Producer: Software Super Savers
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £2.99
Language: Machine code
Author: Pat Norris

Another in the new Software Projects' budget range - Software Super Savers, Fred's Fan Factory is an interesting idea. It's a pity nothing could be said about playing the game either on the inlay or on the screen, because although the immediate requirement is pretty obvious, the long term objectives are not.

Fred runs left and right along the bottom of the screen, while above him there are four 'corridors' with offset holes leading upwards from one to the other. In the roof of the corridors there are sharp green spikes at intervals, and at opposed ends of each corridor there are large electric style fans, magenta fans on the first level, green on the second, blue on the third and yellow on the top. On Fred's level there are eight handles set into the roof in four colours, each handle corresponding to one of the fans. By dashing from one handle to the other an activating it, Fred can make the appropriate fans work.

From the lowest level at the left, a balloon man appears, wafting down the corridor until he reaches the first upward hole. The balloon then rises and will burst on a spike unless Fred can reach the right fan and waft the balloon safely on down the corridor. By judicious use of alternating fans, it is possible to make the balloons waft from left to right, picking up yellow blocks set on the roofs here and there. As soon as the first balloon is under way another will emerge from the right and so on. The object is to collect all the yellow blocks before running out of balloon men.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/P left/right, M for fan control
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: with only three keys it would have been better to have them positioned closer together
Use of colour: good
Graphics: quite good although pretty simple
Sound: only the balloon bursting effect
Skill levels:
Lives: 6 balloon men
Screens:
Special features:

Fred's Fan Factory is a rather original game to say the least the graphics are good enough to match the game. This game is challenging and strategic in an 'arcade' sort of way. I enjoyed it! I also found it a little difficult because the type of skill required is an ability to concentrate on several things at once, rather like juggling. No easy task!

The object is to guide balloons through a factory using the fans on either side. At first the game is confusing because you are not told what to do. The keys are awkwardly placed and the game depends heavily on your having a colour TV.

Fred's Fan Factory would have been a really good game if it had been a bit more playable. The idea is novel but there are two serious failings; the first is that the level of difficulty has been twisted up just that bit too much to make the game enjoyable to play, and the second is that it is very hard to position Fred properly to activate a fan switch. This just makes to level of frustration too high to continue being bothered with the game. A pity, because the idea is good and the sort of skill needed is interesting.

Roger: If ever there was an argument in favour of computer-controlled robots replacing human wage slavery in factories, this appalling excuse for a 'game' is it... So mindless is Fred's daily toil that management - which is anybody foolish enough to have bought the program - only demands that he dutifully shuffles from left to right, switching fans on and off.

The surplus value from his labour is created by blowing 'balloon men' along the various factory floors, knocking off point-scoring objects and rising inexorably towards an exit at the top of a single screen. Cheap it may be, but graphics are crude and keyboard control annoyingly imprecise. Each game-cycle, timed in numbers of available 'balloon men' and their related 'lives', is pathetically short. Given 48K of potentially creative programming space, the whole thing's nothing short of an insult!

Unfortunately, Fred showed absolutely no signs of understanding his concrete working class conditions or historical role - he failed to go out on strike. So I pulled the plug and made him redundant instead. Machine code like this could easily change someone's hobby from computing to knitting! 0/5 MISS

Dave: It might have been more fun if the instructions had explained what I was meant to be trying to do... but I doubt it! 0/5 1 MISS

Ross: When I first caught a glimpse of this game, I thought the idea of it was quite novel... but after a few goes I realised that, unfortunately, it's dull, dull, dull! Moving around on-screen proves most frustrating. 1/5 MISS

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
FROM: Software Projects, £1.99

Novel game idea in which you have to turn fans on and off to blow balloons safely through a hazard-filled platform network.

Verdict: Fun for a while

Value For Money: 5/10

PRICE: £2.99

Software Projects have launched a new, cheap range of software known as the Software Super Savers. Both adventure and arcade games are included, although the arcade games predominate.

Fred's Fan is an ingenious game in which the balloon men float upwards. By rushing along the bottom passage you can switch fans on and off to blow them safely past dangerous spikes and whirling enemies, through the safe passages, and up to freedom. The gentle pace at which the balloons move is no guide to the speed of the game, for you will have to sprint from one switch to the next in order to save all your balloons.

Moonlighter is an unimpressive version of the block-pushing game genre. Defend yourself against the rogue, radioactive tennis balls by blasting them before they move, or pushing boxes over them as they move around the screen.

The key response is slightly too slow to give the feeling of playing at your best, and the difficulty of distinguishing between fire and push when using a joystick makes this a very tricky game.

Flip Flap is a computerised version of pinball. The graphics are smooth and clear and the score combinations are inventive. Pinball enthusiasts will certainly enjoy this. The keys, though, are very confusing. Moving the left hand flipper of each pair with you left hand, and the right hand flippers with your right hand looks good on paper, but feels very nasty in practice.

Software Super Savers are produced by Software Projects, Bear Brand Complex, Allerton Road, Wootton, Liverpool L25 7SF.