Bugaboo the Flea

Producer: Quicksilva
Memory Required: 48K
Recommended Retail Price: £6.95
Language: machine code
Author: Paco & Paco (Indescomp)

The first unusual thing about this game is that it isn't a British program. Authors Paco & Paco are Spanish and Quicksilva are hoping for more games from them in the future. That shouldn't be any problem as far as popularity goes - Bugaboo the Flea is going to be a big hit. Not only is it beautifully drawn and animated, but the colours on the screen are as burningly bright as has ever been seen on the Spectrum.

THIS IS WHAT YOU DO

Quicksilva, as usual, provide you with a charming and utterly irrelevant story on the inlay, but all the controls are indicated once the program runs. You are a Bugaboo, a harmless flea of this parish, only you're a long way from home. The Walt Disney-like film intro shows Bugaboo, jumping here and there over a highly coloured alien terrain and for all I know, humming the 'Busy Bee' song to himself, when all of a sudden he jumps down this narrow fissure in the ground, and down, and down, and down. It's all quite breathtaking. Eventually he reaches the bottom of the gorge and the game begins in earnest.

You must now get Bugaboo out of the gorge and back to the surface. One reviewer says in his notes that you score points according to the time it takes you to do this, but I found the game much too engaging to be bothered about a small thing like points!

The control keys are simplicity itself; 1 = hop left, 0 = hop right. At the bottom of the screen is a bar indicating strength of hop. When you depress the desired direction key, Bugaboo turns in that direction. Then you release the key when the indicator is at the desired strength and Bugaboo leaps away. This could all be very easy, but the line of light, which flashes up the strength of indicator, does so very fast and it's extremely difficult to judge exactly the correct moment. The second you release the jump key it freezes the indicator to show you how wrong you were...

Another difficulty is the design of the alien gorge, which is a series of overhanging ledges, covered in mushrooms and foliage. Unless the flea lands safely on a higher ledge, he just keeps falling until he reaches the floor again. A further hazard is a yellow flying dragon which has a liking for fleas. At first this appalling monster leaves you alone, but after a few minutes he enters and gobbles you up. End of life. But you can start again immediately, whereupon he reappears, each time sooner than the last, so you've got less and less time to get to the top. Aborting the game offers the option of starting afresh, in which case the yellow meanie stays away for longer.

GENERAL

As the playing area is considerably greater than the screen you can scroll left/right or up/down by using the cursor keys in addition to hopping left to right. The scrolling is very smooth. The design and animation of Bugaboo is absolutely excellent, and so is that of the background. It is quite easy to forget that you are actually watching a picture generated by your Spectrum.

COMMENTS

Keyboard positions: easy to use
Joystick option: none provided, scrolling could be by AGF or Protek
Keyboard play: positive
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: excellent
Sound: very good
Skill levels: none
Lives: 1

I think that together with Ant Attack, Quicksilva have come up with the two best games of 1983, and as far as arcade games for the Spectrum go, they could well be the best of 1984 too.
Unknown

The keys are well positioned and easy to use. The use of colour is very good, and the sound is some of the best I've heard recently.
Unknown

Bugaboo is a high quality arcade standard game, and it's highly addictive too. This game will definitely be a top seller!
Unknown

The colourful graphics are an easy match for Manic Miner. It's a delight to play and mind-blowingly frustrating.
Unknown

SPECTRUM SOFT

Ron Smith takes a slightly jaundiced look at all that's latest and greatest in games and leisure software for the Spectrum.

Ever since the time home computing became big business, software producers have been writhing away in ever greater paroxisms of effort in their attempts to evolve games that are innovative, compulsive and exciting.

Child geniuses have been dragged out of suburban housing estates and brutally hounded into the 20th Century equivalent of sweeping chimneys - all in pursuit of the computer game fast buck. The first waves to appear were, predictably, blatant copies of the great old arcade favourites - destroy the invading aliens, and probably your own brain cells in the process. This, of course, requires a keen eye and grand prix reactions. But for those without souped-up senses, the result is usually one of boredom and frustration. Fortunately, for those like me who would get more fun out of destroying the tape cassette than the alien invaders, other more pleasurable varieties of computer game are increasingly coming to hand. This issue we take a random stroll through a cross-section of all that's new and fantastic (it says in the press release) starting with...

THEY CAME FROM OUTER SPACE

The first title to fall into this category is Galactic Abductor from Anirog Software. It's not too hard to handle, and even I managed to put together a reasonable score while attempting to stem the relentless attack of invading armoured space hawks. I particularly like the fact that only three keys are used, so you don't have to keep glancing down to see where your fingers are.

Unfortunately, one can't say the same for Missile Defence, also from Anirog. This uses no fewer than seven keys, four of which are the cursor control keys - which in my experience are the worst possible choice. Positioned as they arc (it's rather like the old chestnut of rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time) everything gets out of sync and the game's over before you can shout "Nukes away". However, after a good deal of practice (assuming you have the patience) the poor old aliens who've come to attack your cities gradually begin finding themselves in a weaker and weaker position as your skill increases. No fewer than three fire buttons are provided to wipe out the monster meanies, before they either destroy you or disappear off the edge of the screen. It's all familiar stuff.

The last game doesn't fit in this section at all - but never mind. It comes from Timescape and is entitled Wild West Hero. Predictably, the hero's job is to rid the West of the gun-totin' bandits and this, with your help, he tries to do by hurtling around the screen blasting out in all directions as the gruesome gang closes in. Control, on the pre-production version, is via the keyboard, and uses four keys (two fingers per hand being the maximum for a reasonable response for most of us) - theoretically making for an easy-to-play game. However, the combatants are nothing if not fast moving - even though Timescape has already slowed down this (version 3) over the previous (version 2). Consequently, with bullets flying thicker than a hail storm and goodie and baddies moving at lunatic pace, this little number is certainly not one for those of slow or nervous disposition; even a rapidly plugged-in joystick did little to help me catch up with the action. For the record, by the way, the first two games mentioned were also joystick compatible.

GRAPHIC ADVENTURES

'Ask a silly question, get a silly answer' - is a maxim that might well be seen as the basis for most adventure games with their thin plots, limited vocabulary and text-only approach. Interestingly though, the latest releases are beginning to move away from this.

Two of the better new titles are Xadom and Smugglers Cove, both from Quicksilva. Xadom is a 3D hi-res arcade quality adventure where you, as SOL agent MM have to disappear off in search of some artefact that is stashed away in one of 20 rooms. Every time a room is entered, naturally, a new challenge awaits and each must be overcome before it is possible to move on to the next room.

Differing slightly, and more like a traditional adventure, is Smugglers Cove. This offers text with the delights of hi-res graphics, while you visit 27 locations, somehow or other picking up 65 objects along the way (without so much as a sack). One point here is the game's lightning response to your directions, something which many previous adventure game incarnations have been less than famous for. Both of these are well worth a spin.

CRL's Woods of Winter, however, is a new release that still suffers the perils of being text-only. It also has a slow response time - so much so that on several occasions I was left scratching myself and deliberating the state of the universe before - eventually - the program decided it was good manners to respond. To be fair, it does plot your progress (should you make any) through the cold woods of winter, which presumably can be quite useful at times. Should you ever manage to come in from the cold, you'll find sanctuary in a warm castle. Actually it's a good game for those with plenty of patience and an over-active imagination.

Velnor's Lair, from Quicksilva, is yet another text-only adventure, but one with a faster response time that doesn't tax the patience to quite the same degree. As an adventurer you can choose to be a wizard, warrior or priest, depending on your inclination. For no particular reason I chose to be a wizard, despite my ineptitude at casting either spells or enemies into oblivion. Naturally I soon met an untimely end. But where this game triumphs over other text-only adventures is in its use of vocabulary. Often it can take aeons to get into the swing of adventure games - understanding the individual programmer's own peculiar logic and choice of words, etc. Here, for some reason not immediately apparent, I found the game responding easily to my instructions.

Overall, the category contained an above average selection with one semi-adventure (Xadom), one text and graphics mixed (infinitely better in my opinion) and two giving text only. In truth, though, the big worry with all adventures is their great similarity and the obvious restriction on use of vocabulary.

FUN & GAMES

"Look at my wonderful new clothes!"" boasted the emperor. Everyone remained silent except the little boy who gave the straightforward opinion that the silly fool wasn't wearing any. This showed a certain degree of naivety and lack of cynicism - just the kind of qualities you might find ideal to survive the offerings ahead.

Bugaboo (Quicksilva) features a likeable little flea (if that's not a contradiction in terms) which, due to some unfortunate time warp perhaps, has fallen through the inky spaces between worlds and ended up somewhere rather unpleasant. What will our micro nipper find there... will it ever survive? I had several goes at the game, reacting differently each time to it. Sometimes I felt sympathetic as the poor creature tried desperately to escape from its pursuers, sometimes an evil grin and a wicked heart triumphed as the poor fool smashed its head for the hundredth time. Love or loathing, there's always a strong feeling for the flea!

Pathos, however, is unlikely to raise its tragic head in the case of Manic Miner from Bug-Byte; it's more a case of frustration and panic as you guide Willy the miner through the underground caverns to the surface, and riches. Starting off in the central cavern, he has to be helped past numerous obstacles on his way to the next. As ever, though, it's a case of one step forward, any number back, as you master the first hazard only to fail dismally at understanding the complexity of the second.

LIFE'S LITTLE PLEASURES

There's no real reason why computer games should always be difficult; sometimes it's fun to switch to something where success comes easily - if only to restore a damaged ego.

Slap Dab from Anirog Software is just such a game, and it involves helping Sam the Painter splash around with his oversized brush so that he can get the job finished. Of course it's not quite that simple, because no sooner has he started slapping on the paint then he disturbs the woodworms - who don't fancy the idea of changing colour this week. They decide to seek revenge by chasing Sam as he works. But fortunately for him, our slimy friends can only travel on the part that's been painted, so one way of him avoiding capture is to leave by an unpainted escape route.

Sounds like the stuff of which nightmares are made! Another conceptually simple game is Traxx, from Quicksilva. It opens with a large yellow grid consisting of 30 squares, and in essence it's similar to the hoary old children's pencil and paper game of 'dots', where the idea is to join the points up into squares. The game starts with one side of one square coloured red, and your spaceship (what else?) in the red sector. From then on you must move around, colouring as many squares as you can. But be warned, you are being pursued, although exactly how many enemies and at what speed they chase is entirely up to you. Choosing the fastest speed with the maximum number of pursuers (nine) makes for a near impossible task, although as usual it's easier with a joystick.

Rabbit Software's Quackers is virtually identical to a shooting gallery at the fair. Ducks and rabbits glide across the screen so slowly that it's almost impossible to miss them, although it's almost more fun if you try. Slightly more difficult is the last part of the game where, having gunned down all the targets, you're given the chance to 'keep the turtle hopping' by shooting at it as it moves quickly across the screen. A few moments of gratuitous violence for all concerned.

Slap Dab and Traxx are both joystick compatible, but surprisingly, Quackers isn't. It does, however, let you define your own keys.

OTHER STUFF

The three titles lumped together here have little in common, other than the fact that they are somewhat unremarkable - and also rather difficult. Quicksilva's 3D Strategy is a 3D noughts and crosses game that the maker claims is virtually unbeatable. Those into mind-bending puzzles will probably enjoy it.

But away from strategy and on to games requiring fast reactions, there's Escape MCP from Rabbit Software and Gridrunner from Quicksilva. The first of these finds you de-atomized by a chip (Z80 in this case) and trapped in a maze. There's also something called the MCP (male chauvinist pig, perhaps?) that apparently knows your escape plan and, armed with this information, is not only going to prevent you from getting away, but is also hell bent on securing your prompt destruction. The usual, friendly, stuff.

A little less strange may be Gridrunner, although it's hard to say when there's no instructions to tell you what's going on. However, it seemed safe to assume that I'd better start destroying something before it destroyed me. The screen is covered by a red grid, along the top of which moves a blue wormlike 'something' - presumably the enemy. It progresses across the screen, then down a line, and so on. But as each part of the 'something' is hit. It starts flapping about and moving much faster than before. Interesting - I can't wait to read the instructions!

STIMULATING SIMULATIONS

I must own up to a predilection for the kind of games that simulate 'real life' in some way. After all, how many of us get the chance to drive a racing car, fly an airliner, or practice being a brain surgeon? Well, courtesy of Psion, Rabbit Software and Protek Computing, we can indulge in renewed fantasy, over the first two at least.

First of all from Psion comes Chequered Flag - a game that will find you lapping away on some of the world's most famous motor racing circuits - from the relative safety of your own living room. It also features a choice of three cars, and for those who feel a little uneasy about gear changing, an automatic has been included. Intrepid participants will have to watch the dashboard instruments carefully to make sure they're not going too fast, running out of fuel, overheating, or about to encounter any of the other hazards involved in grand prix racing. As well as watching out for mechanical failure you'll need to keep an eye out for oil, water and glass, any one of which is likely to lure you into untimely disaster. But the most impressive feature of Chequered Flag is the view from the car as you hurtle like a maniac around the track.

Still behind the wheel, but not this time a simulation, is Race Fun from Rabbit Software. It's your chance to prove what a crazy driver you are, by speeding down a narrow country lane at 120mph. The faster you drive, the more points you'll make, but of course the more chance there is of crashing.

Airliner, from Protek Computing, is a realistic simulation of what it's like flying a commercial aircraft. All the normal controls are present, enabling you to take off, manoeuvre, navigate and land; it's also compatible with Protek's joystick, which does add to the fun. Flying the plane successfully requires a good amount of practice - in fact I wouldn't be surprised if it was almost as complex as the real thing. A map is included to show the aircraft's position, and this can be turned on or off at the touch of a key. It's a well written and sophisticated program, but the lack of a view from the cockpit is disappointing, especially when you consider the popular Flight Simulation from Psion. However, Protek's program fits into 16K, while Psion's needs 48K.

WE LOOKED AT...

Galactic Abductor (16/48K), Anirog Software, £5.95
Missile Defence (16/48K), Anirog Software. £5.95
Wild West Hero (48K), Timescape, £5.90
Xadom (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Smugglers Cove (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Woods of Winter (48K), CRL, £5.95
Velnor's Lair (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Bugaboo (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Manic Miner (48K), Bug-Byte, £7.95
Ant Attack (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Slap Dab (16/48K), Anirog Software, £5.95
Traxx (48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Quackers (16/48K), Rabbit Software, £5.95
3D Strategy (16/48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Escape MCP (16/48K), Rabbit Software, £5.99
Gridrunner (16/48K), Quicksilva, £6.95
Chequered Flag (48K), Psion, £6.95
Race Fun (48K), Rabbit Software, £5.99
Airliner (16/48K), Protek. £5.95

Producer: Quicksilva, 48K
£6.95 (1)
Author: Indescomp

One of the most colourful and maddeningly addictive games of the pre-Christmas period, 'Bugaboo' boasts feature film titles and an engaging hero in the flea. Bugaboo has fallen into a deep gorge and must hop his way out, by leaping from ledge to ledge. The strength of leap is determined by releasing the key when the bar indicator at the bottom of the screen reaches the desired level. As it moves extremely fast, this is not an easy task. The gorge is swamped with vegetation which gets in the way, and there's an appalling yellow dragon which pops up and eats Bugaboo. 2 keys control left/right hops and the cursors scroll the screen. Excellent, colourful graphics with very smooth movement, good sound and hiqhly recommended. No joystick option. CRASH rating: addictive qualities 90%, overall 91% M/C.

Producer: Quicksilva, 48K
£6.95 (1)
Author: Indescomp

One of the most colourful and maddeningly addictive games of the pre-Christmas period, 'Bugaboo' boasts feature film titles and an engaging hero in the flea. Bugaboo has fallen into a deep gorge and must hop his way out, by leaping from ledge to ledge. The strength of leap is determined by releasing the key when the bar indicator at the bottom of the screen reaches the desired level. As it moves extremely fast, this is not an easy task. The gorge is swamped with vegetation which gets in the way, and there's an appalling yellow dragon which pops up and eats Bugaboo. 2 keys control left/right hops and the cursors scroll the screen. Excellent, colourful graphics with very smooth movement, good sound and hiqhly recommended. No joystick option. CRASH rating: addictive qualities 90%, overall 91% M/C.

BUGABOO
Quicksilva

Of Both Bugaboo and 3D Ant Attack, we predicted 'great things' and went out on a limb after a few glasses of Quicksilva's champagne to say that both games were in the top class. Evidently sales and popularity in the CRASH HOT-LINE have borne this out, less perhaps in the case of Bugaboo.

No one has ever bettered the loading screen sequence on Bugaboo, with its totally cinematic titles. It's not necessarily a point in the game's favour, but it surely does get you in the right frame of mind to play it.

As the months go by and software improves, past hits seem to disappear out of memory, Bugaboo is still one of my favourite games on the market. The graphics are among the best, and I rate it around the Jet Set Willy, Atic Atac class. After seeing so much great software over the last several months, this game still has a fantastic addictive quality and is still one of the best games produced for the Spectrum.
MU

The thing that still strikes about Bugaboo is the unusual and attractive screen layout. But it's not only good to look at, it's also cleverly designed to make life difficult. Everything about the game, as far as I'm concerned still stands up well to later software. Any game loses much of its addictivity once conquered and I know a number of letter writers have said that they don't want to play it again. But to me, it seems that Bugaboo always demands skill in timing and forward planning to beat it.
LM

(Matthew) I wouldn't quarrel with any of the ratings in the original review, and if anyone asks me what should be their first game for the Spectrum I tell them, Bugaboo.

(Lloyd) I wouldn't argue with the graphics rating or playability, perhaps the addictive rating was a trifle high - it has something to do with the dragon! He's a nuisance!

ORIGINAL REVIEW

Use of Computer: 90%
Graphics: 95%
Playability: 90%
Getting Started: 95%
Addictive Qualities: 90%
Value for Money: 85%
Overall: 92%

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
JOYSTICK: No
CATEGORY: Arcade
SUPPLIER: Quicksilva
PRICE: £6.95

Bugaboo has fallen from space on to the surface of a very strange planet which is covered with coloured rocks, mushrooms, an. vegetation. He discovers that he can almost fly, and while jumping about the surface, falls into a deep cavern and lands on the bottom, unharmed.

It's your job to see that Bugaboo gets back to the top of by making him jump from ledge to ledge, and if that isn't enough, there is a yellow flying monster which is determined to eat Bugaboo at the first opportunity.

To guide Bugaboo, you have control over which way he jumps, left or right, and the strength with which he does so. The method of scoring is by getting the fellow out of the cavern in the shortest possible time.

You can scroll the picture in four directions to see where you are going to jump to. It was funny to see Bugaboo stop in mid-air as the screen was being updated, although this was very fast and didn't make the game look bad.

If you like a challenge, then this is it. Be patient though. It's not that easy to get back to the top!

BUGABOO

In Bugaboo - 48K Spectrum, £6.95 - the player takes on the persona of Bugaboo the flea, which must leap out of a pit, from pit to pit and from mushroom to mushroom while avoiding the horrific monster which wishes to eat Bugaboo. The novel movement of short and long jumps disguises for some time the point that it is a clever development of the monster-in-the-maze game.

Produced by Quicksilva, [redacted].

48K Spectrum
£6.95
Quicksilva

If you have ever had a dog you will know how agile the flea is. Bugaboo is a highly original new program which features an athletic yellow (lea of prodigious jumping ability. His task is to escape from the bottom of the screen to the exit at the top. Attempting to thwart his ambition is a vicious yellow pterodactyl which swoops around in menacing fashion.

One of the most attractive features of Bugaboo is its landscape; a multi-leveled collection of dark caves and jagged ledges, decorated with psychedelic coloured mushrooms and shrubs. Cursor keys allow you to scroll left and right, up and down, to view the prospects in store.

Controlling Bugaboo's leaps is a tricky business, not helped by the fact that the on-tape instructions are not very explicit. Since this is a Quicksilva game the packaging contains only a silly blurb, with possibly the most appalling rhyme ever written. Nonetheless, Bugaboo is one of the most interesting and enjoyable games to appear.

NAME: Bugaboo
SYSTEM: 48K Spectrum
PRICE: £6.95
PUBLISHER: Quicksilva, [redacted]
FORMAT: Cassette
LANGUAGE: Machine code
OTHER VERSIONS: None
OUTLETS: Mail order, most dealers.

FROLICKING FLEA

After ants and centipedes and snakes, it was only a matter of time till we saw a flea in the starring role, and the inevitable question is does the game come up to scratch?

OBJECTIVES

It take a while to puzzle out that the purpose of the game is to survive and get out of the cave. Not even the controls are fully explained.

The cassette cover is full of rhyming rubbish like "Save from the monster me, else I be a very sad flea, SPOING! SPOING! SPOING! SPOING! SPOING!" instead of all this tosh couldn't we have had some instructions?

IN PLAY

Bugaboo proves, however, to be a compulsive game of great fun. The loading is done in style, with several screens to keep you occupied till you get a note of the controls. One line also says "Best time to exit," but has nothing after it, so I imagine it's a best score record should you ever manage to exit the caves.

Your flea begins on the floor of a series of multi-coloured linked underground caverns, full of ledges, bushes, trees, rocks and spiders. At the bottom left a timer starts ticking, and at bottom right it says "Level: 82."

Also beneath the screen are a row of dots which change colour as you press either of the jump keys, and the more that have changed colour when you release the key the further the flea will jump. Again, this takes some working out.

You're not alone in these passages either as there's a monster resembling a pterodactyl trying to make a meal of you. There are one or two nooks and crannies where you can hide, but not so many and it's usually a case of hopping frantically to safety... and not making it. You can fall as far and as often as you like without harm, but if the monster gets you then you start again.

There doesn't seem to be a time limit on the action, and you need to be very nifty with the scrolling in order to look all around you.

The speed and graphics are excellent, with you having to work out optimum routes to progress up the screen... though I wish I knew what the Bugaboo was going on.