{fh200AA00Quickie PD Game Reviews
{fb1000000
by Mike Williams


{fb1FF5555             SPARKY
{sgsf
{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Unknown

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 By drawing a line, trap the spark in the top left corner of the screen.
Don't let the spark touch the rechargers, or your line will be destroyed.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 Rather tricky. There's a pretty tight time limit. It was probably a very good game on the BBC, but we expect a bit more these days on the Archimedes.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Simple.

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 None

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 1 minute.


{fb1FF5555             SPATIENCE

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Jason Horsnell

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 Lots of difference pati- ence games.

There's a sort of patience language, so if you know of any other patience games you can easily program them. I've got quite a few that I've written myself.

If anyone wants some then just send me a disk and SAE.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 One or two of the patiences are almost im- possible to complete, one is so easy that it is very difficult to fail. Some patiences have rules that are so warped and twisted that they would be impossible to play without a computer to validate the moves. However, the majority of the games play quite well.

I liked this one.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 OK.

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 Multitasks.
Save game.
Undo move.
Replay game.
Multiple games on screen at once.

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 Varies depending on which patience you are playing.


{fb1FF5555             SPLODGE

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Andrew Wood

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 This is a huge Repton- like game. Roam through seven huge levels of maze collecting diamonds. 

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 Challenging, but interesting. Once you manage to map a level it tends to be fairly easy (except level 3), but mapping is not easy to achieve because of fairly tight time limits, and conveyor belts that whizz you through the maze faster than you can map it.

In some levels you can't win without losing several lives. In other levels there is a tight time limit, and you must take every opportunity to gain time bonuses.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Pretty good. The Splodge character himself animates nicely.

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 Passwords for completed levels.

Different passwords to gain access to an editor for that level.

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 Weeks.


{fb1FF5555             SPROG

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 A. Dobson & B. Slater

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 Sprog must run through the garden, collecting bones and dodging the enemy sprogs.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 Not easy.

The enemy sprogs can kill you with the very slightest touch, you have to be a considerable distance ahead of one that's coming up behind you to have a chance of getting round the corner ahead of you. Each set of 10 levels has a different theme, the action is much the same but the sprites are different.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Nice smooth movement (The authors seem very proud of this, and explain the use of two screen banks at considerable length in the !Help file).

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 High score table (saved to disk).
Pause.

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 3 minutes.

