Sabre Wulf, Ultimate's programmers surpassed themselves. In this thrilling instalment Sabreman (the player) must brave the castle of the wizard Melkhior to find the ingredients of the potion that will cure his sudden lycanthropy (Ultimate's instructions take the form of an epic poem, but manage to say nearly the same thing). Fail, and you must remain the werewolf forever - but so what? He's a dam sight cuter than Sabreman. Melkhior's castle is divided into rooms full of traps, structures and useful objects, all of which can be manoeuvred using Filmation. The avalanche of isometric games in this style has lessened the impact of Knight Lore's graphics. Today they seem rather plain and simple, though the old Ultimate touches still stand out (the sprite looking warily over his shoulder, for example). The game itself is a little unsophisticated for our times, too: essentially it's just a set of Manic Miner-type problems of timing, jumping and avoiding, and Filmation only comes in useful for making higher leaps. Still, Knight Lore deserves some recognition for having started off the isometric-arcade-adventure genre proper - it's just a pay the subsequent deluge was so heavy. BATMAN Ocean 93% Issue 28 Crash's Overall comment described this as 'a neatly finished game which does Batman proud'. But Ocean took all the Batman mythos and promptly forgot about it in an (admittedly commercially successful) attempt to cash in on Alien 8 etc - this game has nothing to do with Batman. Even the main character graphic shows a squat little figure who looks more like a Smurf than the Caped Crusader. And the Batcave has become some sort of architectural monstrosity furnished with conveyor belts and spiked floors and populated by creatures ranging from puppy dogs to lion-headed mutants. Maybe he's had it redone, but it never looked that way in the comics, the TV series, the films and the graphic novels. All that aside, Batman is quite a good game. The graphics and animation are superior to Ultimate's, and the Bat Devices and Batpills which give Fatman extra abilities add interest to the gameplay. In fact, leave out the pseudoBatman scenario and title and I'm quite content with this. NIGHTSHADE Ultimate 91% Issue 21 Nightshade just scraped into the Smash bracket, and the autumn 1985 release is now generally considered to have marked the beginning of the end for the former masters of Spectrum software at Ultimate. The gameplay is similar to Atic Atac's: wandering around the playing area (in this case a medieval town) destroying materialising nasties and collecting 'super antibodies' to kill off the four major villains. But the real star of Nightshade is the Filmation 2 technique, which scrolls the highly - detailed buildings about and lets you effectively see through the walls in a cut-away view whenever you pass behind them. It's become a cliche that 'the trouble with Ultimate's games is that they have great graphics but no game bolted on', but in this case it's undeniably true. Though the pseudomedieval atmosphere is strong and the characters are well-animated, Nightshade is extremely boring. It eventually bolls down to searching in vain for the major villains, just for the dubious thrill of getting killed by them instead of by lesser monsters for a change. HIGHWAY ENCOUNTER Vortex 95% Issue 20 You're a lone Vorton droid, pushing a highly brainfrying explosive device to the far end of an alien highway to blow up an enemy base. The road is populated by various aliens resembling anglepoise lamps and other dangerous household items (I gave them all names once but that was ages ago), and floating mines weave across the tarmac in dances of death. Your only strategy is to block up or kill off the nasties on your first run, and then go back to get your slave droids and the bomb. Highway Encounter's graphics are still impressive today; as in TLL, the combination of flat background colour and detailed monochrome overlays works very effectively. All the roadside scenery is beautifully drawn, from the crops in the fields to the golden sands of the beach. The only trouble with the game is its difficulty. I still wonder at Crash's comment of the time 'it will be easy to complete and I will probably get bored with it' - after 2.5 years I still can't clear the 30 zones and get the bomb to its destination within the time limit. But Highway Encounter looks great (better, in fact, than it s sequel - Vortex's Alien Highway, 88%/Issue 29) and would probably still sell as a budget game. QUAZATRON Hewson 94% Issue 29 As Klepto, a psychotic young droid with a penchant for taking things apart, you have been volunteered to get the mutant droids out of Quazatron, a multilevelled underground citadel of ramps and lifts. Klepto starts with a measly pulse laser but can collect extra weaponry by ramming other droids and entering a grapple sequence - really a subgame. A test of strategy and reflexes decides who wins the grappling duel. If you successfully grapple another droid you can take any available weapons; if you lose, the consequences are usually fatal. As you upgrade your weapons you can take on ever more powerful opponents, till you become the top dog -and then it's time to move on to the next citadel. 'Quazatron is a true masterpiece,' said Crash at the time, and the comment is still valid. Apart from the rather jerky scrolling everything is faultless: the graphics, the music, the FX and the gameplay. Quazatron is a successful fusion of strategy and arcade and deserves all the recognition it's had. ROGUE TROOPER Piranha 79% Issue 36 This licence is based on the early Rogue trooper stories from the comic 2000AD. Rogue is, as usual, trudging around Nu Earth, this time looking for the eight vid-tapes which show how the Traitor organised the destruction of the rest of the GIs (you have to know the strip to follow the scenario, really). Nu Earth, which seems to have shrunk a little in conversion from comic to computer, is patrolled by Norts and littered with ammo, med-packs - and, of course, the tapes. And Rogue's biochipped buddies Gunnar, Helm and Bagman give onscreen advice which isn't always particularly useful (Gunnar rarely says anything more inspiring than 'Let's grease some more Nort scum'). When all the evidence has been collected Rogue can return to the shuttle and wait for Cam Kennedy to draw him some more identical stories (oops! that just slipped out). Despite the extremely tacky presentation, this is an enjoyable game. It's not hard to win, which may put some off, but it provides relaxing therapy when you need your confidence boosted a little. The graphics are detailed, varied and recognisable, and though the colour washes are used simply they add interest. Perhaps Rogue Trooper's strongest point is the atmosphere generated by the graphics and the comments; it is, surprisingly, the most faithful 2000A0 conversion yet.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)C+VG Hit

Graphics 8/10

Sound 7/10

Value 10/10

Playability 10/10

MACHINE: Spectrum/Amstrad SUPPLIER: Ocean PRICE: £7.95 (Spectrum), £8.95 (Amstrad) "Holy smoking Spectrums, Batman! They've gone and turned us into a computer game!" "Don't worry, Robin, old chum. It's probably just all a dastardly plot cooked up by our arch-enemy The Joker! Just close your eyes and perhaps all these people will go away." Sorry Batman-but you're not going to get much rest once the hoardes of Spectrum and Amstrad gamesters get their hands on a copy of this truly excellent game. Jon Ritman, of Bear Bovver and Match Day fame, assisted by Bernie Drummond, has come up with a game that's going to leap to the top of the charts with one mighty bound. Batman makes Superman look like a real wimp thanks to this colourful, fun packed arcade adventure. OK, once you start playing you'll soon realise you are dealing with a game that's destined to become an all time classic. Let's take a look at the plot - which is worthy of any of the Batman TV shows. The Caped Crusader has got a problem. Robin has been kidnapped by some dastardly villain - and Batman must rescue the Boy Wonder before he suffers a fate worse than death. Being forced to play First Star's Superman game! Batman rushes to his recently enlarged Bat-cave only to find that Arthur the butler has been cleaning up and all the special Bat-gear he needs has been scattered around the different rooms of the cave. He has to get his Bat-hands on his Bat-boots, the Bat-bag, the Bat-thruster and the low-grav Bat-belt. This is tougher than it sounds because each item is hidden in a different room and protected by a nasty Bat-guardian who seems to have forgotten just who Batman is! in any event these guards aren't going to allow Batman to get his belongings together very easily. It also appears you need to collect these items in a specific order. One item helps you get another more easily. But we'll leave you to work that out. Once Batman has collected all these Bat-bits he has to search out some more. Bits of the Bat-craft which he recently serviced and forgot to put back together. Who's a silly little Batboy then? Once that's done Batman can go off in search of the Boy Wonder! Holy broken joysticks, Batman! Scattered around the Bat-cave are various energisers which Batman must collect. These give him extra energy, make him move faster, jump higher, give him the power to use a shield, give extra lives etc. But learn to spot the neutralisers which strip Batman of all his hard earned extra powers. Batman will also come across reincarnation stones scattered around. All you have to do is touch it and it will store the state of the game. This allows you to restart the game at this point from the main menu should you be unlucky enough to lose all your Bat-lives. Useful! The main menu allows you to select the normal stuff like joysticks or control keys but also things like the volume of the music, sensitivity of the controls you've chosen. Why don't all games offer these useful options? The graphics are excellent in both versions although the Amstrad game looks much prettier thanks to the machine's bigger range of colours. The Batman character is - how can we put it -just perfect. He looks just right in his cloak which billows out behind him as he walks and flips up as he jumps about. If you leave him alone too long he looks disgustedly out of the screen at you, puts his hand on his hip and taps his loot impatiently - just like Rockford in Boulderdash. The only thing missing are the Zap!, Pow!, Kerrrunch! bubbles that appeared whenever Batman battled his enemies with his KO punch. Perhaps Jon will remember that for the next Bat-game. Fly down to your local Bat-shop and demand a copy of the game. You must be batty if you don't!

TEXT AMSTRAD SCORES Graphics: 9/10 Sound: 8/10 Value: 10/10 Playability: 10/10

Sinclair UserSinclair User Classic

Overall 5/5

Jerry Muir 5/5

Publisher: Ocean Programmers: John Ritman, Bernie Drummond Price: £9.95 Memory: 48K Joystick: Kempston, Fuller, cursor/Interface II Who do you prefer, Batman or Superman? You can probably divide people psychologically by their choice. Superman - heroic, invincible, on the side of light. Batman - a figure of vengeance, lurking in the shadows; a mere mortal and, in the earliest adventures at least, morally ambiguous - more likely to throw a crook off a roof than fly him into jail. I always preferred Batman. In terms of computer games you ain't got much choice, now that Beyond has discovered that their incarnation of the big blue and red hero won't be mistaken for a bird or a plane - he flies like a turkey. Luckily Batman is 100 per cent hero, even if the computer incarnation does base itself on the tongue-in-cheek TV version. So pull on your underwear over your grey tights, slide down the Batpole and into the Batcave! As Batman descends you'll notice that he's looking rather portly - obviously too many business lunches with Commissioner Gordon - but he's beautifully animated. As he drops, his cape swirls up and, if you leave him standing too long, he puts his hands on his hips and taps his foot impatiently. The other thing you'll notice is that this is yet another Ultimate look-alike but believe me, it's a good one. The plot concerns boy wonder Robin, who's committed the boyish blunder of being kidnapped just as he was servicing the Batcraft. First task for our hero is, therefore, to find the disassembled pieces of the wonder vehicle which are scattered around the new look, enlarged Batcave. Naturally, much of the early stages of the game are concerned with gathering all of those everyday luxuries that make a Batman's life bearable. These include the Batbag, without which items cannot be moved other than by pushing them. Even then they can't be moved from their starting location, and the problems faced in the Batcave are of the type where you have to solve one location before proceeding to the next. So what use is the Batbag? Stay tuned to this same Bat-review and we'll tell you. Your next useful object is a pair of Jet Batboots. Until he has his high power footwear, Batman won't be able to jump. This means that some doors, situated on ledges, are effectively one way until you can leap back through them. If the sill is still too high you can use your carrying ability to place objects in front of it and climb onto those first. Remember, kids - Batman can't fly! That's the warning which went out to all of us impressionable youngsters with the TV show, and you'd better take note because there are lots of nasty tricks here that will drop our hero onto deadly spikes or the like. To overcome them you'll need the Bat-thruster - Holy Bat-thruster! - and, of course the Low Gravity Batbelt, which might also help control Batman's spreading girth. The former lets you steer yourself while falling; the latter slows your rate of descent. An added arcade appeal can be found in the search for energisers. The Batcave is full of these, and Batman must pick them up to ensure a long and fruitful life. There are a wide variety ranging from extra life, which is self explanatory, to energy which gives extra speed. Some shield our hero making him temporarily invulnerable, while others are useful for those 'with one bound he was free'situations - they let him make double-sized Bat-leaps. All of these, like the objects, are logically placed, so you can be sure that if you find an energiser you'll be grateful in the long run. But beware, they all look the same - like little Batmen. There are also neutralising energisers which immediately cancel out any benefits remaining from other objects. You start the game with eight lives, but one invaluable and, as far as I know, unique feature of the game is the Batstones. Passing them seems to have little effect until you lose all your lives. Then, when you restart the game you'll be given the option of carrying on at exactly the point, with exactly the same status, as when you collected the stone. Better still, this effect nests, so that if you have collected two stones your first return will be to the later starting point, but if you can't continue you'll still be able to restart at the earlier point. It's a neat alternative to a Save feature. Quite how the Batcave got so busy I don't know, but it's alive with the sound of nasties. They're an odd looking bunch but one thing's certain - they're deadly. Bumping into them makes Batman vanish in a puff. Some are relatively stupid, following a set course, but others home in on you and move fast so you have to outwit them. A good technique seems to be moving away from them, then dashing for the exit between them as they make for your previous position. Be careful though, because several doors drop you onto slippery slopes or conveyor belts which call for immediate action. This one will keep the mappers happy for ages, though the fact that objects appear in a set order means that apart from some routes being safer than others, there is a single, ultimate solution. Still, once you've solved it all - and that's no easy task - you can always try again at a higher skill level, What the programmers have so cleverly done is to provide two types control sensitivity. On the easier one alignment mistakes are catered for and Batman will swerve through doors. Try the other and you'll need to be much more accurate in steering him. The other initial options are the inevitable joystick choice, key definition which is extremely comprehensive, and sound which ranges from a wickedly loud rendition of the Batman theme and footsteps, to a silent version with nary a Biff nor a Pow, for late night play. I can see this being one that will be played into the night too. It's extremely addictive and nicely atmospheric with some clever puzzles, and each challenge conquered leads to another original problem. Reaching the Bat-thruster is particularly tricky as it lies on the far side of an apparently impassible floor. Once you've solved it though you'll kick yourself for not seeing the answer before, it's so logical. Yes, you'll definitely want to play this one again and again - because leaving it unsolved will drive you batty.

1. Holy Batpoles - no Robin! Two routes to my next destination 2. So I chose the hard one! That ledge means there's no going back. Guess I'll just have to dodge these two. 3. Whatever he is - he's not friendly. But I can block by moving the elephant's feet. 4. This is where I get the sack - if only I can get past the killer koala! 5. Uh-oh! Now these are fast and smart and they don't want me to reach that Batstone. 6. Suddenly! The conveyor belt is carrying me along and I want to reach the Batboots in the far corner, only there's a patrolling monster and those platforms ain't all they seem. 7. Just as I thought - the cursed canines. Have to follow them round without banging into the deadly walls. 8. A nasty moment there. The floor by the door is slippery. Had to run this way the minute I dropped through to stop my- self going over the edge.

It's up to you now to guide me through the Batcave. Think you're up to it? if not - Robin's sung his swan song!

It was in the 1930s that The Batman was born, immediate successor to Superman in the race to create characters for the new comic books. Under the guiding pencil of Bob Kane he soon became a favourite for Defective Comics and, in the early forties, Hollywood made two serials in which the caped crusader and Robin launched into World War II action. By the fifties the comic seemed to have lost its way, losing its early menace; but the sixties pop generation took all things camp to its flower-power heart and Batman enjoyed a new lease of life on television. This was the era of gadgetry and Biff! Pow! fights. A leaner, more subdued Batman came from that brush with psychedelia, once more a figure of shadows and the night, brooding over social concerns. Over fifty years on, Batman has proved himself one of the perennial figures of popular literature.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Your Computer

Graphics 4/5

Sound 3/5

Playability 4/5

Value For Money 4/5

Overall Rating 4/5

Amstrad & Spectrum Ocean Arcade Adventure £7.95/£8.95 Suffering catfish, Batman, we're a computer game. Robin, the boy blunder has been kidnapped. Instead of, like any normal evil guardian saying good riddance and keep the maintenance money rolling in, Batman goes to the rescue - to the Bat Cave. Unfortunately, the interior designers have been there and the Bat Cave is not what it used to be. You've guessed it, another Knight Lore clone. All the usual problems confront the caped crusader as he attempts to piece together the Batmobile which Robin left in pieces after the last service. You have 10 lives with which to explore the 150 locations and you will need them. To start, all you can do is walk in four directions. Later, you pick up the Bat Bag, and then the Bat Boots which allow you to carry and jump. Definitely in the Sweevo's World school of tongue-in-cheek graphic adventures, this perhaps will not have you holding your sides the way Sweevo did but it probably has more depth. Some rooms are possible only if you go to them after just picking up a shield Batpill; thus planning and timing become all important. It is difficult to say where this will finally find a place in the ratings of such games. The variety of objects and hazards, combined with the size and degree of dexterity and problem-solving, will guarantee it a place among the best.

Your SinclairYour Sinclair Megagame

Graphics 9/10

Playability 9/10

Value For Money 8/10

Addictiveness 9/10

Overall 9/10

Tommy Nash 9/10

HOLY MEGAGAMES! Holy Smoke! High above Gotham City a shaft of light slices through the darkness. But only on man in the metropolis knows its true meaning - it's a call for help that he has answered many times before. Bruce Wayne races to the phone and hears a familiar voice. Commissioner Gordon: Batman? (For it is he!) Bad news. Robins been kidnapped. Batman: Impossible! He's down in the Batcave. Commissioner Gordon: Then this ransom note's a ruse. But... Has Robin been kidnapped? Or has The Boy Wonder wandered off? Can the Caped Crusader come to his rescue? Will the Penguin end up egg on his face? Has the Joker cracked it? is Catwoman feline felonious? All may for may not) be revealed by Tommy 'Boy Wonder' Nash as he reviews Ocean's new megagame, Batman. FAX BOX Game: Batman Publisher: Ocean Price: £7.95 Joystick: Kempston (auto-detects), Interface II etc. Keys: Define your own Reviewer: Tommy Nash Wheeeeeee! Batman comes slip slidin' away down the Batpole and he's off on his Robin rescue mission. Yes, that's how the straight-backed, square-chinned superhero of comic strip and silver screen makes his debut into software. Okay, he's a mite chubbier than you may remember him from the pages of DC Comics but his cloak and mask make him instantly recognisable. But now he's on his own - sans sidekick. The other half of the Dynamic Duo has gone walkies, though the exact reason for this hadn't been concocted when I saw the game. At that time, the finishing touches were just being added to the plot though the game itself was a hundred per cent complete. No doubt some perfectly implausible explanation involving one of Batman's arch enemies will have been thought up by the time the game hits your Speccy. Originally, Robin was meant to have a starring role in the game alongside his crepuscular companion and the programmer's even got round to designing a spritely figure for him. But then they hit a stumbling block. How do you make it easy for the player to control two superheroes simultaneously. It was at this point that Robin was conveniently kidnapped! Batman's first task is to collect the four items that aid him in his mighty powers. But not being the tidiest of superheros, he has to find out where he left the things in the initial rooms of the game that make up the Batcave. He's after his Batboots that allow him to jump; his Batbag so he can pick things up; his Batthruster, to shoot him sideways and his Batbelt, which reduces the pull of gravity on him so he can 'fly' further. The games cleverly designed so that you can't progress beyond a certain stage without these items. With them, the Caped Crusader is ready to go crime-fighting. Robin didn't go without a struggle. The seven parts of the Batcraft, which he was servicing at the time of the snatch, are scattered all around the Batacombs. And before Batman can rush to his rescue, he must find all the bits so that they can be teleported to the launchpad, situated at the top of the very highest tower. The game ends when Batman's sitting in the reassembled craft ready to rescue Robin and bring the Gotham gangsters who got him to justice. (Note for Batfans: the reason for having a batcraft instead of the Batmobile is that a vehicle with wheels would've taken up too much memory!) The Batacombs are a complex maze of at least 150 rooms spread over nine floors. Well, it might be 150 but it could just as easily be 151 or even 153. The programmers weren't sure and I wasn't counting! The screens have a definite Knightlorish look about them but the much larger number of rooms means many more puzzles. Batman will test your arcade/timing skills to the limit but it'll also burn your brain out with its bewildering range of tricks and traps. The Ultimate influence is unmistakable, of course. The game has a similar technique of forcing you through doors if you're not quite lined up. And you can pick up objects in a room and use them there but you can't transport them to other screens a la Fairlight. And the rooms reset to their original state each time you re-enter them. But the game's a definite development from the Knightlore days. Take, for example, the reincarnation pills that allow you to restart the game from the point at which you collected one last - great idea that. And then there's the ability to define a single key that lets you pick up and jump at the same time. Cuts out all the contortions with keys that you had to go through to achieve the Ultimate accolade. And Batman keeps up a constant speed no matter how many objects there are in a room - none of those short, slow steps that held Sabreman back on full screens. It's this attention to detail that marks Batman out as a true megagame. Hardly surprising then that it's taken ten months to write. You're even given three options for the sound effects. Nasty lets you hear every sound that resounds round the Batacombs; Useful only makes a noise when the caped one crashes into things; and Late At Night is silent. The only thing that's missing is the crazy cast of criminals from the original cartoons. If ever there's a follow-up, perhaps the programmers will pick up a Penguin or take the gag out of the Joker's mouth... How does Batman's mum call him in for a meal? Dinner dinner dinner dinner, dinner dinner dinner dinner - BATMAN!

All over the Batacombs there are hidden rooms and the only way you're going to discover them is by walking into walls. Course, most of the time you'll just end up with a sore head…

Here's the Batthruster sneakily tucked away behind these bricks. The one colour rooms can make it a bit tricky to spot objects sometimes so the programmers have seen to it that they move slightly as you enter a room. Jumping Jack Rabbits, Robin! There are batpills in the game that'll give you ten double height jumps. You can see how many you have left here. But use them carefully - you only have to waste one jump and it may mean you won't be able to reach that illusive object. When you've got your grips on an object it won't remain permanently in your possession unless you drop it and pick it up again. It's a little trick you can try out on the thruster. Forget and leave the room, and the thruster will return to its original position. There've been a fair few mild green fairies toiling to make a soap bubble strong enough to take your weight. Push it over towards the bricks on the other side of the room then get ready for a spot of cloak-hanging to reach the other side.

Just when Batman's in a real batjam and it looks like he's breathed his last, something always crops up. The game's the same - sometimes. There's a random 'dog's life' that may just save your bacon.

This is no stairway to heaven - you'll soon find that the steps have a tendency to disintegrate as you tread on them. Which ones? You'll find out soon enough. You can see here the objects that are stored in your batbag. But even Batman can only carry things of a reasonable size like this spring. If you need to use a larger object to stand on, you'll just have to push it into position. Keeping taking the tablets. For instance, find a shield pill and you'll be invulnerable for 99 seconds - the time ticks away on this clock. You can recognise all the batpills 'cos they look like baby Batman clones. Faster than a speeding bullet... Well, he is when he's found one of the batpills that speeds him up for 99 paces. The countdown comes here. Here boy, walkies. This canny canine'll make a dog's dinner of you but you can put him to good use. Wait for Rover's return then drop the spring on his head. Now it's your turn. Jump on to the spring and bounce up into the next room where you'll find a bit of the Batcraft. It's not only picking up objects that can cause problems. Sometimes just getting from one side of a room to another can get Batman's knickers in a twist - even though he does wear them outside his trews. Here's a tile of the unexpected. Always keep an eye open for the up exits to the floors above you.

BAT MOBILES Does he look the bat's whiskers, or what? He walks, he runs, he jumps, he stamps his foot - now you can collect the complete set of Bat capers. This print-out shows you some of the programmers' finished ideas for the game's graphics. Besides Batman, you can see a selection of the dastardly devils out to do him in. Okay, all our old faves like the Joker and the Riddler have failed to show but the game's still chocka with cooky customers.

EN SUITE BATHROOMS That's a re-incarnation pill up there on top of the pillar. Fortunately it doesn't have to be taken internally - getting one of those down your gob could prove difficult. Use the spring (S for spring) to boing yourself up. With a pill in your possession, and there are six in all, you don't have to restart the game from the beginning when you run out of lives - you can choose to start at the point where you collected the pill. (Programmers' note: adding re-incarnation pills to your programs is not harmful to the memory. Batman only uses four bytes to store the data for lives, objects collected, room and so on.) Just when you thought it was safe to call it an Ultimate clone... Double rooms like this are dotted all over the Batacombs but this is the first - and it's quite a shock if you're not expecting it. These rooms also add to the realism of the game - are all the rooms in your house the same shape? - but it's still possible to map the game.

LATER THAT SAME EVENING This is a one-way walkway to destruction,. Step on it and you'll be whisked away to your doom - it's a conveyor belt. Just keep moving in an equal and opposite direction and you should be okay. It's the Caped Crusader himself - bit of a fat bat! Okay, so he's put on weight since we last saw him but he still keeps active. That's why when you leave him alone too long, he taps his foot to tell you to put a move on. Batman? Pah, Catman - he starts out with nine lives. At least you can't accuse the game of being stingy. But then with 150 odd rooms to explore, you're gonna need them. Plus, there are a further 22 batpills scattered around the rooms that'll give you an extra life. If you're going to keep out of the hair monster's way, you'll need to find out which of the three bricks are safe. Well, the first is okay, the second disintegrates and the third is a conveyor belt that'll dump you straight onto the deadly floor. So, take care. These boots were made for jumping and that's just what they'll do! Course, trying them on for size can prove a little tricky. And getting out of the room again is no easy matter. Use your carbon-reinforced cloak to hang on by the very last thread... and jump!

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ZX ComputingZX Computing Monster Hit

GREAT JUMPING LICENCING DEALS! THE CAPED CRUSADER BURSTS ONTO THE SPECTRUM. Ocean £7.95 Believe it or not, Ocean have actually finished a game before they've started advertising it (although it's possible that ads may have appeared before you read this review). Not only that, but it's a good one too. When I heard that Ocean had done a deal to produce a Batman game I was worried that it might end up like the Superman game - highly hyped on the strength of the well known characters, but an awful game. Comic buffs might have been hoping for a game based on the serious Batman strip of the 70s but Ocean have chosen to capture the lighter spirit of the 60s TV series, which is probably a good decision as this is perhaps more suited to a computer game. The instructions tell you that Robin The Boy Blunder has gone and gotten himself kidnapped, so our hero, The Caped Crusader, has to dash off and rescue him. But before he can race to the rescue Batman has to gather together all his Bat-equipment and assemble the parts of the Batmobile that Robin left lying around the Batcave. If the Batcave looks at all familiar that's probably because it bears an uncanny resemblance to the space ship in Ultimate's Alien 8. Fortunately this game has enough style of its own to fend oft charges of being a simple rip-off. The Batcave is full of obstacles and deadly creatures which stand between Batman and the completed Batmobile, and the problems that you'll have to solve are challenging enough to keep you occupied for quite a while. As with most games of this type you are able to pick up and carry a number of objects that will help you find your way past obstacles. But unlike some games, here you cannot carry objects from one location to the next which means that often the only things that can help you are just the few objects that you can see in a particular location. The usual deadly paraphernalia for this type of game is present; conveyor bells that drop you onto piles of spikes, stepping stones that vanish as soon as you touch them, and there are some rooms where only specific objects or the effects of Batpllls will get you through. Scattered around the cave in order to help you out are the 'Bat-objects', these include Batboots, Batbag, Batbelt and Batthruster. The Batbag is needed before you can carry any other objects, and the Batboots allow you to jump - until you find these you can only walk along the floor - so finding these really has to be your first task. The other two pieces of equipment supplement your jumping powers and allow you to reach certain objects which are otherwise unreachable. Also hidden in the Batcave are a number of Batpills (shaped like little Batmen) which have a variety of effects; they can boost your energy levels, make you invulnerable, increase your jumping ability and so on, and there are also a number of 'reincarnation stones'. These are interesting little items which provide you with a Save Game facility. At the end of a game the menu allows you to either start a new game or to return to the previous game at the point at which you collected the stone. This is a nice touch, as it avoids the frustration of getting well into a game only to die after making one little mistake, and it also takes less time than reloading a saved game from tape. In fact this is such a handy feature that I forgive the authors for the cumbersome method of defining keyboard controls that they use. The graphics throughout are excellent. Obviously the 3D style is familiar from a number of games now, but a lot of attention to detail seem to have gone into this one and all the rooms and objects are very clearly drawn. Batman himself is an outrageously cute little sprite who taps his toot if you leave him standing still for more than a few seconds and the way that his cape flaps as he jumps is quite comical. The playing area seems very large, and after playing the game for ages I've still only located two parts of the Batmobile. I think that mapping this game is essential (anyone out there got a Batmap that they want to send in?). Still, you do get eight lives which allow you to experiment and get into the game without unnecessary frustration. I don't think that Batman will go down as a classic game - the Alien 8 similarities knock off a few points for originality - but it's one of those games that manages to take an established format and add a bit of character that makes it stand out from the crowd.

CrashCrash Smash

Use of Computer 93%

Graphics 95%

Playability 94%

Getting Started 91%

Addictive Qualities 93%

Value For Money 91%

Overall 93%

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Producer: Ocean Retail Price: £7.95 Author: Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond Gotham City's caped crusader continues his quest against crime in Ocean's new release, Batman. In this computerised adventure, our clean-living hero's ever faithful friend Robin has been kidnapped by an evil arch villain and it's up to Batman to rescue the Boy Wonder from the clutches of the forces of evil. Once you've configured the controls for the game, defining the keys or joystick as appropriate and selecting the sound levels you require, Batman sproings into action, sliding down the pole into the Batcave complex. He's got a problem - the Batmobile doesn't work! Suddenly the superhero remembers - Robin was servicing the Batmobile when he was abducted, and seven vital Batmobile parts are lying hidden in the Batcave. Before he can roar forth onto the roads, Batman has to collect the seven Bat Bits and install them in the Batmobile. At the start of the game Batman's powers are limited - he can stroll round the caves, and that's about it. He needs to find some Bat Equipment to give him the powers needed to complete his quest. Four vital Bat Devices have to be collected: Jet Batboots (for jumping); Batbag (allows the caped crusader to pick up and put down objects); a thruster (allows horizontal movement when falling) and a Low Gravity Batbelt (halves the speed of a fall). The Batcave's architects obviously worked on the castle in Knight Lore - the resemblance is striking - and the game is viewed and played in the same fashion. Four Bat Device icons in the bottom right hand corner of the screen are highlighted when a piece of Bat Equipment is collected. Four more Bat Icons on the left of the screen are used to display Batman's status. Our hero starts the game with nine lives, and can collect more during his journey by collecting an Extra Life Batpill - the number of lives remaining is shown under a Batsign logo. Three more icons are used to display jumping ability, shield status and energy, and are activated when an appropriate Batpill is collected. Batpills look like small Batmen, and tend to fall from the roof of the Batcave. They all look the same, and the only way to find out what a Batpill does, is to pick it up and spot which Batpill icon gains a number. If an Energy Batpill is picked up, Batman can move at high speed - a counter beneath the lightning flash icon ticks down with each superfast step until it reaches zero and it's back to a strolling pace. Shield Batpills give Batman invulnerability for a while, and jump Batpills allow a number of double strength jumps to be made. To add a little extra excitement to the game, Neutralizing Batpills turn up now and again, which remove any shield energy and super jumps in Batman's inventory. Bad News, as the instructions say... Another very useful thing in the Bat Cave are Reincarnation stones. If Batman touches one it disappears after recording the state of play and Batman's position. If Batman fails in his quest and runs out of lives, the game can be continued from the point when Batman last touched a Reincarnation Stone. The Batcave has been extensively remodelled from the movie days, and it's huge! Unfortunately, there are now some very nasty creatures lurking in the hallowed halls, all of them keen to remove a life from our hero's stocks - one touch from a baddie and it's one life less for the caped crusader. Spiked floors, which usually have dissolving pieces of catwalk above them, are deadly, as are some rather more innocuous objects. Conveyor belts and lifts as well as suspended, disappearing and sinking floors also provide problems to an unwary Batperson. Sometimes objects or exits to a room are too high to reach or jump onto, so Batman has to pick up Bat Objects (stuff like Elephant's Feet and Art Nouveau Tea Pots amongst other things) and pile them up to enable him to achieve his goal. Batman is rushing to rescue his friend - if you leave him standing in once place for too long he crosses his arms and taps a foot impatiently. He wants to collect the Bat Equipment, find the seven parts of the Batmobile so he can teleport to the launchpad, get into the Batmobile, start the motor and get on with rescuing Robin. There's no time to lose... COMMENTS Control keys: definable Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2, Cursor Keyboard play: adjustable, and very responsive Use of colour: Okay; avoids attributes well Graphics: excellent, with some really imaginative characters Sound: not overly wonderful: a Batman theme tune and a few spot effects Skill levels: one Screens: more than 150

In a corridor with a nasty, snapping dog. Good job Batman foundan energy Batpill so he can run fast - he's got fifty five superfast steps left in his inventory.

In a roomful of conveyor belts, Batman pegs it away from apatrolling monster. The Batboots are on the far right of the walkway, on the other side of that fiend.

On a perrilous walkway, above a spiky floor Batman risks death on his quest to rescue Robin.

Whirly nasties meet the caped crusader. He's the bigger Batman on the left - the little guy on the right is, in fact, a Batpill.

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