Producer: Blaby, 48K
£5.50

Not at first sight a maze game, but this is one where you make your own maze for protection from the dreaded Snow Bees which infest the Arctic ice wastes where you, the last living Do Do, find yourself stranded (beat that for a scenario!) This innovative game from Blaby has charming graphics and good sound. Basically you must shunt the ice blocks around to escape the bees or crush them if you're clever you can electrocute them against the walls. Joystick: Kempston Recommended.

Producer: Blaby, 48K
£5.50

Not at first sight a maze game, but this is one where you make your own maze for protection from the dreaded Snow Bees which infest the Arctic ice wastes where you, the last living Do Do, find yourself stranded (beat that for a scenario!) This innovative game from Blaby has charming graphics and good sound. Basically you must shunt the ice blocks around to escape the bees or crush them if you're clever you can electrocute them against the walls. Joystick: Kempston Recommended.

Producer: Blaby, 48K
£5.50

Not at first sight a maze game, but this is one where you make your own maze for protection from the dreaded Snow Bees which infest the Arctic ice wastes where you, the last living Do Do, find yourself stranded (beat that for a scenario!). This innovative game from Blaby has charming graphics and good sound. Basically you must shunt the ice blocks around to escape the bees or crush them if you're clever you can electrocute them against the walls. Joystick: Kempston. Recommended.

BLOCK BUSTERS - PENGO TYPE GAMES

Reviewers Chris Passey and Matthew Uffindell don their cold gear to play in the Arctic wastes...

The Pengo scenario says that a penguin in the snowy wastes must stay alive by melting ice blocks, or shunting them along to squash the snow bugs which threaten him. The frame resembles one of those small hand-held word puzzles with letters printed on small squares which may be shuffled to rearrange them. The game requires a certain amount of strategic thinking in setting up kills. You can usually 'electrify' the walls (the edge of the screen) and daze any nasties that touch it, running them down if you are able. First in the market was Blaby's Dodo and the Snow Bees by a long margin.

DODO (AND THE SNOW BEES)
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price In £4.95

This is a reasonable copy of the Pengo game and it contains quite reasonable graphics too. They are a little jerky due to the character position movement. As with most Blaby games, the sound quality and content is excellent (Blaby sound seems loud too!). As far as sound goes, it's the best, but for playability it's possibly the worst. Keyboard control is bad because is uses the cursors - Kempston, AGF and Protek joystick owners need not worry though. I found the game average and it has been outclassed on most fronts by others, not surprising perhaps, as it preceeds them all by almost a year and Spectrum software has come a long way in that time. The snow bees in this game did resemble bees, which is more than can be said for most of the rest.
CP

Dodo is the oldest game out of the bunch, and it shows! Movement is by block and slow. The snow bees have a distinct advantage - they move faster than you do. Fences can be electrified four times during the entire game. The screen also seems very cramped. However, the ice blocks move smoothly. The colour is well used. One of the worst points if the keyboard layout, which is exceptionally poor.
MU

PENGO-TYPE GAMES COMPARISON TABLE

The two reviewers' ratings have been averaged, but despite independent assessment of the games, they were very much in agreement.

NB. Despite details printed on cassettes and in advertisements, due to an error Software Projects Push Off is not 16K but 48K. The same is true of Thrusta.