Pro Pinball

Sinclair Programs

June Mortimer

We look at the best and the worst releases in a month which offers new games from top software houses Fantasy and Ultimate. ZIPPER FLIPPER In your local toyshop, in the novelty section, is a pile of little plastic gadgets which simulate the working of a fruit machine. Zipper Flipper does the same thing on a 48K Spectrum. The bouncing pinball is very well represented and is obviously the work of skillful programming. When all is said and done, though, the plastic gadget in the toyshop docs the same job more cheaply. Published by Sinclair Research Ltd, [redacted] Price, £5.95.

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 4/10

FEEBLE FOUR FROM SINCLAIR ERIC AND THE FLOATERS Memory: 48K Price: £5.95 Joystick: Interface 2 ZIPPER FLIPPER Memory: 48K Price: £5.95 Joystick: Interface 2 DRILLER TANKS Memory: 48K Price: £5.95 Joystick: Interface 2 BUBBLE BUSTER Memory: 48K Price: £5.95 Joystick: Interface 2 Sinclair Research is continuing its policy of marketing games under licence with four new releases. Zipper Flipper by R.E-D Sunshine is a pinball program with a fruit machine feature included. You have to break down a wall of bricks with the ball to bring the fruit machine into play. The other three games are all by Hudsonsoft. Driller Tanks, which sounds like a video nasty, is a simple game of underground warfare, as you use your tank to prevent marauding monsters tunneling to the surface. Bubble Blaster is a slightly more interesting program in which you must burst bubbles with a ray gun before they land on you. Those three games all suffer from a very simple concept which has not been developed to provide any real variety during the play. The graphics on Bubble Blaster, though they could be better yet, are of higher quality than in the other two programs but are also the least complex when seen on the screen, even though they may be well-programmed. The fourth in the series, Eric and the Floaters, is clearly superior to the other three. Eric is attempting to explore a lost underground civilisation by planting bombs in a network of tunnels to clear blockages and reveal treasures. He is pursued by balloon-like Floaters, which also have to be killed with the bombs. The concept is again simple but in this case there are a number of hidden surprises which increase the enjoyment for the player out of all proportion to the extra trouble taken to program the refinements. To play the games with a joystick you will have to use Interface Two, or one of the programmable interfaces, as Sinclair is clearly not interested in supporting peripherals manufactured by other companies.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Crash

Use of Computer 70%

Graphics 65%

Playability 58%

Getting Started 63%

Addictive Qualities 58%

Originality 43%

Value For Money 60%

Overall 60%

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Producer: Sinclair Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £5.95 Language: Machine code Author: R.E.D./Sunshine 'It's late at night - the cafe's crowded - and the music's playing loud. The hunt is on for a pinball wizard - the one who can master the rolling ball. It takes lightning reflexes to master the Zipper Flipper and it's your turn to play…' So says the insert. So, as you may imagine, Zipper Flipper is a pinball game, and you may have already discovered the Pinball Wizard - that was by CP Software. The principle difference between this and the CP Software game (apart from the graphics) is that Zipper Flipper also includes a fruit machine - not as a separate game, but as a part of the table. The actual playing table looks a little like a surprised walrus with a telephone to its ear (or perhaps a steam radio, whichever you prefer). It eyes are the two main central bumpers with channels above for eyebrows and vertical channels for worry lines. Below, there are three smaller bumpers for a nose and the two flippers for projecting teeth. The telephone bit is the area containing the fruit machine. This is protected from the main table by three rows of multicoloured bricks. Each time a ball hits a brick it is knocked out. Should you breach the wall entirely, your ball may land in the fruit machine, which can then be nudged for a bonus score. Between one and five players can enjoy the game, and a menu option provides for the setting up of a competition. COMMENTS Control keys: left hand keys flip left, right hand keys flip right, 1-5 lowers plunger, 6-0 raises plunger, ENTER to fire and nudge Joystick: ZX 2 Keyboard play: responsive, although flippers a bit sluggish Use of colour: well used, but rather drab looking Graphics: neat and excellent spinning ball Sound: realistic ball pings, but nothing else much Skill levels: 1 Lives: 5 balls Features: 1 to 5 player games Originality: as it's a copy of a real game, obviously not very high

Resembling a bewildered walrus on the telephone - Zipper Flipper.