Turmoil

Your Spectrum

Dave Nicholls 3/5 HIT

Roger Willis 4/5 HIT

Ross Holman 3.5/5 HIT

JOYSTICK JURY All the latest software from around the houses! Passing judgement this month are Dave Nicholls, Ross Holman and Roger Willis. Our regular crew of software screw balls are in fine form this month. Draining the dregs of Christmas spirit are Dave Nicholls, the hairy hacker; JSW champion Ross Holman; and our own two-wheeled terror, Roger Willis. Just in case you find our scoring system too confusing, here's what it's all about. The score out of five at the end of each person's review is based on their own experience of the game. But that's pretty subjective... so, they also use the HIT and MISS system to indicate its potential as a commercial success. TURMOIL Bug-Byte £6.95 Ross: Picture a garage, our man with a spanner Mick the Mechanic, and a plague of marauding Arabs and you've got Turmoil! The idea of the game is to guide Mick up and down ladders and along platforms to fill his oil can with the precious black stuff. Now manoeuvre Mick over a grid in the floor and drop the oil; this makes a car appear on the conveyor belt. If you manage to complete this feat a second time, you get to move on to the next screen to build another motor. Turmoil stands out from other 'ladder and levels' games currently flooding the market because it makes use of 'spring' power. Mick himself has no natural jumping ability, so to get him leaping on to the necessary platforms, you have to guide him over a spring... he'll then be thrust up in the air in proportion to the 'springyness' of the spring. The Arabs, who seem to be very intelligent, also use the springs and ladders in their efforts to thwart your plans. You can kill an Arab by spilling some oil in his path, but they're soon replaced so it hardly seems worth it! Well, it may be just another 'platform' clone, but it's suitably different to be successful - I liked it.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

Sinclair Programs

June Mortimer

Turmoil is quite simply a game in which you have to help Mic the Mechanic to steal oil from the Arabs' oil refinery in order to build a car. This is not as easy as it sounds as you are chased by the Arabs who are incensed at the thought of their oil being stolen. At the beginning of the game players have a quick view of all 26 stages if they do not choose to start playing or to sample the training mode. I am glad to see that the author retains some sympathy for the player and allows Mic the Mechanic to fall from any height without meeting with death. Unless, of course , he collides with an Arab in mid-flight. It also makes a change not to have to watch a time and fuel limit as you can devote more concentration to the game. For those of you who feel a sense of achievement whenever a high score is obtained you can collect the tools that appear at intervals and return them to the shed at the bottom of the screen. I chose to ignore the tools and aimed to fill my oil can with five drops of oil. Once the oil was collected I poured it through a grid and watched my car grow. We all know it takes six drops of oil to build a car so I was compelled to risk life and limb once again by returning to the refinery for a refill. At this point it is best to collect another five drops of oil as the extra drops can be spilt in front of the Arabs when the going gets hot. The pursuing Arab, and his skirts, are consequently sent flying and you can then finish building your car. After playing the game for a very long time I was determined to surpass myself and send the car off to the fourth screen, screen D. I had completed the first three levels numerous times and finally managed to access screen D. It was not long, however, before I was whacked on the head by an angry Arab wielding a lethal weapon. The last of my five lives was gone and I was back to the beginning. Feeling dejected, I sat for five minutes debating whether or not to pull the plug. All thoughts of saving my sanity were soon abandoned when I pressed the START key and headed for another bout. Through screen A, and then B with the help of the rope and then on to screen C and the moving platforms. All three screens were nearly as difficult as the first time I played Turmoil which shows that the game will still be playable should all 26 screens be completed, and not discarded to a drawer marked 'Conquered'. I moved on to screen D with three lives to hand and rather fancying my chances of completing the level. Success at last, and I was on to screen E and then F. At this point I decided to give the game a rest. The next time I played I was lucky enough to have a reviewer's copy which allowed me to practise on all the levels. Moving platforms, disappearing walls, lifts, lift shafts, ropes and conveyor belts were rife. I found some screens harder than those following them and at times could not work out how to drop the oil onto the grid. The refinery, jug and grid were often difficult to reach and these points combined with the obstacles added up to make the game more challenging. As you complete each harder level you get a different car so you are able to work up from Mini and Volkswagen to a flash sports car. The playing keys are easy to master and the game can also be controlled via a joystick. The animation and graphics are good although there do appear to be a couple of problems. You can often walk up ladders when not properly positioned and on the screens where a rope is involved it is possible to stand in mid-air whilst waiting for the rope. Obviously a fault but it makes for easier playing. Anyway, there's no point crying over spilt oil, as they say, oil's well that ends well.

June Mortimer travelled to Manchester to meet David Turner, programmer of Turmoil. David is currently one of Manchester's 60,000 students. He shares a flat with eight others in the students' residences. "My studies aren't directly connected with my computing interests but they join up somewhere along the line. I'm actually doing a three year course in electronics at UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology). I don't really know what I want to do at the end of the course but it's something in computing, maybe programming or hardware, I can't say yet." Is Turmoil your first major program? "No, I had a game published by DK'Tronics last year called Galactians, but I decided for one reason and another to see if I could get Turmoil accepted by a different software house. I sent the game to Bug-Byte and they sent it back saying they would be interested if I made some modifications. I had to change the keys and add some background music. Bug-Byte finally accepted the game after I had sent it in five times." Were you influenced by Manic Miner whilst writing Turmoil? "I started writing Turmoil shortly alter finishing Galactians which was about a year ago. I hadn't seen Manic Miner and was really influenced by the arcade games Kong and Popeye. In all it took me about nine months to complete Turmoil." Where did the idea for Turmoil originate? "A friend worked in a garage which was taken over by Arabs and that's quite simply where the idea came from." Did you have any help with the sound, graphics or machine code? "No, as I said the idea originally started with the garage but all the programming was done by me. Bug-Byte gave me the title as Turmoil was originally called Pit-stop , a title that they felt immediately conjured up visions of a car racing game." Have you been asked by Bug-Byte to convert Turmoil for any other machines? "I'm not committed to Bug-Byte in any way. They haven't asked me to convert Turmoil for any other computers. They've left me to get on with what I want to do." In between studying, homework and indulging in Manchester night life David is working on an arcade adventure. David's computing career started at school where he joined the computer club and was able to use a PET. "Then I saw the advert for the ZX-81 and things went on from there. I upgraded to a Spectrum eventually and have stuck with it." David had his first program published when he was 17. Now at 18 he has had two games accepted by leading software houses. Who knows, maybe this time next year, the arcade adventure will be finished and David will have another game to his credit.

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 8/10

Sound 6/10

Originality 5/10

Lasting Interest 7/10

Overall 7/10

Martyn Smith

Robert Patrick 7/10

Steve Spittle

MACHINE: 48K Spectrum CONTROL: Keys, Kemp FROM: Bug-Byte, £6.95 You've heard the joke about the bouncing Czechs, now play the computer game with the bouncing Arabs. I'm not sure the Race Relations Board is going to like this game a great deal but I'm sure you will. Taking the role of Mic Mechanic you must negotiate your way round a factory collecting tools, returning them to the workshop and collecting oil so that you can fill your car and make your escape to the next screen. You collect the oil and tools by running up and down ladders and jumping between platforms using ropes, springboards, conveyor belts and a wrap-around screen to help you. If this isn't enough, you are chased around by sword-wielding Arabs who are more than a little disgruntled by the mess you've made in the factory and the fact that you're stealing their oil. Considering the price of the stuff these days I'm not at all surprised! The game has twenty-six screens (Coded A to Z) and each one presents a new challenge. There are some really difficult obstacles to overcome and it's easy to become addicted. The main task on each screen is to collect enough oil for your car to drive away. The real problem is not getting at the car but obtaining the oil in the first place. You drop the oil down a grid to fill up the car which gradually appears from the wheels up till the roof plonks on top. The car trundles off the screen sounding rather sick, so it's no surprise that you have to fill it up all over again. Graphics are excellent throughout the game and that all-too-frequent phenomemon of colour clash is virtually non-existent. There's some nice animation and the Arabs can be quite fast and extremely ruthless so you've got to be on your toes.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Graphics 8/10

Sound 8/10

Value 8/10

Playability 8/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48k SUPPLIER: Bug Byte PRICE: £6.95 As platform games go for the Spectrum, Bug Byte started it all with Manic Miner. Turmoil continues the craze which the company started and it's just as good. You're a mechanic and, once you've collected an oil can from the side the screen, you have to take it to the top of the screen and fill the can from the leaky tank. Then, take your can of oil and pour it into the car, which gradually takes shape. It takes more than one journey to make a full car, though. When it's done, you move to a harder screen. Like Manic Miner, you have to complete one screen before you can move on to the next. If you lose all your lives, you start again from screen one. There is a training mode, though, which lets you practise the harder screens but you don't score any points this way. The screens are beautifully animated, with conveyor belts and trampolines to help you escape from the Arabs. Well, what do you expect with all that oil about? They're after that oil and, if you run into one, you lose a life. You can defend yourself by dropping some oil around the screen which will kill anything it touches. But this means that you'll need even more trips to the tank to fill up the car. Graphics are as good as any similar game on the Spectrum and sound effects are as bad. But it does play a reasonable version of Stand Up and Fight, from Carmen.

CrashCrash Smash

Use of Computer 84%

Graphics 90%

Playability 91%

Getting Started 89%

Addictive Qualities 95%

Value For Money 91%

Overall 90%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Bug-Byte Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £6.95 Language: Machine code Author: David Turner Here we have what Bug-Byte describe as a multi-screened animated platform-type game. Turmoil certainly is a platform game, although a very varied one, containing 26 screens with a multitude of hazards and layouts. The game features Mick the Mechanic, who must collect enough oil for his car to get it going. On each screen there is a different car sitting in the garage. It's invisible until you start pouring oil over it which makes it appear. As soon as it is fully visible it will drive off and you get to the next screen. As you progress through the screens the cars get more sleek and expensive (from a Mini to a Porsche and beyond). On each screen there is a dripping tap of oil at the top. Mick must go and collect a can, then make his way to the tap and fill the can before going to the garage. Life is made more difficult by swinging ropes, poles, conveyor belts and a couple of angry Arabs who don't approve of having their oil stolen. Now and again tools appear in different locations which ought to be collected and taken back to the shed structure at the bottom right of the screen, otherwise the Arabs will become angrier. Any game must have something that distinguishes it from previous ones, and Turmoil has a very novel difference in the large spring-like trampolines which both Mick and the Arabs use to leap up onto the higher platforms. Mick's only protection is to spill drops of oil on which the Arabs slip up, removing them from the game for a few moments. Unfortunately this is also guaranteed to kill Mick off as well if he's not careful of where he treads. COMMENTS Control keys: Q/Z up/down, I/P left/right and M to jump Joystick: not indicated on the preview copy Keyboard play: highly responsive - 'a joy' Use of colour: excellent Graphics: excellent Sound: Skill levels: progressive difficulty Lives: 5 Screens: 26

Leaping on the giant spring to gain great height.

One Porsche complete in the garage.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Big K

Graphics 2/3

Playability 2/3

Addictiveness 2/3

Overall 2/3

Fin Fahey 2/3

OIL IS TOO SMALL A WORD FOR IT MAKER: Bug-Byte Software FORMAT: cassette PRICE: £6.95 Turmoil owes a debt to the girders-and-ladders games that have appeared in drives this year, but has a certain bizarre individuality that saves it. The hero, Mick Mechanic, is an obvious descendant of long-suffering Mario, but instead of rescuing Fay Wray, he has to collect oil from a dripping tank and carry it to a grille, where after filtering through, each drop makes a bit more car appear. When the full car has been drawn in, you win the frame. This procedure is not without hazards, because roaming up and down the ladders, along the ledges and bounding off the trampolines are a number of irate Arabs. It isn't easy to avoid them, and if they catch Mick they give him a jolly good hiding. the can be made to slip on drops of oil though. This annoyed me a little. Arabs are an easy target, because they're seen to be rich, but I do not find funny the use of any ethnic group as arcade baddy. After all, what next? Happy eye-rolling, melon-eating darkies with a nacth'l sense o' riddem? Or thick Micks (like this reviewer) with a predilection for alcohol (that last bit is true in my case)? Getting off the soap-box, in spite of this, Turmoil isn't bad. There are about seven different screens, and the game is challenging enough. I just wish people would stick to aliens and killer robots...

Personal Computer News

Overall 7/10

Susan Cooke 7/10

PRICE: £6.95 PUBLISHER: Bug Byte [redacted] Oh dear, the sheiks aren't very pleased. In fact you could say that they're furious. You've just been syphoning oil from their supplies to fill your car, and now they're out for revenge. Turmoil falls into the category of a platform game. There are 26 levels to complete, if you can get that far. Each level gets more complicated the further you advance into the game, with lifts, moving conveyor belts and more Arabs. To get the oil you have to collect a canister from a shelf and take it up a series of ladders and along platforms to a dripping tank. Holding the canister under the tank you can collect five drips, which you then have to take to a grid on the screen. Pressing the appropriate key or the fire button on the joystick allows you to drop the oil through the grid. With each drop, part of your car will miraculously appear. Six drops are needed to complete the car which then drives onto the next screen. While you're trying to produce your car you're constantly being chased by raving Arabs. If they catch you they will batter you to death with their sticks. Throughout each screen tools will spam on different shelves. Collecting these and taking them to the garage will gain you extra points. You'll be glad to know you aren't totally helpless against the sheiks - drops of oil will have them dancing on the floor. If you spill some in front of them you can watch them slither and slide, out of action for a while. Turmoil is easy to play. You don't have to be exactly in position before you climb the ladders. The graphics and sound are quite good, though the usual colour problems associated with the Spectrum are apparent. Turmoil will probably be a popular game although it's similar to many others. You may have difficulty completing all 26 levels with only five lives, but it's enjoyable.