Producer: Gremlin Graphics
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Chris Kerry

Metabolis features a rather fierce and brave bird, both on the loading screen and on the inlay. The character within the game is a creature of different stuff, it's something more akin to a little Finch, all sweet and cuddly.

The story has it that the invading Kremins have transformed the human race into a variety of little creatures. You have been turned into a man brained bird (from a bird brained man?) by these evil aliens. It is your duty to destroy these evil beings. First of all you must recover a serum that will restore you to your natural self, find the wizard who will cure your heart, weakened by the transformation, and then destroy the Kremins. The destruction of these despicable beings can only be brought on by a nuclear explosion so find nuclear fuel pods, take them to the reactor room and run/fly like hell.

The game area consists of a highly complex maze, about 150 screens large. As you fly around the maze you meet a variety of different creatures most of whom are pretty harmless. Some, like the starfish will kill on contact. If you have an encounter with a Kremin your energy will be sapped so it's best to stay out of reach: that calls for some agility. Beware of the many traps, like the one ton weight which will flatten, but not kill you. Your heart is a constant source of trouble and you will die unless you can keep yourself topped up with the angina pills. As your energy is sapped by the evil invaders a picture of a little bird gradually turns into a skeleton as you weaken. To reverse the trend you must find food and grow fat again. A little red heart will begin to flash when the strain is becoming too much hurry and find some more pills before it's too late. Don't despair it's not all bad news, you do have a weapon - a boomerang - if you can find it.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/W left/right, O for up and K to fire
Joystick: Kempston or Sinclair
Keyboard play: good
Use of colour: wide and varied, carefully used
Graphics: not state of the art, but very attractive
Sound: poor
Skill levels: one
Lives: one, but can be extended
Screens: 150

This is a very original game. I found it very entertaining and addictive. The movement of the character takes a little getting used to. Unfortunately the sound is not very good - it could have been a lot better. The graphics are well up to the Gremlin standard, as smooth as ever. Maze and mapping freaks shouldn't pass this over.

The animation of the main character is fantastic: when he flies it's just great. Somewhere in the maze you will come across a one ton weight. If the birdbloke gets hit by it he gets flattened and has to walk around with a very odd shaped body, until he later fills out, but he still manages a grin meantime. There is a wealth of original design in this game, and some of the areas are very attractive indeed. A highly addictive game that promises to be a lot of fun.

I have been a little slow to appreciate this game. At first sight it looked very ordinary. It wasn't long before I realised what a lovely game this is. The bird is superb, the rooms within the maze are fantastic, one genuinely can't wait to see what's round the next corner. Metabolis should provide hours of fun for the cartographers. This isn't going to be an easy game to solve, mostly because it's all too easy to make a mistake but, having said that, it is pure fun with only a touch of frustration. My only disappointment was with the sound. Search this one out.

Roger: The story line, claiming that you have been partially transformed into a sick parrot with heart disease, by the wicked Kremin, is enough to put anybody off this game.

Basically, the feathered hero is required to flap through the usual multi-screen yawnorama, collecting sustaining objects to maintain energy level, hunting the reversal serum to turn you back from oven-ready turkey into near-normal Spectrum owner. Once that first objective has been chirpily achieved, then four pieces of 'nuclear fuel' must be gathered together in the Kremin reactor room and escape made before the big whoopsy occurs. Useful wizards and boomerangs can be found on the way, along with the aforementioned birdseed or whatever.

The graphics are fairly ordinary, the degree of control is imprecise to say the least and the screen content is just a hotch-potch of unoriginal obstacles and nasties. This game would be best used for the computing equivalent of lining the bottom of your budgie's cage... 2/5 MISS

Rick: Spot the influence time again. Is it Sabrewulf or perhaps Wriggler, maybe even a touch of Underwurlde. There's probably a game in here somewhere but the weight of history hangs too heavy. 2/5 MISS

Ross: Nothing to write home about here. Another maze type game. Nothing to write about at all in fact. 2/5 MISS

Publisher: Gremlin Graphics
Price: £6.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair

You have the body of a bird but the brain of a human.

Well, none of us are perfect, and in Metabolis your feathered wimpness can nevertheless bring about the downfall of the evil macho Kremins by destroying their nuclear reactor.

Metabolis is a maze adventure with the usual dose of objects to collect and mutants to avoid. You control the Tweetypie character - a far cry from the fearsome fowl depicted on the cassette cover - in its quest to locate the four pieces of nuclear fuel necessary to blow up the reactor. Before you succeed in that, however, you must find the reversal serum which will transform you into a man.

Apples, fish, cake and other edibles must be consumed to prolong your life, and pills must be popped to prevent heart attacks. Other objects provide temporary defence against the maze's booby traps - picking up a 15 symbol, for instance, gets you past the boxing gloves, which otherwise send you hurtling backwards.

The slapstick cartoon humour is also evident when you get stomped on by the ton weights and hop around suffering from graphics compression.

The maze is large - 150 screens - and requires methodical mapping. Movement is fast and the Kremins plentiful. You can't zap them until you've chanced upon the magic boomerang, randomly hidden. Somewhere lurks a wizard, but I've yet to catch sight of him. And I still can't work out what the syringes are for.

Sufficiently addictive and tortuous, Metabolis isn't exactly going to set the software industry afire but it is considerably better than many others on the market. Good for a rainy summer's day.

MACHINE: Spectrum/Amstrad/CBM 64
SUPPLIER: Gremlin Graphics
PRICE: £6.95

You really get the bird in Gremlin's neat new arcade adventure - but don't let that ruffle your feathers because Metabolis will soon get you reaching for the budgie's sunflower seeds!

It's the only way you'll get to eat once you've been hooked by the challenge of this platform maze/arcade adventure.

You have been transformed into a cute little bird - don't be fooled by the packaging. You look more like Buzby than the amazing man-hawk on the cassette cover! Anyway you've been changer into a bird by the evil Kremins.

Your job is to search for the serum which will change you back into a man, collect nuclear fuel and then destroy the Kremin complex - without getting wiped out yourself.

You travel from screen to screen - there are 150 of them - collecting useful items like heart pills. The transformation has left you with a weak heart and the pills are the only way you'll survive to complete the game.

There's a wizard who will help you out too. But only once you are back to your man-shape.

The Kremins hound your every move and they come in different shapes and sizes. I particularly liked the Alien-style creature - lots of teeth and a big swishing tail!

The graphics are good - with a few really nice touches. Like the way your bird gets scrunched up if he gets he by a ton weight! One minor criticism is the packaging. Not enough instructions to help you get into the game.

Keyboard and joystick options are included - plus you get a hall of fame and a nice screen which flashes up when you "die".

PRICE: £6.95

With the body of a bird and the brain of a human, you are the last chance the human race has left. Without a mole in sight it is only the non-human central character which indicates that Metabolis is the new game from Gremlin Graphics.

Metabolis is a complex maze game. Dodge the baddies which feed on your life force. Collect sufficient pills to prevent your haVing a heart attack. Collect four pieces of nuclear fuel and take them to the reactor room. Turn back into a human.

A complicated series of problems, with a difficulty level set high enough to keep you on your toes even with a complete map.

Several original ideas makes this more than a run of the mill maze game. Boxing gloves block your way, and knock you flying unless you can find the correct deterrent. Ton weights squash you flat, leaving you unable to fly and spikes spring up from nowhere.

A decaying bird at the foot of the screen shows your condition. As you run out of food the flesh peels away from it. When you are down to a skeleton your character melts away.

Infuriating features are the long death and restart period, and the program's tendency to crash.

Good fun but not lasting entertainment, Metabolis is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Gremlin Graphics, Alpha House, 10 Carver Street, Sheffield.

Spectrum
Gremlin Graphics
Arcade Adventure
£6.95

You are a bird. The Kremins metamorphosed you, so you have to find the serurm room to get back to human form. There is a wizard who cures you of all ills. You need a licence to kill as well. Interesting and quite interesting graphics.

Gremlin Graphics
£6.95

The Kremins have converted all human life into the lesser forms of mice and birds. You, being different, ended up transformed into a bird but retained your human brain and so, once again, it's up to you to save the human race.

To survive and complete your mission you have to find the serum which will change you back into human form, destroy the area with the four bits of nuclear fuel which you find lying about, and make your escape. Some of the life forms will help, though most will attack you. Also you have to find and eat food regularly and watch your heart as the transformation left it weak.

Essentially this is a maze dodge-chase-and-collect game, but it is well written and all the screens that I managed to visit out of the 150 in the game, were colourful and well designed. It is a fast and furious game, and some of the graphics reminded me of the White Lightning program, but a wide variety of techniques have been used. Your bird identity is lovely, it is such a cute and lovable graphic that it seemed a pity to change it back into a mere mortal.

Although not state of the art it is a challenging and respectable program which deserves consideration for a place in your games collection.