Producer: Lotus-Soft
Memory Required: 416
Recommended Retail Price: £4.95
Language: machine code

Non-sexist games are becoming the rage it seems, although none of us could make up our minds whether having a side for men and a side for women makes a game non-sexist. In any case, Lord Harry has had a spot too much to drink whilst staying the night at his old school chum's house, and now he wakes up in the morning a little the worse for wear and trying to find a way out of the four ornate gardens. Should you feel strongly about it you can load the other side of the tape and hey-presto, it's Lady Harriet who finds herself in the identical situation.

THIS IS WHAT YOU DO

Using the four directional keys, Lord Harry walks, or rather trots, round the garden eating mushrooms to keep up his strength. The garden has four gates, each of which leads into one of the other three gardens. They each have a different layout. He can't go through the trees or hedges, and there are numerous pools of water dotted about in which you lose a life if you hit them. In addition two guard dogs are on the prowl, trying to pick up his scent, and finally in one of the gardens is a poisonous mushroom. The instructions say that if you eat it you have 99 seconds to find the exit, which should be flashing, although none of us saw a flashing gate.

To make life difficult, the inebriated Lord keeps on the move once you have pressed a key, so he can be damned difficult to control in a tight spot and Lady Harriet has the same sense of aristocratic dash about her.

GENERAL

The keyboard positions are well laid out, with left/right on alternate keys of the bottom row, down is all keys on the second row, and up all the keys on the third row. 1 starts a game, 3 and 4 hold and restart, 0 quits.

COMMENTS

Keyboard positions: well laid out
Joystick options: none - needs programmable joystick
Keyboard play: made difficult because of the constant movement but very responsive
Use of colour: very good
Sound: continuous but average
Skill levels: one
Lives: five

This game has the same instant visual attractions as Hungry Horace, but the lack of skill levels, or increasingly difficult mazes, limits its addictivity a little.

There is a good use of colour and Lord Harry is nicely animated. A pity the guard dogs aren't. They just slide about, but their shapes are well drawn.

More of a frustrating game than anything else, and one for those with nimble fingers.

I get the feeling that this is aimed more at younger children than the hardened arcade addict, and at that level it is attractive, and reasonably difficult to play.'

Producer: Lotus-Soft, 16K
£4.95 (1)
Author: Derek Jones

The title indicates that if you want a lady hero you can load side 2 instead of side 1 for Lord Harry. The inebriated Lord is lost in his friends ornate garden the morning after the night before. He must wander round, eating mushrooms to keep alive, whilst trying to find the secret exit. There are four interlinked gardens all full of puddles and trees in addition to mushrooms. The trees bar his way, the puddles lose a life - and to make matters worse there are two guard dogs chasing around after him. In one of the gardens there is a poisonous mushroom which, if Lord Harry eats it, is the end of him unless he finds the exit within 99 seconds. Reasonably well laid out control keys, attractive use of colour, but perhaps more aimed at the younger player rather than the arcade freak. Joystick: Kempston. Good value for money, overall CRASH rating 63% M/C.

Producer: Lotus-Soft, 16K
£4.95 (1)
Author: Derek Jones

The title indicates that if you want a lady hero you can load side 2 instead of side 1 for Lord Harry. The inebriated Lord is lost in his friends ornate garden the morning after the night before. He must wander round, eating mushrooms to keep alive, whilst trying to find the secret exit. There are four interlinked gardens all full of puddles and trees in addition to mushrooms. The trees bar his way, the puddles lose a life - and to make matters worse there are two guard dogs chasing around after him. In one of the gardens there is a poisonous mushroom which, if Lord Harry eats it, is the end of him unless he finds the exit within 99 seconds. Reasonably well laid out control keys, attractive use of colour, but perhaps more aimed at the younger player rather than the arcade freak. Joystick: Kempston. Good value for money, overall CRASH rating 63% M/C.

MACHINE: Spectrum 16/48K
JOYSTICK: Optional
SUPPLIER: Lotus Soft
PRICE: £5.50

For those who find Pac-Man or Horace just too vulgar for words this aristocratic variation could provide welcome relief.

The game has an amusing scenario which is matched by pleasant graphics and smooth animation.

A certain Lord Harry has been spending the weekend with his old school chum Dennis. An excessive consumption of claret has led the drunken lord to take a nap in the park on Sunday night. Now it's Monday morning and Harry has to get to the House of Lords for an important debate on home brewing.

This park, though, is confusing. It has four sections, each with four gates. Two vicious guard dogs roam this maze, looking for upper-class meat. Scattered throughout the gardens are mushrooms which Harry must eat to maintain his energy. Pools of water are also a mortal danger to the inebriated peer.

The game begins with a title-page display of a dapper Harry with his top-hat, opera cloak and cane. In the actual game the hat is flattened and Harry is an altogether more down-at-heel figure.

Harry jogs around the gardens eating the mushrooms and hoping to find the poisoned one which will reveal the whereabouts of the secret exit. Until he does, he must dodge the green trees, avoid the ponds and run from the dogs.

Movement is very smooth and the graphics, without being spectacular, are pretty and colourful. A bonus is that if you don't want to be a male you can have a sex-change merely by turning over the tape, Lord Harry is transformed into Lady Harriet.