Reviews

Confuzion is not a widely known or accoladed game, and indeed, Your Spectrum gave it a "miss" on Joystick Jury when it came out - the reviewers essentially complained that it was too hard.

In this game, you have a game play grid made up of sections of fuse. There is a blank square, and you move the fuse tiles into the blank square, just like the plastic number shuffle puzzle games. A spark travels along the fuse, and you need to shuffle the right sections of fuse around so that the fuse hits a bomb. You have limited time in which to clear all the bombs...and if your fuse hits the edge of the screen where there is no bomb, you lose time. On later screens, there are also drops of water that run along the fuse grid - and as you might expect, allow the spark to run into the water drop and the spark goes out. As the game progresses, you have to track more and more things in your mind...as once there's a couple of water drops for company, you really have to start thinking ahead.

It is a very challenging game once you've cleared the first few screens, and you do have to think quickly. However, the challenge gives it excellent replayability, and if you enjoy this kind of game it's one you'll want to return to. Graphically, it's very well presented, and the controls are responsive, so you can concentrate on the game.

One of the more curious things about the game is that on the B side of the cassette, there was a song for the game, not surprisingly called "Confuzion" by a band called Private Property. It's difficult to find any information on the band today, other than the band members. The song itself was competently produced, but fairly typical 1980s style pop.

The concept at the base of this puzzle game is interesting. Unfortunately the actual realization leaves a lot to be desidered. Gameplay is most of the times confusing and based on casual factors rather than strategy and thought, and for such games this is a mortal sin. Most of the times you simply do not feel to be in control of the situation. Not a game I'd recommend.

1985 Incentive Software (UK)
by Brendan Kelly, Paul Shirley and Ian Andrew

The idea is good, but the implementation is not so famous, sometimes it even feels random, it's not, if you pay close attention you see the options you have, but needs a different game mechanic to make it more convincing and, I dare say playable, otherwise ends up being too hard and not rewarding. For instance the fuse should slow down at times so you could plan your next movement, this way, it doesn't give time enough to do so, maybe in the long run, after many hours of playing, but it wont be a fun experience.

Who's singing?