Producer: Silversoft
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.95
Language: Machine code
Author:

Just lately there seems to have been something of a 'looking back' at basic ideas in arcade type games, most notably from Silversoft with titles like Hyperaction, Super Mutt and now Trouble Brewin'. Silversoft seem to be taking care to incorporate varied elements of traditional games into new ones with the experience gained over two years of what makes a game addictive to play.

Trouble Brewin' is basically a platform type game where you guide your man through several screens, collecting a number of objects on each screen whilst avoiding the nestles which include animated corkscrews, apples, 'pimen', slugs and others. The screens incorporate both main elements of platform games, the use of ladders and the function of jumping. So on one screen it may be ladders that are the main feature, whereas on another it might just be jumping from a small platform to an even smaller platform. Part of the attraction of such games is the fun of seeing what's coming next, how to get through the various hazards, and in the case of Trouble Brewin', what the slightly different objectives in each screen are.

As the title suggests, the action is taking place in a brewery, and indeed, on one screen there is even the alchohol vat to be seen, getting hotter as you watch it. The objective here is to control the temperature by keeping all the windows shut, whilst avoiding the nasties which are constantly opening them.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, N/M left /right, 2 - 5 to jump
Joystick: unstated on preview copy, presumed to be Kempston, Cursor and Sinclair
Keyboard play: good positions and very responsive, good jumping action
Use of colour: very good - bright
Graphics: smooth, fast, well animated and large
Sound: above average
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 6
Screens: 5
Special features:

This game requires a good combination of skills in judgement and timing. I found that each screen required a very high degree of skill and luck. Screen layout is attractive aria very colourful - well finished. The graphics, of course, are smooth and cheerful, and they work very well. Each screen is different, in fact a different game in itself. But it is basically a platform game with quite a few other elements thrown in. The keyboard is well positioned and is highly responsive. Trouble Brewin' is difficult but highly playable and has all the features required of an addictive game.

It must be hard to ring the changes within the basic format of a type of game, but Silversoft have managed veil, nicely with Trouble Brewin, providing the right sort of difficulty so that timing and jumping skills have to be good. The five screens are very lively to look at, and they make you want to get on to the next. Smooth graphics, with plenty of animation add to the fun of what is a very addictive game.

I thought Trouble Brewin' was a jolly game to play, reasonably addictive without being anything major. In other words, very fine but not amazingly exciting. It does have a wide range of graphics, which are well drawn and animated, and everything is certainly very colourful - which helps. Perhaps I'm a bit tired of the jumping platform game, and I don't think Trouble Brewin' has anything very new to say. Which isn't to say that it is poor value - there's plenty of content and the difficulty factor is quite high. Try it and see.

Roger: Never mind Trouble Brewin', I had trouble playing this game! Typically, most of the aggro came from a complete lack of instructions or explanations with the test sample, which meant that I had to suss out the required action on each of five screens. Fortunately, a 'practice' facility accesses any of the screens and erratic key-stroking soon indentified the point of it all.

Imagery is mostly concerned with alcoholic beverages, a subject extremely dear to my heart. Barrels, vats and glasses of bubbly proliferate. In the first screen, a deadly corkscrew is just one of the things to be avoided and in the fifth, the champagne realistically knocks you out - well, it always makes me comatose!

Altogether, despite my 'orrible suspicion of things arcade, I must say that the game did seem a bit - dare I say- easy. The mobile nasties and fixed obstacles arc far too predictable and crude

Maybe it'll be a big success with 'Real Ale' freaks, but I think I'll stick to lager. 2/5 MISS

Ross: Silversoft has come up with more pretty graphics. It also seems to have the knack of making the nasties just intelligent enough to cause problems, but not so you can't escape. 3/5 HIT

Dave: Just the job if you're looking for another 'jumping around and collecting' game. It has nicer graphics than most but calls for arcade skill rather than planning. 3/5 HIT

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Keys
FROM: Silversoft, £5.95

Plenty of trouble for do-it-yourself alcoholics who attempt to gather ingredients, mix a potent brew and then cure a whopping hangover. Graphics are colourful and the gameplay can be quite demanding, but there's only five screens.