Producer: Ocean
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £9.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Denton Designs
Frankie Goes to Hollywood was previewed at length in the June issue of CRASH (otherwise known as 17). A great deal was written about this game so a brief introduction should suffice.
It's not really fair to talk about targets or objectives in relation to Frankie Goes to Hollywood but at the end of the day your ultimate desire should be to reach the Pleasuredome. That's going to be a problem because at the start of the game you play a dull and drab character, one of the great unwashed who leads a life that is special only because it is so drab. However, this dreary lifestyle is shattered by the discovery of a murder.
Perhaps this single event can be the beginning of the re-awakening, an event so horrible that only a 'real' person would want to discover why? and who? To be a 'real' person (only real personages are allowed into the Pleasuredome) you must prove your worth by making the most of the opportunities presented to you in your drab world of terraced houses and Radio One disc jockeys. But the terraced houses of today ie filled with elements of the world, television and, of course, murder. Within the drab ordinary houses you are offered the means to escape to the Pleasuredome.
Throughout the game you control a character (not Frankie, he has already been to the Pleasuredome) which can be made to walk through doorways and so into houses and rooms, and can also be made to reach out and touch objects. This reaching action is later extended in some of the games to a firing action. At most times the player is able to call up an inventory of the items collected so that they may be used if the situation demands. A bottle of milk can be collected and later given to a cat for instance; a key can be kept in the same way. The inventory is displayed on a sub-screen, which opens out rather like the iris of your eye to reveal a window in the main screen; a hand within the window can be moved about until it is positioned over the object required.
Whenever you do something tremendous, like feeding the cat, another window will open onto the screen giving Frankie's latest opinion on your performance in the form of pleasure points and an indication as to how much of a 'real' person you have become.
While you explore the houses you must touch the objects within. The touching action can open everyday items like chests, fridges and cupboards. Inside a fridge you may find a kipper or a floppy disc, these objects can be added to your inventory for future use but the number of items that can be carried is limited. You may find yourself forced to choose what to keep and what to get rid of. By touching other objects like a television or phone, you can sometimes open a doorway onto another level, when another type of 'window' opens on the main screen. If you decide to accept the challenge then move the character into the sub-screen, and it will expend to fill the whole screen and your character will be in a new location.
There are a number of mini-games incorporated into the main one, which are of a pretty simple format and are accessed by stepping into them. You may only have to bounce a pleasure pill through a tiny hole, or control Reagan while he spits at Andropov over a break out-type wall. One game takes the form of a jigsaw puzzle; another requires you to solve a complex maze, yet another sub game requires you defend Liverpool by shooting German bombers as they fly over Merseyside.
For some sub-games you will need acquired objects, and in that sense there is a very strong adventure element. Pleasure points are awarded if you do well in the mini games, but if you lose or even decline to play at all by not walking into a windowed gamelet, then your pleasure rating will take a tumble. Failing to complete an element of the main game does not spell the end. This is a perpetual game - you will always get another chance because although you may have activated all of the 'events' in one room, sooner or later you will be able to go back and activate another, perhaps different event. The only problem that you will have to be wary of is using an object in an inappropriate place - if you do, you lose it and it may be some time before you will be able to replace it.
The game has many subtle features that can be easily missed. Associating the bottle of milk and the cat is one of the more obvious means of scoring some extra pleasure points. The intention of the player must be the achieve enough personality points to get to the Pleasuredome; only by doing good, playing and winning the games against evil and by solving the puzzles can you hope to qualify. Apart from the frequent reports from Frankie you can keep a check on your performance by looking at the four-bar graph on the side of the screen which shows how much of the pleasure equation you have managed to fulfil.
The game comes complete with an audio cassette which incorporates a new idea called Datatune. The player loads the game and then plays the audio cassette which will have music and a voice over describing how the game is played. Other music, a lot of it previously unpublished is included on the 'B' side.
COMMENTS
Control keys: definable
Joystick: any
Keyboard play: probably better than using a joystick
Use of colour: excellent once you accept the attribute problems
Graphics: very imaginative, excellent
Sound: limited but nice opening tune
Skill levels: one
Lives: no limit
Screens: over 124 mind-boggling locations
At last, the long awaited Frankie game has arrived and it has been worth the wait. Even though it so happened my copy had little in the way of instructions I found the game pretty easy to get into; it is a very playable game. The graphics are, as we have come to expect from Denton Designs, very good with plenty of attention paid to detail. I especially liked the room with Reagan and Andropov spitting at each other. The sound is limited to spot effects and a neat version of 'Two Tribes' before the game starts. Frankie looks set to be one of the best games this year with plenty of games and puzzles within the main game. I think it's immense fun to play and very addictive - a sure winner.
When I first loaded the game I was a little disappointed. The actual screens area is pretty small for the opening scenes of the game and the main character clashes a great deal with the background. However, after only a short time at the keyboard I grew to love the mystery of it all. I must confess to being anything but a Frankie fan even though some of the music appeals. I thought I would have a hard time understanding the game. Well I did, not because I don't understand the music it's simply that the game is very deep. What appears, at first sight, to be just a graphically neat game has a great deal under the skin and I am looking forward to being able to spend more time playing it. Great.' .
Fun doesn't begin to describe this experience. The initial impression is quickly bolstered by the seemingly never ending stream of new events. I have had the benefit of playing the game without the full instructions, it took ages to get an understanding of even the most elementary parts of the game but I don't resent a moment. The fun I have had just exploring it and enjoying the surprises that are waiting round every TV set! I understand that the game is to come with verbal instructions on tape, my advice is to throw it away (well at least don't put it on), JUST RELAX AND DO IT.
| Use of Computer | 93% |
|---|---|
| Graphics | 94% |
| Playability | 93% |
| Getting Started | 95% |
| Addictive Qualities | 94% |
| Value For Money | 94% |
| Overall | 94% |
THE BIG BANG!
Pssst. Hey, you. Wanna become a hundred per cent real person? No, this ain't no jibe. Peter Shaw and Louise Cook welcome you to the Pleasuredome to talk it over...
Welcome to the Pleasuredome, says Ocean, and you're welcome to try it, says us. Frankie may go to Hollywood, but here in Mundanesville life ain't so easy for the like of Lenny Lowscore.
Picture downtown Liverpoole, a downmarket version of Brookside Close, those typical Beatlesque back-to-backs - this is your lot in life, being a zilcho percent person. Wouldn't you find the Pleasuredome an irresistible temptation? So along comes Flash Frank, passing the pleasure pills and taunting you to trade in your UB40 for a life of leisure. And what do you have to do? Frank would pass your task off as simple, but where do you start, Lenny Lowscore?
Having been trained in the Merseyside Mothers + Toddlers Muggers Association, you're already clued up on the finer points of breaking and entering.
Once inside the trraced treasure-trove, there's lotsa goodies for the taking - including those pleasure pills Frankie promised. Although most of the doors are already open, Tricia Tenant has left some handy keys around for those that aren't. Check out the kitchen, and amongst the clutter you'll see such delights as milk, fish and floppy disks. Not too exciting - but hang on to them, Frankie works in mysterious ways.
You've got a long journey ahead of you - don't overdose on the Pleasure pills, once your supply has run out you'll be lucky to find a pusher in Mundanesville. Relax Lenny Lowscore - those politically-hyped-arcade-games aren't just a fantasy of the pill popping antics - you've got to do well to prove yourself as a real person.
Once you're street wise enough, Frankie presents you with a game of psuedo-Cluedo. Miss Mundane lies dead in the sitting room, killed by an unknown object by an unknown person - solve that one Lenny, you'll need to to become a real person - remember!
Lust + Fear + Love + Faith x Frankie = a tough task for Lenny. Don't relax - got to it!
Publisher: Ocean
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Sinclair, Cursor, Kempston
A shadow stalks the cloned terraces of monotonous streets. You are that shadow. You will remain a shadow unless you reach the Pleasure Dome, the world within the world within the world in which you live.
Who can take you to the Pleasure Dome? Frankie can. Move your shadow through the screens of kitchens, lounges, dereliction and prissy suburban streets, collecting what may help. Floppy disks open worlds of arcade fantasy where aircraft bomb Liverpool, where only you can save the lives of your friends. There's a murder to be solved; eight suspects - where's the clue? in a revolting pair of socks perhaps, but there are many entrances to the Pleasure Dome.
Screens explode with colour as windows open out onto new scenes - walk the shadow from behind and step into the frame, step into pleasure. Shoot Thatcher, watch Reagan and Gorbachev spit at each other. Once in the Dome you're no longer a shadow, but there's a dozen or more scenarios within the game, and four symbols to collect before you reach the centre.
Text intrudes slightly in the form of clues - 'the sea of holes is a sea of rooms' - triggered by the successful completion of problems. You must recognise the alternative possibilities of ordinary objects - light switches, telephones, televisions - and experiment.
Faithful to the spirit of the band, if necessarily less outrageous, Frankie is a beautiful program, an adventure of great imagination, with some superb programming techniques in the use of expanding windows and icon-like objects to pick up and use. The screen shots shown here are from a pre-release version, but they give some indication of the quality.
The game comes with a 15 minute live version of Relax supplied on a separate cassette, recorded in the States and previously unreleased. The reverse side of this tape features playing tips for the game, narrated by Patrick Allen.
Symbols x Shadow = Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Frankie x Spectrum = Buy it.
| Overall | 5/5 |
|---|
Ocean
£9.95
It's been a long time arriving but was it worth the wait?
This program is unusual in its creation, not just a simple matter of licencing the name but an actual joint venture between all interested parties. The end result shows what this kind of cooperation can produce - it's brilliant!
The concept bears a vague resemblance to Deus Ex Machina but the implementation is totally unique. You control, via the keyboard or joystick, a large, well animated human figure and move from screen to screen through entrances and exits. Whilst in a location you can raise your arm to waist or head height to touch and examine objects. If you touch something a 'window' opens on the screen which gives you information about what you are touching, what is there and/or how many pleasure points you gain and your percentage 'real person' score. The various parts that make this up are shown graphically at the bottom right of the screen.
When the window is open, and if there are objects there, a movable hand points to them and by pressing 'fire' they can be taken. To use carried, objects you have access to your inventory window at any time, and can use the hand to select the object and use it by pressing 'fire'. Icon graphics are used very successfully for this section.
Built into the program are several arcade style sections, and there are over 60 problems to solve, including a whodunnit murder mystery, raid over Merseyside and shooting gallery sequence. The packaging is excellent and the game itself is easy to get started and is probably the most addictive that I've ever played.
We have decided that we are going to extend our rating system with a special six star award for programs which we consider to be state of the art in one way or another. Frankie gets it! (and so should you).
| Graphics | 5/5 |
|---|---|
| Addictiveness | 5/5 |
| Overall | 6/6 |
Arcade magic based on the Liverpool pop group, and full of the style and symbolism of their music. The object-to become 100 percent human and earn the ultimate pleasure experience. -
In the meantime, wander through Mundanesville, collecting objects from the houses which open doors into the pleasure dome. In the pleasure dome, play mini-arcade games based on the group's hit singles. See Reagan spit at Andropov, shoot Thatcher and Scargill, solve a murder mystery - and you've still not seen half of the action.
included with the game is a version of the hit single Relax. This is one spin-off which really does work.
All information in this page is provided by ZXSR instead of ZXDB