Producer: Phipps Associates
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.95
Language: Machine code

Killer Knight sounds adventurish, especially coming from Phipps Associates, who are noted for their adventures, but in fact this is an arcade game, indeed, a thinly disguised 'Donkey Kong'. The scenario has you whipped back in time through some fault in the space/time continuum, hand in hand with your girlfriend. A wicked knight comes up out of the blue, so to speak, and kidnapped your girl, taking her to the top of his castle. You decide to climb up and rescue her while the knight rolls barrels down at you. There are also 3 or 4 holes in each of the four floors which must be jumped. If you fall through your man doubles up in pain and succumbs. A green umbrella sits on the ground floor beyond the first ladder, and this may be used once to help break a fall.

COMMENTS

Control keys: 6/7 jump/walk left, 8/9 walk/jump right
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: very responsive
Colour: average
Graphics: small, but neat and reasonable
Sound: continuous, good
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 4
Screens: 3

It's a pity the instructions are contained in the first part of the load, although the control keys are repeated between any game, as one never seems to remember all the detail. The graphics are very bright and clean. The layout of the first screen is quite simple, the ground and four floors being connected by ladders at either end in a zigzag formation. Control of your man is nice and simple and he moves very positively, automatically climbing ladders as soon as he touches them. A fast game, and a worthy addition to the Kongs.

You must be precise in jumping the barrels, , and mastering this takes some time. A nasty programming trick is the automatic climbing of ladders. While this certainly saves a control key, I found that if you still have a walk key pressed when he reaches the top, he falls over the edge of the floor to his death! Getting the umbrella was difficult at first because it's located beyond a ladder, and the man goes up it as soon as he reaches the ladder. The trick was to get one character from the ladder and then jump across its base. I didn't see the second screen. This is a hard game.

The graphics are quite good, although rather small, and I liked the continuous sound. This 'Kong' type game is above average, it's very fast and difficult. Its difficulty makes it rather addictive.

A killer knight has captured your companion, so naturally it's your duty to carry out a rescue. Unfortunately, KK is not above doing everything in his power to stop you reaching the tower...

Dilwyn: For some reason I expected this to be a text-only adventure, when actually it's a machine code graphic arcade game. I didn't go for the choice of keys - but then it's also possible to use a Kempston joystick. 7/10


Ieuan: A 12th century blend of Donkey Kong and Digger. It's quite fast, indeed sometimes too fast. The knight moves and sounds like a cricket, and I also found that jumping slows down the graphics. 7/10

Gerralt: Only a highest score is shown onscreen - you're not even given the satisfaction of seeing your name in lights! 7/10

Producer: Phipps Associates, 48K
£5.95 (2)

This, despite its name, is a 'Kong' game. Only here it is an evil black knight who has kidnapped your girlfriend. In all respects it plays like a 'Kong' game with barrels to jump, holes to jump, ladders to climb and so on. There is an umbrella to be used once per life or screen to help brake a fall through a hole. The jumping action is highly finicky and difficult to time and unfair where there are three barrels in a row to be jumped. Graphics are small although bright and clean looking, but not much use of colour. An above average, difficult game, but in the end not very playable for long. 3 screens, 4 lives, 1 skill level. Overall CRASH rating 64% m/c.

Apart from Krazy Kong, this is the only version with a loading screen picture. The game lts.It is a variation on the Kong theme - rescue your girl from the clutches of the evil black knight. There's the usual barrels and holes to jump and ladders to cli mb. Also a handy Umbrella to break and accidental fail (once). Th. game is very fast. probably the fastest of the 104. but the graphics are rather small and Colourless. Jumping is sudden and control generally it difficult due to speed and poor keyboard layout. Ladder climbing is automatic, so there's no going back' This lea difficult game to play (riot a bad thing). but with its uninspiring graphics and lsck of playabilIty, i didn't really enjoy it.
CP

I found Killer Knlçtit yy difficult to play because jump control is very difficult. I know lye said the same boul the Anirog Kong and Kifl.c Kong. but here thre seem9 to be no ‘fear to the lump, perhaps because if happens so qUickly, Poor Sound and even worse colour drops this game's value. I also get the feeling this is compiled mic - the poor block graphics with urunter.stlng iJDGs make it not worth considering iI you are alter a real Kong game.
MU

NO ESCAPING ALIEN TRAP

Memory: 48K
Price: £5.95

If you suffer from feelings of being trapped with nowhere to go, Loony Zoo, produced by Phipps Associates, is not calculated to offer relief. The storyline is that while surveying another planet, you have been captured by its vastly superior inhabitants and put into one of their zoos, together with various other alien specimens.

It is possible to escape by jumping from ledge to ledge to reach the door pressure-pad located at the top of the screen. It will let you into another cage with new and more menacing inmates, and another, and another. More than likely, however, you will not need to worry about the next cage as you will find it extremely difficult to get out of the first.

In spite of its relatively simple graphics and slow pace, Loony Zoo manages to be infuriatingly addictive, especially if you enjoy a challenge to your reflexes.

In a similar vein from Phipps Associates is Killer Knight, in which, because of a freak time-slip, an evil knight has dragged away your girl friend whom you must try to rescue. The medieval trappings cannot disguise the basic Kong pattern.

The hero's flea-like hopping movements are novel but otherwise the difficulty of getting very far into the game without starting again, and the fact that it is possible to notch a high score by running back and forth along the bottom level, make it slightly inferior to some variations on theme.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
JOYSTICK: Kempston, Optional
CATEGORY: Arcade
SUPPLIER: Phipps Associate
PRICE: £5.95

Don't be fooled by the cassette cover. This is merely another version of Kong, and a lousy one at that. This time you have a knight rolling cannonballs.

The game's graphics, like the knight, appear to have come straight from the middle ages.

Killer Knight - Phipps Associates, 48K Spectrum - thinly disguises a Kong-type game with medieval trappings. The player must climb from platform to platform, using ladders and avoiding rolling objects. Beginners will find it difficult to progress very far, while experienced players will soon realise that a high score can be obtained simply by running back and forth along the bottom level.