Kixx
£2.99 (rerelease)

Bently Bear has a problem: he's mad on collecting gems. As you can imagine this obsession could get him into trouble, and it does in Crystal Castles. The gems are scattered about the floors of 18 3-D structures jam-packed full of lifts, ramps, tunnels and hidden passages. Each of these levels has its own name, like Tree Wave and Doomsdome. Old Bently's task would be a simple one if it weren't for the creatures roaming the structures in search of bear burgers. These include Mad Marbles, Tree Spirits, Skeletons, and there's Berthilda the witch, who can only be killed by wearing the magic hat. Speed is also important it you're going to succeed in Crystal Castles: spend too long on a screen and killer bees swarm up and sting you (ouch!).

3-D graphics have been attempted over and over again on the Spectrum and the Crystal Castles version's almost unique to this game. It works really well too. Bently goes in and out of the tunnels and up and down ramps; in true 3-D style. Bonuses are collected for extra points, the honey pot and magic hat being the most common, with 11000 points each. Once all levels have been completed it's back to the start again. But don't moan, because this time' things speed up to provide a whole new challenge.

Crystal Castles is an addictive arcade romp with pleasant graphics and sound. Well worth the asking price and great for all the family. Happy playying ladz!.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

GOING DOWN

Another trip to the netherworld of cheapies with Mr Stingebucket himself, Marcus Berkmann! (Where's that cheque? MB)

Kixx
£2.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

An excellent game, which for some reason that long ago escaped me was never properly released by US Gold. Although previewed in the press in 1986 or '87, it appeared only on a long-forgotten compilation a year or so later (with a couple of stinkers). But now it's available in its own right at a very nice price indeed. The idea's straightforward enough. Your little bear (called Bentley for no less obscure reasons) is just crazy about gems - so much so that he's willing to risk his life blagging them. So he finds himself deposited on a series of 18 3D structures (all around the size of yer average Head Over Heels room), each one chock-a-block with lifts, ramps, tunnels and occasionally the odd hidden passage. Oh, and gems too. Chasing around after him are various sorts of missiles (Mad Marbles, which take the shortest route to you, Tree Spirits, which do the same but can be immobilised for a short time if you jump over them, Gem Eating Centipedes which, er, eat gems, and so on). And, well, that's it - but try dragging yourself away from the keyboard, that's all. It's viscously addictive, a sort of high-speed Bounty Bob and the 3D isometric games. And don't be fooled by the rather primitive presentation and simple graphics - this is as swift a game of its type as I've ever seen, with none of that dismal slow-motion chugging about that you usually get if there's more than one sprite on the screen. If playability's the final criterion, this is as good a game as you'll get - definitely worth a Megagame. Buy and enjoy.

LET'S DO THE TIMEWARP

Yes! We're going back in time to take a lok at some games of yester-year. Why? Because they've all been re-released for £3 each and they're in your shops now!

CRYSTAL CASTLES
Label: Kixx
Price: £2.99

Crystal Castles. What a classic. What an epic.

What a stinker. Yes! People used to get excited over this sort of thing! WHY??? All it consists of is a 3-D variant of Pacman, where the hero is a strangely paralysed fluffy bear, the objects to collect are gems and honeypots, the baddies consist of an assortment of marbles, trees, skeletons and bees, and moving platforms allow you to reach higher levels of the more complex castles. SOME PEOPLE - no names mentioned, - are quoted on the insert as calling Crystal Castles "beyond description". Indeed Crystal Castles is inevitably going to be bought by some fanatics, but I reckon it was a dodo even when it was first released three years ago.

Show your maturity and pass it by.

Kixx, £2.99
Amstrad, C64, Spectrum

Another cult coin-op classic is about to sneak out on budget, and luckily for you if you missed it the first time - highly likely as its launch at full price three years ago was a strangely low key affair. Strange when you consider that this 3D Pacman style game was one of the most addictive cabinets ever to stand in an arcade. You play the part of Bentley the Bear who must gather all of the gems dotted around the floor of eighteen ice structures. Each level must be completely clear before progressing to the next and Bentley must make use of the lifts, pulleys, ramps and hidden passages if he is to succeed. The skeletons, bees, Gem Eaters and Berthilda the witch are keen to hang on to the gems. Ultimately pointless yet totally unputdownable arcade entertainment.

Kixx
Spectrum/C64 £2.99

An elderly conversion of an even more crusty Atari coin-op which places you in the furry skin of Bentley, a bouncy bear with a fetish for precious stones. Today, Bentley's ambled into a witch's castle which is made up of 18 3D mazes all littered with gems. Cor! Poor Bentley nearly wets his knicks in excitement, and before you can say, "Hold it Bentley. The place is full of mad marbles/tree spirits/skeletons/gem eaters/bees", he's out there filling his pockets.

On the Spectrum at least. Crystal Castles is quite good fun, but not at all difficult, mainly because it's a bit slow. The best that can be said about the graphics is that they're clear, and there are a couple of beepy jingles which pop up now and again. All in all, not tops, but a "bear"able budget buy (yuk yuk!)

A SOFTWARE 'LEGEND' FROM U.S. GOLD?

U.S. Gold
£8.99

U.S. Gold are releasing this as a 'special limited edition' in an attempt to convince us all that if we don't rush out and buy it straight away we will all have missed our chance to experience this "software legend" (their advertising people certainly know their stuff).

The trouble with legends is that they don't always measure up to their reputations when you eventually get to see them in the flesh - especially when they're being translated from a dedicated arcade machine onto the Spectrum. I'd never seen the arcade original but someone told me that it was a sort of 3D Pac Man. That sounded promising, despite the fact that the main character is called Bentley Bear, so in went the tape.

The 3D Pac Man description was fairly accurate in that Bentley's task is to wander around a three-dimensional 'castle' which is made up of structures of ramps and walkways which become increasingly complex on each successive screen, collecting little pills which are dotted along the main pathways just as in Pac Man. As you'd expect there are various types of monsters that home in on Bentley (I hate that name), including things that look like centipedes, trees and ghosts, and also additional items of treasure that can be collected or left where they are in order to block the path of the pursuing monsters.

Of course, as each screen is in three dimensions rather than the original Pac Man's two, the game is a little more complicated. Bentley has the ability to jump over monsters rather than simply moving left/right, forward/backward, and it quite often happens that he will move behind a section of the 'castle' structure. When this happens the program allows you to 'see through' the structure so that you can follow Bentley's movements although you are unable to see the actual path that he is on.

The drawback with using 3D structures is that the graphics are that much more complicated and in order to get everything onto the screen the moving figures and blocks which make up the structures all have to be quite small. This makes the game quite fiddly to control. Most of the paths around the screen are so narrow that it's not at all unusual for Bentley to shoot past one when you actually want him to turn into it. So you have to slowly double back and line him up precisely, before going down the path. By this time, of course, every monster on the screen has homed in on the hapless bear and sent him to bear heaven. As a result of this fiddliness the game's addictiveness suffers considerably. Instead of trying to do an exact conversion the programmers of the Spectrum version would have done well to keep the castle structures a little less complicated (along the lines of Addictive's Kirel, which had similar 3D structures but ones which were drawn larger and more clearly, yet were still complex enough to present a challenge).

By trying to pack a bit too much onto the Spectrum's screen the programmers have made the game too cramped to allow you to build up some speed and get really involved in it.