Producer: Softstone
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Timothy Williams

Timothy Williams is probably best known for his first commercial game Odyssey 1, which was reviewed in the very first issue of CRASH. That was produced by Perfection Software, now marketed by Softstone. Farenheit 3000 is set in a reactor, Dragon Reactor to be precise. What's happened is that the reactor has gone critical and is about to 'meltdown'. Visions of atomic bombs and mushroom clouds pass through the minds of the local residents. Luckily, the worst that could happen is an enormous radiation leakage that could wipe out half of the South Coast of England. The coast is in a panic, the ceramic coated Uranium Oxide core has reached Farenheit 3000! There is only one chance. You must locate and operate all the pressure valves in order to release the excess pressure and flood the core...

Farenheit 3000 is a 64 screen platform game along the lines of Jet Set Willy. The screens are linked vertically and horizontally, each one filled with a different combination of platforms. Anything flashing is lethal with radiation and kills on the spot, except single flashing character blocks which are the valves. Each room is also filled with radioactive hazards, creatures bouncing up and down and from side to side, which are instant death if touched. In some rooms, enormous pools of radioactive water must be jumped. You are provided with a pretty giant leap and an immunity to long drops as long as you do not hit anything lethal on the way down.

The screen display includes a title for each room in hallowed tradition, as well as telling you how many valves are yet to be done, and what the radiation level is. This latter, acts as a time limit for the game.

COMMENTS


Control keys: Q/W left/right and SPACE to jump
Joystick: doesn't need one
Keyboard play: very responsive, and simple to use
Use of colour: uneven, ranging from very good to definitely odd
Graphics: good, smooth, varied and detailed animation
Sound: nice tune and mild spot effects
Skill levels: 1
Lives: N/A - limited by radiation level
Screens: 64

Farenheit 3000 is basically a JSW clone, and it follows the same game idea very closely. After playing it I felt that although the graphics were not quite as good, it was harder and had some nice features. Not giving the game away, I will mention but one, 'in the great desert, quick escape' you have only a few seconds before you die. Very intricate jumping is required in many cases. Although this is a JSW clone it is still very good and very playable.

On the presentation screen it states that the program was written by Tim Williams of Perfection Software. This game is very good - a difficult Jet Set Willy style. I wonder why Perfection could not have brought out a game such as this before Softstone apparently took them over? I must stress with this game that you must have a sense of extreme timing, a good TV and a great sense of distance, for all these skill elements come into their own here. This game is not for anybody who is not willing to spend time to realise what the game requires from them. Graphics have an odd colour scheme, some go back to the days of just black and white TV while others are multi-coloured. Animation is a particularly strong point in Farenheit 3000 and in quite a few different types of graphics the animation is quite superb. If you found JSW too easy, boring and unchallenging, but you liked the type of game, you will most probably enjoy this one.

There's certainly plenty of scope for going barmy in this platform jumping game with its 64 excruciatingly hard screens. The game plays heavily on timing jumps to perfection as well as judging distances and taking risks on that last pixel of toe grip. You jump very well, quite high, and another novel aspect becomes apparent - some jumps require a rebound effect to get up onto another platform. This rebound idea can play havoc with you though, bouncing you off into a nasty at the worst possible moment. I'm not sure I enjoyed all the graphics all the while, because some very strange colouring is used. On the whole they are pretty good though and the animated nasties are imaginative and detailed. For me it just slips from master class, but this is certainly no weak-kneed JSW copy and it should prove highly popular.

Ross: How come the software houses are still churning out Jet Set Willy lookalikes? Who knows... but here's another one!

The scenario this time is to shut down the Dragon nuclear reactor and prevent it from melting down. To achieve this you've got to close off 64 (count 'em) pressure valves before the core reaches 3000 degrees. Time is obviously limited, what with all that leaking radiation hanging about, but all you've got to do to turn off a valve is to touch them. Of course, if it's already leaking you're in a spot of trouble...

At first glance, all of these games look fairly similar - but in play, few come up to the high standard set by Jet Set Willy or Manic Miner. Unfortunately, Fahrenheit 3000 is no exception. The incredible jumping power of our hero makes the game a bit tricky to play - probably the result of too much radiation. The graphics are fairly standard, a bit sparse and flickery too.

It's a shame that too much reverance has been placed on the MMs and JSWs of this world - a copy is never as good as the original. 1/5 MISS

Dave: Yet another JSW lookalike, but with superior jumping abilities and smoother graphics. For £2.50 it's probably worth it but I, for one, am getting really bored with this sort of game. 1/5 MISS

Roger: Now where have I seen this little lot before? Good grief, JSWs got more clones than Boy George! Why can't someone come up with something original for a change? 2/5 MISS

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

This is a platform game with a social conscience. In the Winifreth Dragon Nuclear Reactor in Dorset core temperature is 2,990 degrees and rising. Meltdown is imminent. Pretty soon there will be an ecological disaster.

So, you've got to do something about it, such as switching off the valves in each of the game's 63 screens. Easier said than done, of course - this is a platform game, after all.

You get into the first screen after an excellent Bach introduction - J.S. must now be the most popular computer games accompanist.

'Entrance to the Inner Sanctum' is the title of your introduction to disaster. Your man is a plump fellow in a hat, an unlikely-looking candidate for heroism, but very brave nonetheless.

You get unlimited lives, but there is a meter monitoring your radiation level: every time you bump into an obstacle your level goes up, until eventually you succumb to radiation sickness.

The first room, like the others, is full of platforms, steps and surreally nasty creatures. Things whirr and whine, float up and down and (here are even strange mutant pussy cats - presumably to catch strange mutant mice.

Key control is quite straightforward - left, right, jump - and success is mainly a matter of timing and strategy. The rooms have a variety of problems to negotiate, and some will prove easier than others. Getting through all 63, however, will be a dangerous and time-consuming business.

Fahrenheit's colours and graphics are well above average and the game is large enough and good enough to keep you at it for a long time. But comparison has to be made with Jet Set Willy, and here Softstone's game loses out in terms of originality and wit. Plus, of course, the complete lack so far of any Pokes for infinite lives.

Control, it must be said, is very difficult. jumping is particularly difficult to achieve and makes this game very frustrating. Half the time, executing a finely-timed jump is more luck than skill.

Sixty-four screens should present a long-term challenge and perhaps Willy fans who cannot wait for him to meet the taxman will buy this difficult game for practice!

MARTYN SMITH

Graphics are reasonable and animation is smooth, even though some of the characters are a little difficult to identify. Colour is used fairly well, except on some of the screens where the backgrounds created a dreadful shimmering on my television set. Sound is limited to a good rendition of Toccata.

Fahrenheit 3000 is by no means a sub-standard game, but it's not the best of its kind.

STEVE SPITTLE

The music on this game is tremendous, it's a pity that it doesn't play all the way through. The game is very much like Jet Set Willy and equally as hard in places. The graphics aren't as attractive though and the colours don't seem to have been as well thought out.

BOB WADE

Now we come onto a game of bad taste. A nuclear reactor is about to meltdown and it is up to you to go through the works and operate all the pressure valves in order to release the excess pressure and flood the core, which will hopefully shut down the reactor. Having done all this, if you solve the puzzle presented to you, there is the chance of winning a Mystery Prize.

With the jesting in the instructions, "Luckily, the worst that can happen is an enormous radiation leakage that could wipe out half of the South Coast" and "Shutdown the reactor before it shuts you down", I was put off immediately. This sort of idea, much the same as war inducing games, is unnecessary and far better games can be produced without this overhanging threat.

To add to this, the game is not very good. The graphics are inferior to even the Manic Miner type and I could not get further than the first screen even after about 2 hours of painful trying.

Firebird, the BT company who made such an impact with their first collection of SW have added to their range with the introduction of seven new programs in their Silver, £2.50, series.

FAHRENHEIT 3000 was originally a full priced program from the Softstone company and is a platform style game. Though nothing special it is a fair effort, and good value for money if you are a fan of this type of game.