Rupert and the Ice Castle

Crash

Use of Computer 54%

Graphics 47%

Playability 47%

Getting Started 55%

Addictive Qualities 47%

Value For Money 54%

Overall 50%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Bug Byte Retail Price: £2.99 Author: Bug Byte Rupert and his chums are getting some serious hassle from Jenny Frost, Jack's sister. Not content with covering the countryside in an icy blanket, she has also kidnapped Rupert's friends. Bingo, Edward Trunk, Algy and Badger Bill have all been frozen solid and are being held captive in the Ice Castle. Rupert must go to the Ice Castle to defrost them. The only way he can unfreeze his woodland chums is by giving them an ice pill. Before setting out, Rupert can choose how many ice pills to take with him - up to eight are available - and select which of the three levels to attempt. Rupert has to climb the ramparts and jump onto icy ridges to try and return his friends to the land of the living. Apart from the bitter cold inside the Ice Palace, Rupert also has to contend with the traps that Jenny Frost has set to try and trick him into becoming like his frozen friends. Contact with the nasties in the game - which include falling icicles, a helicopter and a car - robs Rupert one of his precious ice pills. Once all his pills have been used up, Rupert is turned into a block of ice. The game is over when each level has been completed and all of Rupert's friends have pottered back to Norwood for a hot cup of cocoa in front of a roaring fire. COMMENTS Control keys: O left, P right, A pick up, Z jump Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair Keyboard play: unresponsive Use of colour: colourful but without attribute clashes Graphics: finely detailed Sound: a few spot effects Skill levels: one Screens: 12

Sinclair User

Overall 4/5

John Gilbert 4/5

WHAT CAN I GET FOR £2.99 A cut above. £2.99 is still a budget price but it ought to mean that you get a little bit extra, a little more thought, originality, more programming expertise. We look at the budget elite and ask, "Can you tell the difference?" RUPERT AND THE ICE CASTLE Label: Bug Byte Price: £2.99 Memory: 48K Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair Reviewer: John Gilbert Jack Frost's sister is up to mischief again. She's imprisoned Wupert's chums in blocks of ice while they were visiting Jack at the Ice Castle. What naughtyness. Only Wupert's stock of five magic pills can unfreeze his friends but the bear has to reach each one first. Each of the four screens (there are three levels) contains platforms, ice puddles and at least one moving obstacle as well as one of Wupert's frozen friends. A line of poetry at the top of the screen tells you which friend he has to rescue. Be careful of the moving obstacles, such as the ice skates, jumping jacks and bouncing balls. All steal ice pills and if you run out of them you freeze. As you bump into each of Wupert's buddies the screen changes and you see him walk back to the safety of Nutwood. When you've picked up all four of his friends you move to the next level of the game. Rupert and the Ice Palace is aimed mainly for young children - although adult Rupertophiles will like the characterisation - so it would be wrong to condemn it merely because it is simple to complete. It's a huge improvement on Rupert's dire first micro outing Rupert and the Toymaker's Party. The graphics have a cuddly appeal. I was almost in hysterics when Wupert fell off a level, hit a ghostly rollerskate and skidded across a lake of ice. Almost. The sound's better too. There's no music but Bug-Byte has included some Space Invader sound effects, when the bear jumps from level to level. Pity there are no sound effects for the starting sequences. The decision to bring Rupert out in the summer when there's not a hint of snow in the sky is a bit odd. They could have kept it on ice until winter but, then, that would have kept screaming hoards of Rupert fans waiting for another five months. It's worth noting, too, that Rupert is also available on a full-price charity compilation tape - Wow Games - in aid of War on Want, together with 13 other games.

ZX ComputingZX Computing Glob Minor

Overall Grim

Bug Byte £2.99 Rupert may be over 60 years old now. but he's still hopping abut like a good 'un in Bug Byte's latest release. Rupert's chums have been kidnapped and frozen inside the ice castle, and it's up to Rupert to slip on his ice skates and rescue them with his special ice pills. Inside, the ice castle looks remarkably like a platform game with little sprites of snowballs and toy cars bouncing around. If these touch Rupert he loses one of his pills, and when he runs out of pills he too is frozen and the game ends. There are also patches of ice in all the rooms that you can skate over, though here you have to be careful as it's easy to skid out of control. At first, the game looks a bit better than it actually is. The graphics for the scenes inside are all nicely designed, and Rupert himself is a large detailed sprite. But after a short time you'll realise that there's not awful lot of game to go with the nice graphics. Each of Rupert's friends are hidden in a separate screen, and there are three difficulty levels to play on. But, as poor Rupert only seems to have four friends this give you a grand total of just twelve screens to play on. Each screen seems a bit tricky at first, especially as Rupert goes out of control whenever he collides with anything. But once I'd completed each screen and worked out a route that works I was able to go through most of them over and over again without much difficulty. The first level of four screens took me about ten minutes to complete, and the next levels, though harder, soon started to seem repetitive. It's a shame really - with a budget price and nice graphics this could have been a good addition to the ranks of budget games, but with such a small number of basically repetitious screens there's not much of a game here to play.