Bombscare

ZX Computing

Firebird, the BT company who made such an impact with their first collection of SW have added to their range with the introduction of seven new programs in their Silver, £2.50, series. SHORT'S FUSE is a simple but maddeningly addictive game in which you have to chase around the screen to reach bombs before they explode.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Graphics 8/10

Sound 5/10

Value 6/10

Playability 6/10

MACHINE: Spectrum SUPPLIER: Firebird PRICE: £2.50 The evil Boris is holding the world to ransom... by planting multi-detonator bombs in the capital cities of the world. But Sam Short is out to defuse them or get blown up. And when one city is cleared, Sam is off to help out another beleaguered capital. But is this really a good subject for fun and games? Terrorism for entertainment! Short's Fuse is a cheap and nasty game.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT Buying computer games can be an expensive business. Some can cost anything up to £14. To buy all the latest titles as they come onto the market would cost a small fortune. And that's beyond the pocket of most people. So it's no wonder that software companies have started producing a range of games costing no more than a couple of pounds. Unfortunately, besides being cheap, some were very nasty and a waste of money. It seemed far better to save up and buy a top price game. But such is the potential of the market that the quality of the games has improved while the prices have been kept low. So Computer & Video Games thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at some of the current budget games on the market from software houses. Firebird, British Telecom's software company, is now in the process of updating its Silver catalogue which was launched in October 1984 with great success, with all the games selling for £2.50. Star of the original 20 titles was undoubtedly Booty on the Spectrum 48k and Commodore 64 which, claims Firebird, has sales now in excess of 100,000. It's now being converted to the Amstrad and should be available by late summer. In Booty, Jim the cabin boy faces death by drowning or at the hands of the Ghost Pirate as he searches through the hold of the Black Galleon in search of treasure. Another favourite is Gogo the Ghost on the Commodore 64 which has, believe it or not, 150 frames of haunted happenings. New games shortly to be introduced into the Silver range are Microcosm for the BBC B, Subsunk for the Commodore 64 and Don't Panic for the 16k and 48k Spectrum. Mastertronic, formed in April 1984, now claims to be the brand leader in budget games - its extensive range sells for just £1.99 each. In its first 12 months of trading, Mastertronic says it has audited figures of sales for two million games. New developments for 1985 in the £1.99 range include two semi-educational games in its Mistertronic titles - Make Music with Mistertronic and Type Rope - aimed at the six to 11 age range. Earlier this year, Atlantis Software launched three games under its new Atlantis Gold label, selling at £2.99 each. They were the Dungeons and Dragons-style Adventure Velnor's Lair for the Commodore 64 and Nicotine Nightmare and Self Destruct, both on the Spectrum 48k. The last two have proved so popular that Atlantis is in the process of converting them for the Amstrad - a move which again points to the growing popularity of the machine. Mike Cole, of Atlantis, says: "We believe in the Amstrad as the next thing to come. It's a lovely machine. We will be supporting it." Being launched this spring is The Sparkler range of games from Creative Sparks at £2.50. Sandy Mackenzie, of Creative Sparks, says: "There is a a need to supply good quality software at prices affordable to kids". The company's decision to produce cheap software was prompted to a great extent by the large number of excellent games sent in by amateur writers. "By promoting games in the budget range," says Sandy, "we are opening the industry to new talent, and also serving the interest of games buyers by publishing good games at reasonable prices. After all, low prices doesn't have to mean low quality." Soit seems that pocket-money power is being recognised at last and computer star wars could soon become computer price wars. About time, too!

Personal Computer News

Overall 5/10

Bob Chappell 5/10

PRICE: £6.50 PUBLISHER: Dollarsoft [redacted] A silly scenario with a straightforward objective. Guide Boris the bomb disposal expert around some of the world's greatest cities and prevent a nuclear holocaust by collecting up the detonators planted by Cyril the saboteur. I liked the secondary title page showing the head of the Statue of Liberty lying on its side with an ominous mushroom cloud floating overhead. I was not quite so impressed with the game itself though. The strains of Camptown Races accompany the opening instruction sequence and the game kicks off with Jimmy Crack Corn - what strange tastes in theme music these people have. An impressively drawn sphinx dominates the first screen and around it are dotted a number of small platforms. The detonators are strewn around the platforms, while Cyril with his bomb lurk in the most inaccessible part. Boris is an attractive, smoothly animated little figure whom you control with the keyboard. The game is extremely difficult to play, mainly because you have to get Boris to move precisely from one tiny platform to another by pressing the awkward combination of the O or P key together with the Symbol Shift, and this while in a very short race against the clock. The other major annoyance comes whenever you lose a life. You have to wait while both the tunes mentioned above have run their course. The delay seemed intolerable after a few plays. Without the above two factors, Bomb Scare would be quite an enjoyable little game. The graphics are fairly good and the animation effective, especially of Boris. Whether these qualities compensate for the vexation caused by the controls and the musical pauses you will have to decide for yourself. They didn't for me.

Crash

Use of Computer 58%

Graphics 62%

Playability 59%

Getting Started 59%

Addictive Qualities 60%

Value For Money 63%

Overall 60%

Unknown

Unknown

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Producer: Dollarsoft Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £5.95 Language: Machine code Author: R. Stevenson & P. Durbidge Guide Boris, the bomb disposal expert, around many of the world's greatest Cities. Collect detonators planted by the evil Cyril Saboteur and save the world from its impending doom - it says on the inlay. The detonators are obviously rather big ones, judging from the lively loading screen, which shows a city under the pall of what must be an atomic explosion. The on-screen instructions make all clear as the text scrolls upwards - they're nuclear detonators. Bombscare is basically a platform game with each screen set around a famous monument such as the Sphinx and Great Pyramid on screen one. On the several platform are purple detonators which may be collected by walking over them. When one goes red, it is about to explode, so it makes sense to try and get those first, as you're not allowed much time. Control is with a left/right and jump key but there are ropes on some screens to be climbed and descended. COMMENTS Control keys: O/P left/right, Q/A climb/descend rope, SYM SHIFT to jump Joystick: none Keyboard play: responsive but finicky Use of colour: average although not much Graphics: some nice drawings of famous sites, playing graphics on the small side Sound: nice tune and spot effects Skill levels: 1 Lives: 3 Screens: several

Going up, 2nd floor - sarcophagae and embalming fluids, 3rd floor - and nuclear detonators...