Rockford's Riot + Boulder Dash

Sinclair User

Overall 3/5

Clare Edgeley 3/5

Publisher: Monolith Price: £9.95 Memory: 48K Joystick: Kempston. AGF, Protek, Sinclair Monolith's Rockford's Riot is the sequel to Beyond's Boulder Dash, featuring the same stick-like, foot-tapping character. Guide Rockford around a boulder-strewn maze and pick up as many jewels as the diamond-crazed little chap can hold. Boulders hang precariously and the lightest touch will send them tumbling and crashing. There are 16 caverns - each progressively more difficult. Getting past the deadly fireflies on the first level is no easy task and working out how to activate an enchanted wall may make you run off screaming. Luckily the demo mode gives a clue. Butterflies and deadly amoeba feature in later stages. You can use the boulders to block off passageways, turn the butterflies into diamonds or merely squash them. As in Boulder Dash, movement is smooth although scrolling is very jerky and the graphics are basic. The game takes a while to reset when a life is lost and that becomes frustrating. Having said that, there are some very real problems to overcome. Rockford's Riot is packaged - in a ludicrous vertical box crowned by a luminous disc - with Boulder Dash, so you see exactly how similar both games are.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Crash

Use of Computer 75%

Graphics 85%

Playability 92%

Getting Started 89%

Addictive Qualities 87%

Value For Money 90%

Overall 84%

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Producer: Monolith Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £9.95 Language: Machine code Author: Peter Liepa and Chris Gray In issue 12 CRASH carried a review of Boulder Dash marketed by a K-Tel company, Front Runner. The rights to the game are owned by an American software house, First Star, which designed the game for the Atari. Now that K-tel and Front runner are no longer part of the software scene, Monolith (owned by Beyond) were able to get the UK Spectrum and Commodore licences. Monolith's package includes the original game, Boulder Dash, and features a sequel Rockford's Riot. In both games, you control Rockford, a cute little character, who is trapped in a collection of sixteen caverns which he must work his way through sequentially. To progress from one cave to another you have to collect a number of diamonds; how many varies from cave to cave, but on some you could find yourself looking for up to 75 diamonds. There's also a different time limit for each cave. Run out of time and you lose a life. The caves are about three screens large and are presented in a scrolling format. Rockford can move left, right, up, and down. Whenever he nears the edge of the screen another section of the cave scrolls into view. The caves are made up from three basic building blocks; earth, boulders and diamonds. Earth is eaten away as Rockford moves through it, leaving empty space in his wake. When earth-supporting boulders or diamonds is removed, they fall down, making things potentially dangerous for Rockford. Once you've collected the set amount of diamonds from a cave you need to search for an exit. This can be quite tricky as it's relatively easy to get cut off from your escape route after moving the boulders about. If you escape, you will get a bonus, which depends on the time you have remaining. As you progress through the caves things get harder as new factors are introduced. In some of the later screens you have to transform diamonds into butterflies. One cave contains no diamonds at all: just one expanding amoeba which you must encapsulate in rock, whereupon it turns into a pile of diamonds which also need to be encased in rock. If you leave the amoeba for too long it changes into hundreds of boulders which are likely to squash you. The game doesn't have to be started at screen A, you can begin from every fourth cave: A, E, I and M. If you manage to complete four consecutive caves a bonus screen is awarded along with a chance to solve a little puzzle and gain an extra life. Lives are also awarded for every five hundred points. Five skill levels are included which affect the cave structures and the time allowed. Rockford's Riot is very much a sequel to Boulder Dash. All of the old features are here but arranged in a different way to present a new challenge. Riot has sixteen new screens and two new features that are not in Boulder Dash. An expanding wall gives you a very nasty time in one of the caves when you clear the earth away from around it. Water is found in two caves while it isn't dangerous you can take advantage of its supportive qualities. COMMENTS Control Keys: left M, X, 5; right Symbol Shift, C, 8; up E, O, 7; down F, K, 6; fire N, V, B, 0; Q to quit; S to reset Joystick: all joysticks Keyboard play: very responsive Use of Colour: very simple Graphics: not over detailed, but still good Sound: very good Skill levels: five Screens: 16

Bathtime for ROCKFORD, not an occasion the little chap looks forward to; get him out but don't let him get battered with a boulder.

ROCKFORD taps his foot impatiently waiting to begin his awsome jewel-gathering expedition into the unknown; wonder if he geats a bald spot holding up those boulders?