Producer: K-Tel
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Basic & machine code

Castle Colditz the first side of this K-Tel DOUBLE SIDER, is a text-only adventure, where you must escape from the famous German Prisoner of War camp, which was supposed to be an impossible task, though many allied prisoners did get out. Whether you will get out is largely dependent on whether you really want to get into start with.

Battle of the Toothpaste Tubes is a complete contrast, an arcade game with a theme which encroaches upon the hallowed ground first trod by Imagine with Molar Maul. It's quite different however. Here you must guide a large toothpaste tube, which lies on its side pointing to the right, and fire blobs of toothpaste so that they land exactly on the head of the of brushes which are rising on the right of the screen. If you get a blob on the handle it bounces back and you lose a life if hit. Below you are 7 other toothpaste tubes firing up at you, and at the top a pair of false teeth go flashing across the screen. To guard against attack by the lower tubes, there is a fluoride shield which vanishes as soon as you start shooting again.

COMMENTS

Control keys: (B.O.T.T.T.) Q/A up/down, O/P Ieft/right, SPACE = shoot paste, M = drop paste, I = fluoride shield
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: responsive (B.O.T.T.T.)
Use of colour: good (B.O.T.T.T.)
Graphics: good (B.O.T.T.T.)
Sound: fair (B.O.T.T.T.)
Skill levels: 3
Lives: 5

Colditz is text only, but this adventure is not up to the standards expected today. B.O.T.T.T. is a simple game that doesn't have much point to it. Although it has responsive graphics, they are rather poor.

I have nothing against text-only adventures, indeed a good one is better than a graphics one as far as I am concerned, but with such adventures, the use of descriptions and the way they are written (I don't mean programmed either) is essential to the creation of atmosphere and therefore, enjoyment. On that score Colditz fails abysmally. It's a series of barren rooms with poor descriptions and a few directions available. Simply no fun at all. The arcade game included on the tape is quite original, but somehow all the elements are mismatched so that it is difficult to play in a silly way.

With Colditz there was so little atmosphere that it failed to be exciting and I rapidly got bored with it. I managed somewhat better when it came to toothpaste tubes, although the fluoride barrier proved ineffective against dentures! The game is fun and original. It has some very good graphics and nice sound. The main problem is the number of keys required (7) and the economy bumper sized toothpaste tube you control, which is so large it becomes a ludicrously easy target to hit, hence more time is spent avoiding shots than actually shooting. But I still liked it!

Producer: K-Tel, 48K
£6.95 (3)

On the same cassette comes Battle of the Toothpaste Tubes, an arcade game of reasonable quality, and just as well as the adventure based on escaping from the famous World War II German prison camp is pathetic. Location descriptions are sparse and uninteresting, the logic of where you can go and what you may find is daft. A total waste of time and money. CRASH rating - below 20%.

DOUBLE-SIDED RELEASES PROVIDE VARIED CHOICE

A newly-released batch of double-sided tapes from K-Tel includes It's Only Rock and Roll, with Tomb of Dracula on side two.

It's Only Rock and Roll is a strategy game in which the object is to become a pop superstar by earning £1 million and collecting three status symbols.

Among the options are choosing a name for the group, planning tours, hiring managers and selecting songs. Time, money and energy are your resources and you lose the game if you run out of any of them.

The odds are stacked heavily against you and neither the songs which the computer offers for your approval, nor the occasional news flashes which are intended to enliven the game - "Government taxes pop groups" or "Tony Blackburn likes Sinclair Swingers", for example provide much of an incentive to continue playing.

A few graphics and more amusing responses might have improved this potentially appealing idea considerably.

Tomb of Dracula is a simple graphics adventure in which you attempt to find your way through a tomb haunted by ghouls and zombies and reach a staircase leading to Dracula's treasure. On your way, you must collect silver stakes with which to defend yourself and be careful to avoid the slime pit. You may find yourself repeatedly entering empty vaults and neither the story line nor the graphics is original enough to compensate.

Castle Coldltz, on another double tape, is a slightly more sophisticated adventure, in spite of the fact that it has no graphics.

The location is the notorious prison fortress, from which you are trying to escape while collecting as much Nazi loot as you can to take with you.

The scene changes quickly - from bath-house to trophy room to mortuary among others - and there is an interesting variety of treasures and messages to spur you. Full instructions are given at the start and if you make a map as you proceed, your quest should not prove too difficult.

The second side of the Castle Colditz tape offers Battle of the Toothpaste Tubes. It is a shoot-out game featuring a tube of toothpaste from which you fire at the evil brush brigade and the serried ranks of mini-tubes below.

You must beware of the chattering teeth but can protect yourself with your fluoride shield. If you hit the handle of a brush instead of the bristles, your toothpaste will rebound.

Apart from the novel scenario there is nothing particularly original about a simple arcade game which should only please anyone who is addicted to pressing the fire button.

It's Only Rock and Roll and Castle Colditz are available from K-Tel International, K-Tel Houses 620 Western Avenue, London W3 0TU. The cost is £6.95 per double-sided tape.

ZAP! P.O.W.

MAKER: K-TEL
MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £6.95

"So, Britisher schwein, you dare to escape the Chermans - then suffer the torture of the toothpaste tubes!" It does look this way in this 'Double-sider' cassette from K-Tel - one game seems to be a punishment for enjoying the other. Castle Colditz is a reasonable text-only adventure in which you are trying to escape from the notorious WW2 prisoner-of-war camp. On your way out you must collect objects to help you overcome hazards, not to mention picking up a few items of Nazi treasure.

Turn over the cassette to face Battle of the Toothpaste Tubes if you dare! You're in control of a large blue toothpaste tube which can shoot bolts of paste at vertically scrolling toothbrushes on the right or drop paste on horizontally scrolling pink tubes below. A silly, confused game that would have been a waste of money sold on its own.

COLDITZ

MICRO: Spectrum 48K
PRICE: £6.95
FORMAT: Cassette
SUPPLIER: K-Tel International

Two games for the price of one sounds like excellent value, but in the case of this double-sided offering from K-Tel I'm rather doubtful. On one side you get Castle Colditz, a traditional text-only adventure in which you have to (what else?) escape from the infamous German prison camp. Then on side two - and in complete contrast - there is a mildly amusing arcade game called Battle of the Toothpaste Tubes.

If you can remember the TV series of the Colditz story you'll probably expect Castle Colditz to be just as exciting. Sadly, though, this version fails to make the most of what is potentially an addictive scenario.

You set out from the prisoners' room, through numerous rooms and passages, collecting Nazi treasures as you make your way to the front gate. Unfortunately, many rooms are empty and you can wander about for ages, with not even a single German in sight.

There are a few objects scattered around the castle, while some exits are one-way only; set foot in one of these locations and, unless you have a very fast brain, you'll be terminated in a most unpleasant manner. Beware also of spending too much time trying to get through the window in the wine cellar; I nearly died of starvation several times.

The game responds quite fast to the usual verb-noun inputs and adequate instructions are provided on screen. Thankfully, you are warned that some locations are one-way only, although you are not told which until it's too late. You are advised to make a map, which I soon found to be sound advice.

Surprisingly, there are two notable omissions from this game: a help facility and a scoring system. You are told about the lack of the former in pretty blunt terms, while passing out through the front gate, weighed down with loot, is the only score that really matters.

This is a relatively straightforward and competent adventure, but for me it lacks atmosphere.

So someone was short of a real theme; with a name like 'Battle of the Toothpaste Tubes' who can take it seriously? Fortunately the title does not do credit to the game itself. It has been imaginatively conceived with the use of fast-moving high resolution graphics as well as entertaining sound effects.

You must fire the toothpaste onto the heads of the toothbrushes. If you miss and hit the handles it will rebound and hit you. Mini tubes fire at you, you can protect yourself with a flouride shield or simply by firing at them. Lastly, beware the chattering teeth, they can penetrate shields - one bite is lethal.

Being given a healthy number of lives to begin with produces a sense of security, to stay alive is not easy, you must be constantly alert and on your toes.

'Battle of the Toothpaste Tubes' (BTT) is a good game, thought the scenario is corny to say the least. But above all it is fun to play.

Castle Colditz is an adventure game, in which you are being held prisoner in - of course, the Castle Colditz. Surprise, surprise, your task is to escape! To this end you must make your way from the prisoners' room, through a complexed arrangement of tunnels and passages to the Front Gate and freedom.

Sadly, this game is without graphics, which is rather annoying and poor for an adventure game of today. There may well be too many tunnels and passages for you to remember hence necessitating the drawing of a map. As you wander you may collect various object which are scattered around. There seems to be rather an abundance of treasure here.

Castle Colditz on its own is far from inspiring, and certainly not a program to be bought on its own, but sold with BTT it makes much better sense. Overall this cassette is good, but far from mindblowing, especially as the product of such a well established company as K-Tel.