{fh200AA00Quickie PD Game Reviews
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by Mike Williams


{fb1FF5555             LADY-BIRD
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{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Livio Cicala

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 It's a bit like PacMan. You are a ladybird who must roam through the maze collecting flowers, while avoiding the scorpions. There are gateways in the maze which you can turn, but the scorpions can't, so you can use them to restrict the movements of the scorpions.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 I like the way this game plays. There's nothing really complicated going on, but everything performs crisply. It's got that "just one more try" factor.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 OK

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

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 6 minutes


{fb1FF5555             LEMINGS

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Tom Cooper

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 The plot of this game should now be familiar from the commercial version which appeared later. There are lots of suicidal lemmings who need to be saved from all sorts of perils. There are 27 levels to complete. A 2Mb machine is required.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 The difficulty is nicely pitched. Unlike the commercial version there are no trivial levels, and none that cannot be completed with a bit of dedication. Some of them require some thought, as the obvious solution often doesn't quite work out.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Nice and neat. The lemmings and the traps are nicely animated.

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

Pause.

Passwords to bypass com- pleted levels.

Level designer (no instr- uctions and not very intuitive).

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 Very variable.
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{fb1FF5555             LINEOFFIVE

{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 Unknown

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 Player and computer play alternately. The first one to complete a line of five pieces wins.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 The computer algorithm is very strong, but it can be beaten. The first player seems to have a considerable advantage.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 Minimal

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 Multitasks

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 1 minute


{fb1FF5555             LOSHANG
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{fb10000FFAuthor{fb1000000 D. A. Pedder

{fb10000FFPlot{fb1000000 The ancient game of Mah Jong patience. The Mah Jong tiles are shuffled and stacked in a special pattern. Matching pairs of tiles can be removed when they are exposed at an edge of the pattern.

{fb10000FFPlayability{fb1000000 It plays reasonably well. Completing the patience is not particularly easy, but neither is it so difficult that you give up. The strategy can get quite complicated, depen- ding on how far ahead you feel like planning.

{fb10000FFGraphics{fb1000000 OK

{fb10000FFFeatures{fb1000000 None

{fb10000FFTypical Duration{fb1000000 5 minutes



