Producer: Pulsonic
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £2.99
Language: BASIC
Author: Andrew Bond

Harry Goes Home is a poor man's version of Ian Andrew's game Mined-Out. Mined-Out, however, was a very clever game. Harry Goes Home is less so. The object is to get Harry to his front door safely. He must cross a blank screen sowed with hidden mines, collecting his door key on the way. If he does get home, the next screen has more mines.

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursors
Joystick: Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: slow
Use of colour: very poor
Graphics: very poor
Sound: Very poor
Skill levels: more mines on subsequent screen

Mined-Out used a mine proximity indicator system which turned that game into one of clear and logical thinking, and then added many other complexities. In this one you also have an indicator at the top of the screen which tells whether there is a mine for more) beside you. In this sense Harry is a copy of Mined-Out. But not in the graphics, which are small, undetailed, jerky and very slow because of the BASIC.

This game is the sort of thing one would have expected in the very earliest days of the Spectrum - or even the ZX81 come to that. It might do for the younger player, but no one else will be very interested. Quite honestly I'm surprised this game requires 48K. The game is a good idea, but that's not the programmers, and the implementation is far, far below the standard we expect today.

A good spatial and early logic game for 4 for 8 year olds. For anyone else - rubbish. The colours are pretty dreadful too.

Memory: 48K
Price: £2.95

An ingenious idea saves Harry Goes Home from Pulsonic from being altogether negligible. Written in Basic, the program features primitive graphics and slow action but it provides an absorbing game which calls for some fine strategic thinking.

Harry has for some reason to cross a minefield, picking up a key on his way, to enter his house.

The mines are not shown but at the top of the screen after each move is a report telling you whether there are one, two or no mines beside Harry.

With care and forethought, it is possible to pick one's way through the mines but getting Harry home leads only to another more difficult screen with more mines.

At the end of each screen, you can press a key to see where the hidden mines were. You are also told how many moves you made before reaching home or being blown up.

Clear presentation adds appeal to a simple game which makes good use of the response potential of the computer.