CORE

Your Sinclair

Overall 7/10

Marcus Berkmann 7/10

REMAKE REMODEL Those cheapie re-releases, sifted and sorted by Marcus Berkmann. Yup, games these days are like cats - they have about nine lives. First we see them on full price labels, then they reappear on various compilations, then they're out again as cheapies. In the past YS hasn't taken an awful lot of notice, but there are so many now, we just can't ignore 'em. So here's the first Remake Remodel, and the first person to write in and tell us what that reference is, wins three cheapies! CORE Bug-Byte £1.99 Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann Vast problem-solving arcade adventure which didn't make much of an impact when released last year, but may do better on Argus' cheapie label. Really it's the old story of wandering around several screens picking things up and using them in the right way, which then lets you into another labyrinth of screens, and so on. There's not an amazing variety in the graphics, or indeed the gameplay, but it's the sort of game we don't often see any more - large, challenging and complex. Not for zappers, though.

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Sinclair User

Overall 9/10

Andy Moss 9/10

Label: Bug Byte Price: £1.99 Memory: 48K/128K Joystick: various Reviewer: Andy Moss Core is a problem-solving game, with all the hallmarks of a classic text adventure, but with moving graphics. You start with nothing but a battery-operated life support system, and have to find a variety of objects to enable you to delve further into the game. Obvious essential items to find include a laser gun, armoured reflectors and, the reason for your doing all this, bits of broken computer to be reassembled. The game is icon-driven, saveable (thankfully), and graphically excellent. A must if you like adventures.

Your Sinclair

Graphics 5/10

Playability 6/10

Value For Money 7/10

Addictiveness 9/10

Overall 7/10

Luke C 7/10

A'n'F Software £9.95 Reviewer: Luke C Imagine you're Andrew Angello, a space hero, searching the asteroid Eroc 1 for whatever nameless horror is destroying all of its inhabitants. Too late, all 720 personnel are dead before you get there... so what does any normal person do? Go home - mission unsuccessful. Oh no, not Andy, he mutters to himself. 'This is going to require skill, speed and brains', and treks off in search of danger and the missing segments of the colony's computer that, once pieced together, will tell the whole story of the sad fate of the ex-personnel. Eroc 1 is what they call a Deep Asteroid Mining Project, or DAMP, which is just a bit of technical jargon to explain the fact that this game has 1000 different rooms to explore, 250 on each of four levels. Yes, we're talking big here - but don't start searching for a massive piece of paper straight away, my first few hours with Core revealed about 30 rooms... Yes, you've guessed it, this is not a game you're going to finish in an afternoon! The mines are split up into small sections, each containing a small number of chambers. You travel between these via teleport devices or doorways. Moving left and right around the chambers, the first thing you notice is that the fire button does not spit the standard 'death-dealing fire', but instead makes Andy bend down to pick up an object. Of course, once he's found a gun then things change - but, until then, you just have to dodge anything that looks deadly. A bit of a shame since virtually everything that moves is deadly, including the flying lightning clouds and sea-mines. Most of these objects just give Andy a shock and deplete his batteries if he touches them, but others, like the walking robot, kill him and that's that! Core is a lot of fun, and very addictive. Success is not that easy, but when you do get do get a break there's an overwhelming feeling of having accomplished something - especially when you've wandered around the same old rooms wondering if A'n'F had pulled a fast one about the 1000 rooms when suddenly you notice another exit and there lurking off me beaten track are a whole load of objects to be picked up and a new maze of mines to explore. Core can be frustrating if you're only into fast arcade-action extravaganzas, but I reckon it's one of tho best mixes of arcade and adventure games I've seen for some time.

If you really want to know how long you've been playing the game, this is the best place to look. Of course, looking at your wristwatch might put things in a wider perspective but... This window shows you your possible route from any particular chamber. Here's the Icon Menu which has four different display functions - it can act as a control panel, allow Andy to perform different functions via the Fire button, show the number of back-up batteries available and, lastly, show the items Andy has collected on his travels. What a load of Junk! Or is it? Some of these objects are extremely useful. Most handy is the spade, which can be used to dig up hidden items, and the gun... Travel by teleport! They take about three seconds to operate, dump you directly in the path of a nasty so there's no way of avoiding it, leave you very little time to exit the machine before it's zapped you back to where you came from, and drain your batteries. Pretty neat, huh?

This red flashing button allows you to toggle the 'Direction Indicator' window when you've found some of the missing parts of the computer's memory, so that you can see how many you've got at any one time. Each time you zap through the teleport, Andy's battery pack drains a bit lower... and you have to pick up the batteries you find strewn around the mines if you're going to survive. If you let them get down low, you can't see what on earth's going on, it's so dark. Great! When you try and pick something up, this display tells you what you have just pocketed. It also comes up with unhelpful rubbish - such as 'Watch out' and 'Are you trying to kill yourself?' after you've just been zapped. Say hello to Andy. He's the one who decided to take you on this madcap whirl around the deadly 1000-chamber mines of Eroc 1. The nasties aren't all deadly - they just drain your batteries on contact. They make the screen flash too... which is pretty neat!

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

ZX ComputingZX Computing Globella

Overall Great

A 'n' F £9.95 A game of the 'wander round the caves avoiding the nasties and collecting the goodies' genre, but once all the objects have been collected you have to discover what to do with them. A game made harder for this poor reviewer, dear reader, by the lack of detailed instructions supplied in the preproduction version we received! No matter, I girded my loins and sallied forth (not as painful as it sounds). Seriously though, even with the lack of instructions, the game was good enough to get me to spend a lot of time trying to work out what to do. The plot is to locate the computer memory bank which is in nine bits and hidden in a massive (thousand plus locations) asteroid. Only when this is done can you get the information you need to save mankind from the invading aliens. The top of the screen shows various details of time, status and position plus icon windows showing items carried, such as batteries and bits of paper. There are interesting adventure-like features such as Help, Pick Up, and Drop. Some nice touches are that you have to find objects to ensure success, you are not automatically given a gun, you have to find it and before you can save your position you've got to find a cassette. The game has good graphics with smooth movement and superb animation, especially the stooping to pick up an object and the transporter sequences, colour is limited to a single overall colour on the animated action screen, but the objects and scenery are so well designed that no confusion was experienced. The aliens come thick and fast and even on the few screens I managed to explore there was a very varied and evil selection to contend with. I particularly liked the lightning throwing clouds. Messages are scrolled along one line of the top of the screen, but I did find it hard at times to read the redefined character set. This is an excellent game of its type and I must admit that I am looking forward to receiving full instructions so that I can go back to it in earnest. Probably the reviewers highest accolade, I do have a desire to go back to this one and I am sure each new challenge will be as well designed as the initial screens, the desire to see what the programmer has in store next is a major contributing feature to the addictiveness of a game of this sort.

Crash

Use of Computer 73%

Graphics 76%

Playability 64%

Getting Started 68%

Addictive Qualities 67%

Value For Money 65%

Overall 68%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: A & F Software Retail Price: £9.95 Author: The A 'n' F Team The people living in the Federation's asteroid mine colonies are being wiped out for no apparent reason. Alien interference is suspected and Andrew Angello, explorer extraordinaire, has been drafted into deal with the problem. Andy travels to Eroc 1 to find that no-one is left alive. The only way to solve the mystery is to locate the bio-memory segments of the main computer, hidden deep within the mine workings on the asteroid. Once these have been located, the Federation can examine their contents and use the information they hold to combat the alien murderers. The screen gives a side-on view of tunnels on Eroc 1. Dangerous alien machinery lies around the mines, so beware of anything that moves or looks nasty - contact with it drains energy from the battery pack powering Andy's protective suit. Each of the four mine levels contains over 250 cells which Andrew has to investigate - linked by the flip-screen method favoured by arcade adventure writers. Anti-gravity lifts allow travel between segments of a level, while automatic teleports link levels. Standing in a teleport for three seconds causes Andrew to disintegrate and rematerialise on another level. Every time Andrew uses an anti-gravity lift or teleport, or is zapped by a nasty, his battery pack loses a little power. As the battery powering Andrew's suit runs down, the screen changes colour from white, through yellow, red, mauve and finally blue. Death follows if the protective suit runs out of power. A status panel reveals Andy's progress. One display shows the exits from the current cell; a clock ticks out the time expended on the mission and a meter shows the amount of charge remaining in the suit battery. An icon-driven menu allows the game position to be saved, once a cassette has been found in the mines, and the game computer can be asked for help. The game may be paused and a saved position loaded in. Andy has to find tools and other useful objects in order to complete his mission. A slight oversight on the part of the Federation means that the intrepid explorer embarks on his adventure without a map. First priority must be to make one... COMMENTS Control keys: redefinable Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2 Keyboard play: no problems Use of colour: monochromatic play area hence no clashes Graphics: quite neat but samey; nice animation on the figure Sound: spot effects Skill levels: one Screens: 1,023

Our superhero materialises in a teleporter while two mobile nasties - a starburst and electro cloud hover in wait for him. Cameron's got his own personal dark cloud that follows him round on Monday mornings!

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

Graphics 8/10

Sound 6/10

Value 7/10

Playability 8/10

MACHINE: Spectrum SUPPLIER: A 'n' F Software PRICE: £8.95 Is this Mission Impossible? Distress signals have been received from Eroc 1, a deep mined asteroid settlement. An alien attack is suspected. Enter Commander Andrew Angelico under orders to find out what has happened. But on arrival at the Asteroid, he finds all 720 service personel are dead. But why? Angello's only hope of finding out is to find the biological memory cells left on the asteroid, and re-assemble the parts to re-create the colony's memory. By returning the complete "memory" to the mothership, a suitable defence strategy can be found to combat future alien attacks. There are many objects to be found which prove handy for Andy. There are a number of tools, - some hidden, some buried, - which will help him. Andy can travel around the mines by walking or using the anti-gravity lifts or teleports. A display panel at the top of the screen shows direction, time and power. Descriptions and verbal prompts are also shown. There are more than 1,000 locations in the game, split into four levels. A map is essential to get into the vast, complex and challenging game. Thankfully, it includes a save game option. There's no way to complete this game in one sitting. CORE will also be available for the Commodore and Amstrad.

Your Computer

Graphics 4/5

Sound 3/5

Playability 3/5

Value For Money 4/5

Overall Rating 4/5

Various A'n'F Software Arcade Adventure £8.95 Why is it that there is always some alien trying to take over the world? Well, in this latest epic from the people who produced Chuky Egg the aliens have wiped out one of your asteroid colonies. You have the unenviable task of going in and finding out how and why - perhaps he had just had a difficult day at the office and wanted to let off steam. The action takes place on a 2D scrolling screen rather like the Microgen Wally games. Above the playing area is a read-out with various icons telling you which exits are available, the current state of your backpack charge which you are carrying, and so on. As is traditional in this kind of game, you have to find various objects and decide what to do with them. With 1,000 locations spread over four levels, solving this one should keep addicts happy for hours. In the grand tradition, there is no map; making one will be your first priority, so when you find the watch-'em-a-callit which might just fit in the widget, you will know where to find it. Some of the most important objects are buried and so a spade is fairly high on the priority list. The whole thing is joystick-controlled, with pick-up, drop and use being accessed using the icons. Once you have the idea of that, it is reasonably quick to control and could save lives when you are groping frantically for the right key in a tight spot. A welcome return to form by A'n'F, which will give arcade adventure fans many happy, puzzling, hours.