Tilt

Your Sinclair

Overall 88%

Rich Pelley 88%

RICH PELLEY and JON PILLAR - as nice of couple of young chaps as you could ever hope to meet. So we locked them up in the... BARGAIN BASEMENT TILT CodeMasters £2.99 Reviewer: Rich Pelley "It's a Corker!" Or at least, so some poor bloke from Commodore Format reckons. But who'd trust someone like him, eh? Fortunately you can trust me when I tell you that this is indeed a corker, 'cos when have I ever been wrong? (Oh, apart from then.) This one reminds me of those hand-held games you shake about to get a ball-bearing round a maze and down a hole at the other end. Here you waggle the joystick to 'tilt' the entire screen (which manages to look pretty 3D and realistic) thus moving the ball about. Every time your ball touches the side of the maze however you have to start again, which you can only do a limited number of times seeing as every 'tilt' uses up some of your energy. Pressing Fire at appropriate occasions opens 'gates' to let the ball through, which is quite handy really. With practice, you soon get the hang of things and start whizzing through the different mazes like billy-o. There are loads of mazes, it's all really good fun and utterly addictive - so you should certainly consider adding this little sausage to your collection.

Mmm, now if I can just ease my way along the corridor without touching the walls...

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Sinclair User

Graphics 77%

Sound 65%

Playability 62%

Lastability 78%

Overall 69%

Matt Regan 69%

Label: Codemasters Price: £2.99 48K Reviewer: Matt Regan Angles are wonderful things. You can find them everywhere; on the street, in the home, at the school or office. In fact, you could say that this planet would seem rather flat and dull without them. Before this review starts to sound any more like Play School, it's safe to say that Tilt is concerned with angles. Or maybe elephants. No. definitely angles. Tilt is set over a multitude of levels, which become progressively more difficult. The object of the game is to guide ball through a maze, avoiding traps and opening doors, until the bail reaches a hole at the end of the level. This is achieved by tilting the platform in the desired direction by means of the joystick, causing the ball to roll (thanks to the miracle technology of gravity). At the beginning of the level the power level is at maximum, but decreases with every tilt - and every time the ball hits the walls, which also sends the player back to the start of the level. Luckily, bonus power is awarded for the distance travelled, thus allowing the player to claw back some energy for the next attempt. Gates open from a touch on the joystick, but beware; they close again very qulckly! Traps are liberally scattered around the landscape, doing strange things to your balls. Although these only appear from the fifth level on, you'll soon wish they hadn't! The traps can only be neutralised by tilting the table as the ball rolls over them - not an easy task. On later levels, the ball grows, making it even harder to avoid the walls and traps. Tilt is a clever idea for a game, with simplistic and addictive play. However the ball is just too awkward to control, making the game frustrating, and as you are sent back to the start of the level each time, it's easy to get stuck (and then angry). This is a shame, spoiling a great idea.

Crash

Overall 68%

Nick Roberts 68%

Code Masters £2.99 Let CodeMasters drive you round the bend in this ridiculously simple but really addictive game. The idea is to guide a ball through a maze made of blocks and sliding gates by tilting the whole maze at an angle. Touching any of the walls or hitting a gate will result in being sent back to the beginning, minus some of your precious energy. I bet you think that sounds really easy, but believe me it isn't. Perfect timing is needed to open and close the gates just as the ball passes by. Luckily if you get sent back to the beginning the gates you've already passed stay open. Four mazes need to be conquered, after the four have been completed you go back to the first one but this time the ball is a little bigger and there are energy fields to be dodged! Graphically Tilt is laughable. But graphics aren't what counts in a game of this type. It's the realistic way the mazes tilt and the infuriating addictiveness that make it worth while. One moan I have is about the number of mazes available, they could have fitted more than four into 48K, and with 128K available there's no excuse, even if they get added features as you progress. Tilt is a unique game that will have you pulling your hair out, but loving it at the same time.