Producer: Quicksilva
Retail Price: £9.95
Author: Binary Design

Max Headroom has been kidnapped from Big Time Television by Network 23 to feature exclusively on their new Videvert Show. You must assist top TV reporter Edison Carter and his controller Theora Jones rescue the Max Personality from Network 23's, vast computer, concealed within their huge 211 floor building. Naturally Network 23 are going all out to stop this byway of a series of elaborate seucurity systems.

Theora has a 'Maxhunter' program which should hopefully help Edison break into these security systems.

First he must gain control of the lifts so he can gain access to the Executive floors in the building. This is achieved by short circuiting the LED code in the lift, which comes in the form of a 7 segment digital display. A time limit is imposed on this code cracking during which the segments gradually lose their brightness. If at the end of the time Omit an 'E' is left illuminated then you have cracked the code and Theora has gained control of the lifts and Edison Carter can continue with his mission.

Edison is now on the Executive levels of Network 23's skyscraper. But before he can continue he must break the codes on this level so that Theora can gain control of the camera systems, and lifts and also gain access to the offices on the Executive floors. The security system flashes a sequence of lights and plays a corresponding tune which muct be remembered and the sequence entered in reverse. Failure at this makes the search of the Executive floors much harder because Theora can't use the security cameras to check for security guards and robots.

Edison has now managed to find his way to the Presidential floor. Before he can enter this level (where Max is being held captive) he must break the Presidential code. For security reasons only the President of Network 23 holds this code. However this eight digit hexadecimal code has been split into four 2- digit components. Edison must find the four separate parts of the hexadecimal digits to crack the code. The chances of guessing the code are estimated at several billion to one, say Network 23.

However once Edison is on the Presidential suite he still has to rescue Max from the computer lab, and this involves breaking more codes. Even after Max has been rescued the game doesn't really end until they are outside the building.

The whole mission is against the clock - you only have six hours in which to assist Edison and Theora rescue Max. Apart from racing against time, you also have Edison's confidence levels to contend with. He starts the game with 99% self confidence, but as he is jostled and bumped by the security robots, who shoot at anything that moves, this level gradually drops until he dies. This % is shown on a chart at the bottom of the screen. Edison's confidence levels can be restored by allowing him brief rests but you lose time if you do this too often. Apart from the security guards and robots, Breughel and Mahler, the two sinister and thoroughly amoral assassins hired by Network 23 to kill Edison, are also out and about. Watch out for messages from Theora concerning the whereabouts of this gruesome pair.

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2, Cursor
Keyboard play: a little disorientating at first
Use of colour: code sequences might make mono telly play a bit difficult, but otherwise colour is well used
Graphics: detailed, smooth, generally good
Sound: average to good
Skill levels: one
Screens: over 200

The plot is great, the graphics are great, the game is fantastic. Before I saw Max Headroom I was puzzled at what Quicksilva would base the game on, but they have thought up a brilliant plot with instructions that set the atmosphere before you've even seen the game - just reading them got me intrigued and made me want to start playing immediately. The game follows on from the film very fluently, and is very similar to the film in look and drama. The only minor bad thing is that most of the floors are the same (but we can forgive them for that, there are over two hundred of them!). The ending is... well, I'd better keep quiet about that. Max Headroom could start a new branch of arcade/adventures from his game, with lots of detailed graphics, neat little tunes, a few adventure elements, icons, codes - what I'm trying to say, is this game's got the lot. One of my favourite games this year. This is one game that's worth it's above average price: it's an above average game.

Help! It's probably me and my little brain, but I'm not half finding Edison Carter's job hard. The instructions are pleasantly readable, and attractively presented, but could be a little more revealing. Its going to keep me occupied for quite a bit of time, but if it wasn't for the CRASH preview, I'd probably have be come bored trying to work out what I was doing wrong. For ten quid, it's good value for money, and the graphics are pretty neat, but I can't play it well enough to give it that little spark of addictivity that would push it to top notch. Leave it with me for two, three weeks and maybe I'll start enjoying it a bit more. Despite that, it's still pretty good.

I was really looking forward to playing this one as I am a great fan of the film and the series, after my first go I was very confused but not disappointed. Graphically there is nothing revolutionary contained within this one but it is quite neat, the green stick characters walk around smoothly and the code screens are colourful. I enjoyed playing this original game as there is plenty to do, but I can imagine it getting a little boring in the end as all of the floors are virtually the same.

Quicksilva
£9.95

Hello. You're going to read lots of reviews of this game by people pretending to be Max Headroom - stuttering a lot, talking about golf shoes, that sort of thing. Well, I'm not. You see, my name's Bryce and I invented Headroom. I also invented an electronic parrot. It squawks.

For some reason everybody seems most impressed with Headroom, even though he's just a box full of wires and a stolen personality. Edison Carter, the guy I stole the personality from, is the only one who isn't too thrilled. He wants his personality back and he's willing to resort to theft so steps have been taken. The floors of the Channel 23 building are now patrolled by robot guards. And if that wasn't nasty enough I've brought my trigger-happy employees Breugel and Mahler out of retirement.

Carter will try though. But first he has to master the lift, typing in code letters and numbers on a seven bar matrix which is as simple as the ones in a digital watch but seems to cause humans of average intelligence no end of trouble. There's also another code, a not-so-simple Simon in reverse, to take control of a floor.

Once Carter is free to run around the Executive Level he's going to search the ten floors for bits of a hexadecimal code that are hidden in the offices. You see how futile his task is? With my robot guards to dodge and time ticking away he doesn't stand a chance, even if he has mastered the security cameras and computers to warn him of the whereabouts of the patrols. He'll even waste time resting in the rooms just to recover a little strength.

If he manages to find the four pairs of digits - and I doubt he'll get that far - he can enter the Presidential suite on the 211th floor and get the master code that'll take him to my lab where he'll find Max. I believe he has to be in the basement by 6am to meet Theora, his controller. I hope she's prepared for a long wait because I've got a nasty little surprise waiting for him!

I will admit a sneaking regard for the games designers at Quicksilva though. Their visual displays are rather good and though the codes aren't too difficult to break it can get quite frantic running around searching offices and waiting for lifts - which is always quite bad enough without armed thugs on your trail. And they promise a special reward for those who reach the basement before the deadline - a moving, talking Max on a home micro, created without my help! Now that I would like to see? Perhaps I'd better play the game again. Now how do I create the letter E on this matrix?

Publisher: Quicksilva
Programmers: Binary Design
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Sinclair, Kempston, cursor

To: Sinclair User
ID: 919995924
Subject: Max Headroom

I have received the Maxhunter cassette from Quicksilva. I am instructed to recover the Max personality module from the Network offices. It contains his missing brain circuits and, until it is safely back with Max, the robotic video star will be unable to stutter through his show.

The building has 211 floors which makes it a daunting task to search. However, instructions provided with the cassette indicate that only the top 11 floors are of any significance. All floors are currently under the control of Tim Bryce, head of research, via the Network computer. Security systems abound, and it is necessary to break the codes before access to the appropriate floors can be achieved.

The first problem is the lift. I shall attempt to decipher the instructions for operating this and report back when I achieve progress.

By the way, what is my expense account clearance for this operation?

From: Review agent 'Lunchbreaks' Bourne

To: Sinclair User
ID: 919995924
Subject: Room graphics

Each floor has an identical layout of rooms, but different furniture is put into each for the sake of visual variety. In fact, you can do nothing with the furniture anyway, it is only there for show.

The floor is spread over about six screens with a Nightshade-style perspective - the walls are lines on the floor. I control a green stick-like figure which runs about. Since level 76 is beyond my control, I cannot enter the rooms at all.

Meanwhile, I am pursued by two robot guards who shoot at me. Their bullets seem to do little damage, which is recorded as a percentage at the bottom of the screen. At present I am on 98 percent and feeling confident. This is not a true reflection of my own emotions, but let it pass.

I make it to the other side of the room. There are six icons beside the main area of the screen and I am currently using the move icon. I switch to the lift icon and call it. After a few seconds the lift arrives and I play the little lift game again. Success! The lift moves up to floor 200 and dumps me onto the first of the main levels.

How am I supposed to obtain counter-signed receipts for expenses when I'm being pursued by robots? Be reasonable, Scolding.

From Review agent 'Lunchbreaks' Bourne

To: Sinclair User
ID: 919995924
Subject: Lift operation

Floors are accessed from the lift. However, only floors 200 to 211 can be controlled by the player, and even then the correct codes must be entered. The display conforms to standard LCD calculator digits. Floor 200 is accessed by the letter E and the appropriate segments of the display must be lit to form that letter.

Using the joystick to move a pointer along a row of circuit lines, I am able to activate the various segments. However, each segment remains lit for only a limited period, and I must continually recharge each one. It's no good just lighting up the whole E once - the letter must be lit when the time limit on this operation runs out.

The first attempt fails and the lift, out of control, deposits me on floor 76. This is of no use to anyone.

There are two lift shafts in the building, and to re-enter the lift I must use the other shaft each time. That means crossing the room which is guarded by unfriendly security robots. I shall report on the room graphics as soon as you answer my queries on expenses.

From: Review agent 'Lunchbreaks' Bourne

To: Sinclair User
ID:919995924
Subject: Code search

Once in room 200 I have to gain control of the floor. One of the icons allows me to play the code game. First I set an icon at the bottom to the required floor number, in this case 200. I then select the code game icon. A sequence of flashing lights is displayed against a picture of a chip. I must enter these lights in reverse order to gain access to all the rooms on that floor.

The lights are swift but, fortified by my success with the lift, I have no trouble entering the sequence.

More robots seek to destroy me, and when they get close they do a lot of damage. The robots cannot follow me into rooms, however, so I take refuge in one and hit the rest icon. That allows me to regain energy at the expense of time - the whole mission must be completed within six hours.

As each room is entered, it is searched for elements of the special code to the president's office. As these are found they are recorded on the display - there are four such codes hidden over floors 200 to 209. Since they have different positions in each game search is a repetitive and time-consuming job.

I find no codes on floor 200 and proceed to the lift. The codes for the other floors are provided in the instructions - they consist of the final digits of the number, 1 being the code for floor 201, and so on. The presidential office, however, cannot be entered unless the complete series of codes has been entered, and the laboratory, where the Max module is kept, can be entered only with information gained from the president's office.

Since you are being so stubborn about expenses, I am terminating the mission at this point and will report back with my impressions in person.

From: Review agent 'Lunchbreaks' Bourne

To: The Publishers
ID: 666
Subject: The Lunchbreaks Report

Agent Lunchbreaks was debriefed under sodium pentothal according to EMAP Review Policy, clause 4c. He praised the general presentation of the Max Headroom game and believes the concepts to be original and interesting. He was particularly impressed by the lift game, which is both difficult and unusual.

The graphical representation of rooms is good, but becomes tedious after the complex instructions for entering them are understood. The fact that 199 floors out of 211 are completely useless to the game is a substantial criticism.

We understand that if the game is finally completed, a special message from Max with speech and animation can be loaded from side two of the cassette. That is a bonus but the amount of repetitive work to be done before completing the game is boring.

Lunchbreaks is sure the game will appeal to many fans of Max, but points out that it could have been much more challenging by more intricate use of the code systems. As it is, all the difficult bits occur at the beginning when the player tries to understand the control systems. Once they are mastered the rest of the play holds little variety.

Luunchbreaks appears to have made a good recovery from his experiences in the Network offices. However, his extravagant attitude to company funds leads me to recommend that we terminate this agent's contract at the first available opportunity.

From: Case officer Scolding

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Quicksilva
PRICE: £9.95

Well just as C+VG was closing for press this month guess who should turn up? None other than the long-awaited Max Headroom from Quicksilva. Glad you could make it, Max

This is a quick preview of the game. Time and printers will not wait for reviews.

The story revolves around investigative reporter Edison Carter's attempts to rescue Max Headroom where he is imprisoned on the top floor of Network TV 210 storey building.

The only way to reach the Max personality is by lift. But to get anywhere Edison has to crack various access codes.

Carter is also helped by the Maxhunter program which has been "injected" into the buildings computer. This gives him various information and, by mean of icon-style controls around the A screen, allows him to call lifts, gain access to computer, and scan for guards. These guards will hunt you down when you move around the floor.

While not graphically brilliant, Max Headroom could turn out to be a challenging game. Stay tuned for more news.

Quicksilva
£9.95

Max is a supposedly computer generated character featured in a TV show. Initially there was a futuristic adventure film which then developed into a cult music video series.

Now Max has actually become a "real' computer character but it is not just a computer version of the joking personality with a RAM defect as seen on the TV, but a full game related to the original adventure.

The Max Module which generates the personality has been kidnapped by Network 23, the company originally responsible for creating him, and stored in the computer lab. You have to get it back from their high security building.

I loaded the game and read the accompanying instructions, these take the form of six memos and each gives hints on how to accomplish your task. I re-read them and felt I had an idea of what to do. How wrong can you be! The first part is to enter a code in the lift to get to the floor of your choice. I spent the next twenty minutes going up and down in the lift totally out of control. In between I had to run a gauntlet of vicious robots to get from one side of the room to the other side because you can only use alternative lifts.

I literally spent hours trying to solve the first problem, and it says much for the game that I never wanted to give up. I can only relate it to trying to hack into on unknown system, extremely frustrating but compelling.

The graphics were very good, the action screen being in a 3D perspective with fast, well animated characters. There is a system of icons down each side of the screen which added to the number of permutations of actions and to my confusion level.

Using the various controls is easy and playing either by joystick or keyboard is quick to master, the keys used are well selected and easy to get used to. This is not a game for the mindless 'zapper' although it seems to have a good set of fast challenging arcade screens. I forecast that a spate of helplines and hints and tips for this game will be appearing in magazines in a very short while!

A fantastically frustrating and annoyingly addictive game.