Producer: Postern
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Machine code

As its name implies, this is another 'Dig-Dug' digger game, where you wander the screen, creating pathways along which monsters will chase you. The object is to collect the many cherries on the screen and avoid the chasers by undermining the large apples to either block a passageway or, better still, squash them dead. The ultimate prize for Dinky is the lime cake at the centre of the screen.

Clearing a screen results in another with even faster monsters. Apart from apples, Dinky can use crystal balls to throw at the approaching monsters, throwing in the direction of movement but he's only given two to use.

COMMENTS

Control keys: top row = throw ball, second row = up, third row = down, left & right, alternate keys on bottom row
Joystick: none
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour poor, a rather yucky green screen
Sound: just average
Skill levels: progressive impossibility
Lives: 3

I found this game very unplayable. The monsters seem to be super fast while Dinky has feet of lead. On most occasions there's not even time to tunnel enough to be able to turn around and throw your crystal ball. The odds are heavily stacked against you, making the game very hard. But not 'hard' as in 'challenging' or 'difficult', but 'hard' as in not given a chance. The graphics are reasonable, but the so-called 'mind-blowing sound effects' tend to leave a little to be desired. Fair to poor and for kamikazes only. If this is priced at Postern's usual £7 price, then it's terrible value for money.

If this was skill level 50, then I might understand it, but as there is only the one speed/skill level option, I don't. Did the author or producer of the game try it out? Did anyone play test it? if they did, then all I can say is that Cheltenham must breed super heroic arcade players. In my opinion all the skill elements of this game have been got wrong. It just doesn't work! A pity for the graphics, which are quite good.

I'm afraid Dinky Digger is unplayable because the monsters move too fast - Dinky doesn't stand a chance, especially with only two crystal balls. If he'd had more balls (not guts, just balls) it might have been a better game. In a sense, it doesn't matter but, why did they have to put that tune in between each very short life - it soon becomes maddening.

The player takes on the role of the Dinky Digger, whose job it is to dig his way underground and eat all the cherries. At the same time, irate chasers are desperately trying to halt your progress, and these need to be stopped.

John: When playing, it soon becomes clear that the baddies move a lot faster than the Dinky Digger — which makes the securing of their destruction virtually impossible. 5/10

Tony: The main fault with this game is that it's simply too hard. The poor presentation spoils the overall appearance of what is essentially a good idea. 6/10

Mark: The idea behind this game is a good one but it gets lost somewhere, due to the unsophisticated and unpolished finished product. Nevertheless, it's playable and moderately enjoyable. 6/10

DIGGER TAKES THE CAKE

Memory: 48K
Price: £6.95

Dinky Digger from Postern may well remind you of Pac-Man but this time the monsters are trying to eat you, and probably succeeding most of the time.

The object is to clear the screen of cherries, eventually grabbing the cake to be found at the centre. The Pac-man-like monsters meanwhile are doing their best to prevent you achieving your aim, but it is possible to eliminate the monsters by throwing a crystal ball at them, or by running under an apple in the hope that it will fall and flatten them.

Even if you succeed in getting rid of a monster or two, unless you have extremely nimble fingers you are unlikely to progress very far into the game. One monster is followed quickly by another and slow response to the movement keys makes it almost impossible to out-run them.

Most people will find they have lost a life in no time and it is a pity that the authors have added to the frustration of the game by making the player wait for an infuriating little tune to finish before embarking on another attempt. When the game is finished, a score table is displayed which features an action sequence of the hero throwing a ball at one of the monsters and, appealing though that may be the first time, it serves only to slow the action when it is repeated.

Dinky Digger is definitely not for the novice: although it might appeal to experienced players eager to improve their keyboard skills.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
JOYSTICK: No
CATEGORY: Arcade
SUPPLIER: Postern
PRICE: £6.95

The buffoon who wrote this program appears to be one of those people who believe that to make a game challenging it has to be virtually unplayable.

Just picture it. You're digging a tunnel and coming down it after you is a succession of monsters. Your only defence against them is to hurl a ball at them. That kills the first one, the rest keep coming, and you have to wait a few seconds for a new ball.

What often happens is that even if you're moving away as fast as possible, a second monster catches you up before your new ball arrives. So at best this game is a lottery, and worst it's mass murder of the defenceless.

The programmer had some other duff ideas: like including a really awful little tune which after your first few random deaths will make you tear your hair out.

Incidentally the aim of the game is to gobble cherries, apples and lime-cake but you'll find it all pretty fruitless. Even if you succeed you only get the same again, except even more unplayable.

The cassette inlay tells you that this game is as fast, furious and mean as they come. There is a certain truth in this.

The game is extremely mean, and if you buy it you'll fast become furious.

WELL-WORN THEMES RE-APPEAR

The trend in software production appears to be to take stock, build on successful ideas and await new developments. New games tend to be new variations on well-worn themes rather than startlingly original concepts. The number of games based on the premise that all computer owners love shooting as many things as possible is decreasing and giving way to games which need thought and strategy as well as fast reactions.

Unfortunately for ZX-81 owners, although their computer has remained consistently among the top five bestselling computers, new software for the ZX-81 is almost non-existent and W H Smith is not intending to accept any new ZX-81 software for sale in its shops. Due to the shortage of new software, no ZX-81 programs have been received for review this month.

Like Donkey Kong, Pac-man is a game which spawned a multitude of imitations. Dinky Digger - Postern, 48K Spectrum - has a distinctly Pac-man-like air to it. The object is to clear the screen of cherries and grab the cake in the middle, while avoiding the monsters which are trying to eat you.

One monster is followed quickly by another and the game is so difficult that it should be attempted only by the experienced or very nimble-fingered user.