Trouble Brewin

Your Spectrum

Dave Nicholls 3/5 HIT

Roger Willis 2/5 MISS

Ross Holman 3/5 HIT

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... TROUBLE BREWIN' Silversoft £5.95 Roger: Never mind Trouble Brewin', I had trouble playing this game! Typically, most of the aggro came from a complete lack of instructions or explanations with the test sample, which meant that I had to suss out the required action on each of five screens. Fortunately, a 'practice' facility accesses any of the screens and erratic key-stroking soon indentified the point of it all. Imagery is mostly concerned with alcoholic beverages, a subject extremely dear to my heart. Barrels, vats and glasses of bubbly proliferate. In the first screen, a deadly corkscrew is just one of the things to be avoided and in the fifth, the champagne realistically knocks you out - well, it always makes me comatose! Altogether, despite my 'orrible suspicion of things arcade, I must say that the game did seem a bit - dare I say- easy. The mobile nasties and fixed obstacles arc far too predictable and crude Maybe it'll be a big success with 'Real Ale' freaks, but I think I'll stick to lager.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

Crash

Use of Computer 75%

Graphics 79%

Playability 81%

Getting Started 82%

Addictive Qualities 82%

Value For Money 80%

Overall 80%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Silversoft Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £5.95 Language: Machine code Author: Just lately there seems to have been something of a 'looking back' at basic ideas in arcade type games, most notably from Silversoft with titles like Hyperaction, Super Mutt and now Trouble Brewin'. Silversoft seem to be taking care to incorporate varied elements of traditional games into new ones with the experience gained over two years of what makes a game addictive to play. Trouble Brewin' is basically a platform type game where you guide your man through several screens, collecting a number of objects on each screen whilst avoiding the nestles which include animated corkscrews, apples, 'pimen', slugs and others. The screens incorporate both main elements of platform games, the use of ladders and the function of jumping. So on one screen it may be ladders that are the main feature, whereas on another it might just be jumping from a small platform to an even smaller platform. Part of the attraction of such games is the fun of seeing what's coming next, how to get through the various hazards, and in the case of Trouble Brewin', what the slightly different objectives in each screen are. As the title suggests, the action is taking place in a brewery, and indeed, on one screen there is even the alchohol vat to be seen, getting hotter as you watch it. The objective here is to control the temperature by keeping all the windows shut, whilst avoiding the nasties which are constantly opening them. COMMENTS Control keys: Q/A up/down, N/M left /right, 2 - 5 to jump Joystick: unstated on preview copy, presumed to be Kempston, Cursor and Sinclair Keyboard play: good positions and very responsive, good jumping action Use of colour: very good - bright Graphics: smooth, fast, well animated and large Sound: above average Skill levels: 1 Lives: 6 Screens: 5 Special features:

The five screens from Trouble Brewin'.

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 7/10

Sound 5/10

Originality 6/10

Lasting Interest 5/10

Overall 5/10

Peter Connor 5/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K CONTROL: Keys FROM: Silversoft, £5.95 Plenty of trouble for do-it-yourself alcoholics who attempt to gather ingredients, mix a potent brew and then cure a whopping hangover. Graphics are colourful and the gameplay can be quite demanding, but there's only five screens.

Personal Computer News

Overall 8/10

David Guest 8/10

PRICE: £5.95 PUBLISHER: Silversoft [redacted] This tape is like an old 45, with an A side and a B side. Trouble Brewin' is definitely the B side, for in Super Mutt Silversoft has created a character to rival Jeff Minter's battling sheep. Super Mutt flies, leaps, and jumps vertically. Ears pinned back he skims the roof-tops in a quest for energy-giving green apples; defying gravity he vaults from ledge to ledge collecting floating letters that will give him the password to rescue his friend the Pup at the end of the game. At the same time his remarkable (and energy-sapping) agility comes in handy for dodging various airborne hazards. He lacks fire-power, relying on nimble paw-work to reach his goal, but the letter collection makes this an agreeably educational game that doesn't need any mayhem to be enjoyable. The graphics throughout are fine; the quest takes in 24 rooms and 60 landscapes, with a variety of adversaries for the paranormal dog. The game needs patience and a certain amount of ingenuity; the margins for error as you try to keep the dog's energy levels up are slight, and although some of the green apples are easy targets, the aerial bombs in many different disguises are all over the place. Trouble Brewin' is similar in style, the aim being to collect ingredients and utensils and use them to make wine. There are five stages, all more or less the same - they differ only in the items you have to collect and the nasties you have to avoid. The brewer jumps, climbs and waddles, but he has none of Super Mutt's charm. Once you've seen one screen full of ladders and ledges, you've seen them all unless there's some thing outstanding about the graphics. But Super Mutt may be demanding enough to make Trouble Brewin' a source of relaxation, especially as you can stay on the five practice screens instead of taking on the whole game.