Mirrorsoft
£9.99
Reviewer: Tony Worrall
Good griefski! if this is an example of the kinda computer game work going on behind that iron curtain, I think I'll pack my best pair of Levis, my little red book, and a years supply of 'Beatles records! 'Cos back in the USSR you don't know how lucky you are, boy.
As you may, or may not have gathered, Tetris originated in deepest Russia, the land of Stolichnaya, shot putters, and Doctor Zhivago. Fortunately for us, Tetris has now appeared on this side of the great divide, no doubt dropped off by Gorbachev after his last visit to Harrods! And what a cracker it's turned out to be.
Getting down to the nitty gritty, I can assure you that Terris will have you hooked from the moment you pick up your joystick. The game is simplicity itself - in fact it seems so simple that I'm surprised no-one has thought of it before.
You are required to slide a number of different shaped blocks together, to form lines across the bottom of the screen. The blocks drop from the top of the play area, slowly at first, giving you a few seconds to turn and position each block as accurately as you can, to form the solid line. If this is accomplished (and it isn't always that easy!) the line vanishes, leaving a little more room in the playing area to position more blocks. And so on.
Falling to fit shapes together in some kind of order can create a kind of block traffic jam, giving you less and less room to manoeuvre new shapes. If the pile reaches the top of the screen the game finishes. On the other hand, if you become skillo at the game, the speed at which the shapes fall increases, until the drop rate becomes so fast that if you blink you miss two or three blocks!
Points are awarded for placing blocks, and a nice bonus can be earned for completing a solid line. Line making should be your main aim, as the space it creates leaves more room for all the other shapes yet to drop.
Some of the shapes are simple to slot into place, while others, mainly the crooked ones, we an absolute pain. This is where the 'rotate' option comes in very useful. Spin a shape in mid-flight until you can easily slot it into the pile of blocks at the bottom of the screen. If you are quick enough a shape can even be shoved under an odd section to fill a gap, but make a mistake and the shape is stuck there for good. It takes rapid reactions and a very good eye even to beat the first difficulty level, so be warned!
As a package Tetris is well smart. The front end is pleasing and easy to use. The nifty scrolling top score message and graphical effects are also a visual treat, as are all the effects used throughout the game. It has the feel of a highly polished program, and it shows. For every level within the game, a different graphical background is displayed, all of which helps to lend the game a generous helping of style, and bumps up the addictiveness mark even further. Aurally the 128K version can boast a wonderful sound track and even the humble 48K has a suitably jaunty little number.
A cracker then, and if there is any justice in the world it'll be topping the charts by the time you read this. Tetris will appeal to shoot 'em up fans because of the need for quick reactions, and it'll also attract strategy/adventure buffs thanx to the large quantities of brain power you need to solve it. In fact this game is one of the very few inoffensive, non-sexist, non-violent computer games that will appeal to the whole family, from Grandma down to the pet hamster. So I urge everyone to check out Tetris as soon as humanly possible, or miss out on one of the most original, addictive and playable computer games for quite a long while.
If all that is not encouragement enough to purchase your copy (and I don't see why it shouldn't be) then Mirrorsoft has instigated the 1988 Tetris Players All-Corners Championship. The top ten scorers at Tetris will be invited to the National Final in London for a chance to battle it out for the Tetris crown. First prize -a holiday for two in (wait for it) Russia. I kid you not! Of course if you are silly enough not to buy your own copy of the game, you too will be whisked off to the USSR - for two weeks hard labour in a Siberian salt mine. Nuff said!
BARGAIN BASEMENT
More low-price goodies, baddies and indiffereties with Marcus Berkmann!
Mastertronic
£2.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann
Yahay (Now this is what I call a game! This, as you may remember, was Mirrorsoft's 'Russian' game. 'The first ever game from Russia,' the hoardings screamed, or words to that effect. 'And the three bears,' thought I, but my doubts were soon silenced by the sheer brilliance of the game itself. For Tetris is computer gaming at its very best. You have what looks like a beaker, and strange shapes drop from above at speed that vary according to the difficulty level and also to how far you've got in the game. You can manipulate the shapes as they fall to fit into ones that have already landed, and the idea is to fit them together as efficiently as possible, leaving no space unfilled if you can manage it. The reason? Well, the beaker and the shapes are arranged in a fairly simple grid system, and every horizontal line of this grid which you fill completely disappears. It sounds complicated but in fact it's strikingly straightforward - and fiendishly tricky. Better still the Spectrum version is just about the best one available - don't ask me why. but it's smoother and more playable than even the spanky 16-bit version. Like 720°, Tetris still merits the ultimate YS award, so here goes with probably my highest ever mark for anything...
Cripes! You'd better look sharpish 'cos here comes...
THE COMPLETE YS GUIDE TO PUZZLE GAMES
Yep, readers, looks like it's time once again for another one of those Complete Guide thingies. This issue, for your delight and delectation, we thought we'd take a peek at the more puzzley sort of games. Y'know - puzzle games - those sort of weird ones where you have to use a bit of the ol' grey matter to solve, erm, puzzles and things. And who better to clasp you by the hand and drag you through the world of the mind-boggling than YS's resident 'heart-throb' RICH PELLEY. Hurrah!
BUT FIRST... THE RATINGS
As usual, the normal rating system seems a bit crap in these circumstances, so here's a different one instead.
FIENDISHNESS
How complex and difficult to finish are the puzzles? Are they a complete bummer to complete, or could you do it with your little finger stuck, er, wherever you want to stick it?
LACK OF SLEEP FACTOR
Will it have you coming back for more (and more) or will a few games be enough? (Who knows?)
PULL YOUR HAIR OUT FACTOR
Is the game easy to get into, or do you have to spend ages looking up various keys, and working out what's going on all the time? (The lower the mark the better the gameplay in this case.)
VARIATION
Are the puzzles varied, or are they all the same? (Er, obvious, really.)
Okay, so I admit it - I'm crap at puzzle games. Come to think of it, I'm crap at most games really. And I'm not in a particularly good mood today either 'cos I've got a sneaky suspicion that this guide thingy is going to take absolutely ages to write. Even though Matt has reassured me "It won't take long" and Jonathan has informed me (much to my surprise) that "Honest, it'll really be a lot of fun to do" I'm a little dubious. Still, let's get on with it and see what happens, shall we?
For a start, I can see one big problem staring me in the face almost immediately. I mean, what exactly makes a puzzle game a puzzle game, eh? One man's puzzle game may another one's arcade adventure be or, um, something really. We've had countless arguments here in the office over it already (and for some reason I always seem to lose). For instance, Matt thought Arkanoid, Batty and the like might almost count, while Jonathan firmly disagreed. (In fact, if Jonathan had had his way, Tetris would be 'the only true puzzler ever written' and this would be the shortest Complete Guide on record!) Seeing as this is my feature though, and I'm writing it, everybody's going to have to agree with me!
And what is my definition? Well, it's fairly loose really. It's anything where you have to try to work out some sort of (perhaps totally abstract) mental problem against a time limit. Most great puzzle games are based on one very simple initial idea, which is then perhaps spiced up by slicking in lots of different ways that you can earn bonuses, die, get extra weapons or abilities (if it's a weapons sort of game) and so on. It's the simple initial idea that really counts though - if you haven't got that, you ain't got much really.
So what sort of puzzle games have we got here, then? Well, lots of different ones really - there are games where you must arrange blocks, make pictures, blow up balls, collect keys, and do masses more equally weird and wonderful puzzley things.
One good thing though is the scope - unlike in most areas of Speccy programming, with puzzle games you sometimes actually get a degree of originality. The games I've covered here are all good ones, and all still fairly easily available and - would you believe it? - no two of them are the same! (Well, no three of them at least.) And, erm, cripes, looks like I've run out of things to say. So, um, I'll stop waffling and get on with it, shall I?
THE FIRST PUZZLE GAME IN SPECCY HISTORY
Um, er, um. Now you re asking. Turning to the very first issue of Your Spectrum (ie Your Sinclair in disguise), I find one lurking in the first few pages. Traxx from Quicksilver is its name, and what seems to happen is that you move around this little grid thing collecting squares. Fun, eh? (Alright, I admit it. Of course there's no way that could be the first commercially available puzzle game, but it's the first I could come up with. Sorry and all that.) Anyway, on with the show.
NB Erm, actually, before we start, I'd just like to clear something up. You may notice that all the marks for the following games are quite high - there don't seem to be any crap ones. Now this isn't 'cos I'm a great puzzles fan or anything (in truth I hate them all) - it's just that unfortunately all the ones I've picked have been quite original and good. And keeping up my reviewer's credibility, I have to be fair. Hence the high marks.
Tetris
Mirrorsoft
Reviewer: Rich Pelley
A real corker here - and, despite the fact that it came out over two years ago (I think), in many peoples opinion it's still the best puzzler to date. In fact the notorious Dr B still can't get enough of it. And, as is the case with most of these things, it's excrutiatingly simple to play.
Basically lots of different-shaped bits fall from the top of the screen, and the idea of the game is for you to rotate these shapes as they fall so they all fit together neatly when they land at the bottom. Y'see, if the pile of blocks manages to reach the top of the screen you lose the game. But if you manage to twizzle them so they fit together neatly to form a solid row across the screen, then that row will disappear (thus making room for the rest of the falling blocks). Get me? (As with many of these games, it's a difficult concept to describe, but easy to understand once you see somebody playing it.)
And if you're thinking that this all seems incredibly boring and tedious, well, you're totally wrong. It's skill. In fact, its completely and utterly addictive - almost too much so in fact. It'll have you tearing your hair out!
AND FINALLY...
There we have it! As I predicted (and Matt and Jonathan got totally wrong) it took me absolutely blooming ages. And most of that time was spent arguing about what a puzzle game actually is and what qualifies and what doesn't (which is one reason why we don't have a giant list of all the ones ever made - we just couldn't agree what they were!).
Next month - Flight Sims. (Something everyone can agree on.) Hurrah!
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