Bull Run

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 3/10

Sound 3/10

Originality 7/10

Lasting Interest 1/10

Overall 2/10

Chris Anderson 2/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 1648K CONTROL: Cursor Keys FROM: Phipps Associates, £5.95 The cassette cover says LOAD "BULL" and that's exactly what this game is. The basic idea is fine. You have to trap an escaped bull by picking up pieces of fence and positioning them around the animal. One could even almost forgive the graphics, despite the fact that the tiny character-size drawings which represent you and the bull jerk around the screen like penguins on pogo-sticks. What's unforgivable is that the game uses an almost impossible combination of keys, and when (after a few seconds) your single life is used up, it forces you to sit through a long and utterly uninteresting pre-game routine before you can start again. The keys are the cursor keys for movement plus 'P' to pick up a fence and 'D' to drop it into position. Easy to remember. Ludicrous in actual use. It's just possible that if you put in hours of frustrating effort, you might get to the point where the game became enjoyable. But much more likely you'll give up, gored and bored.

Your Computer

Overall 1/5

16/48K Spectrum Run away Phipps Associates £6.95 Silicon Pamplona. On holiday in a Spanish village you are pursued by a wild bull. There is a 30,000 pesetas reward from which 50 is deducted every second. You use yourself as bait and put up fences. These do not stay up very long. The Bull will gore you if you are carrying a fence, but you are fairly safe behind one. Three levels of play, not great graphics, cheaper than a holiday in Spain.

Crash

Use of Computer 42%

Graphics 34%

Playability 37%

Getting Started 48%

Addictive Qualities 15%

Value For Money 20%

Overall 33%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Phipps Associates Memory Required: 16K Retail Price: £5.95 Language: Machine code Author: Barry Cornhill A bull has escaped in the streets of a Spanish town where you are holidaying. Being fearless, you offer to persuade it back into the arena by placing fences to divert it, and use yourself as bait to attract it. If you succeed the townsfolk will reward you. The screen shows the town from above, but it more resembles a model of a some medieval village from a history book. Sixteen houses surround a central pond, with the arena at the top. The fences are kept down on the right. Depending on the ferocity of the bull chosen, the fences will only stand up to such mistreatment and collapse. COMMENTS Control keys: cursors for direction, P = pick, D = Drop Joystick: AGF, Protek cursor clip on Keyboard play: poor Colour below average Graphics: very poor Sound: unimaginative Skill levels: 3 Lives: 1

Another gory end in sight as the enraged trestle table from Spain attacks.