{fh200AA00Quickie PD Game Reviews
{fb1000000
by Mike Williams


{fb1FF5555             STACKA

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Ian Palmer

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 Three dimensional tetris. You look down into a pit where the pieces are accumulating. The falling pieces are (optionally) trans- parent, so you can see the space below that you want to fit them into.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 It takes a while to get used to the way the pieces turn, but once you've mastered it it's a very good game. The levels are made more difficult by the presence of more and more awkward pieces being present when the level begins.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Fairly simple.

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

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 20 minutes.

{fb1FF5555             STACKER

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Chris Coe

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 Certain (unspecified) objects need to be pushed into specific locations. On some levels there are gates that you can only pass through once.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 When you first look at this game, you think to yourself, "How difficult can this be?". It looks easy, but turns out to be fiendishly difficult. Chris has managed to place the obstacles very cleverly on some levels so that a single wrong move will often make it impossible to move one of the other objects. This would have been quite a good game if the time limits weren't so impossibly tight, and I'm convinced that there is no possible solution to level 4 (password LICENCE) - I challenge anybody to prove otherwise. 

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Smooth.

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 Passwords to bypass completed levels. High score table (not saved to disk). Level Designer (awkward).

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 5 minutes.

{fb1FF5555             STARFIGHTER
{sgsj
{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 N. Westley & C. Westley

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 Zap the Aliens. 

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 Not very playable. The controls are very awkward (press the mouse buttons to move left and right, but use keys A and Z for up and down) and the aliens are far too fast for you to possibly aim at sensibly.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 OK.

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 High score table (not saved to disk)

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 2 minutes

{fb1FF5555             STYX

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Tom Cooper

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 There are a number of sparks that drift around the screen. You can draw lines, which, when completed can close off part of the screen area. If a spark touches an incomplete line, then you lose a life.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 Pretty good. The level of difficulty increases gradually. There is enough time allowed on the clock to allow you to complete levels comfortably. It's got that addictive "just one more try" factor.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Terrific. The backgrounds consist of six different scanned and ray- traced images, and when you close off part of the screen it changes to the next picture.

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 Passwords to comp- leted levels.

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 5 minutes.

{fb1FF5555             SUPERSKATE
{sgsl
{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Martin Dunn

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 Use your skateboard to fly over the holes and dodge the bouncing balls.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 There's not a lot to it.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Simple

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 None.

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 1 minute.
