Producer: MC Lothlorien
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Dave Stevens

The cassette inlay has a fairly lengthy explanation of what the game is about, which is just as well, as it isn't very self evident. What is, however, is that this is a 'Panic' game of platforms. ladders, monsters and hole digging with some very different variations on the theme. The basic story line is that you are Disoranic, a distant cousin of old Nefertiti, woken up from peaceful pyramidal slumberings by the ghost of Mad Clive, an archaeologist. None of this has much to do with playing the game, but it sets the scene for the antics to come.

To get yourself peacefully reburied again, you must find and read 25 magic cartouches (no, we didn't know what they were either). In this task you are hindered by three types of monster and the ghost of Mad Clive. The first screen shows the pyramid with seven floor levels. You start at the top and can dig holes and build ladders down. Several monsters infest the lower levels. The idea is to entice the monsters to attack you and then dig a hole and bury them. When they're all gone, you get properly inside the pyramid with the whole screen taken up with the seven platform levels, connected with ladders in various positions. New ladders cannot be added. At the base level is a cartouche (still don't know), which must be read before killing off all the monsters in the traditional 'Panic' method. After five cartouches (no, sorry) the door to your sarcophagus is revealed. You may then continue on reading cartouches (ah - just got it - dictionary says: scroll ornament, an oval ring containing hieroglyphic names and titles of Egyptian kings, etc. Phew!) or read the door's inscription to pass through when all the monsters are killed. Got that?

Digging holes too close to other holes may result in rockfalls, plunging you through or trapping you. You cannot fall through a hole as in most 'Panic' games, except in the first screen.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, I/P left/right, dig D or O, Read cartouche D, O or R, build a ladder D or O, Fill hole F, 1 or SPACE
Joystick: Sinclair ZX 2, Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: difficult with so many, and not always responsive
Use of colour: above average
Graphics: quite good, large although flickery, but nice animation detail
Sound: above average
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 4

It's quite clear that this is a 'Panic' game of a sort, but despite the instructions and game objectives being stated on the inlay card, I couldn't make head or tail of it. A lot of strange things seem to happen, perhaps not surprising inside an ancient pyramid, but confusing in a game. As a 'Panic' it seems pretty easy to kill off the monsters. One thing that puzzled me is that on the first screen I failed to kill off all the monsters before the oxygen ran out (why would a long dead Egyptian king require oxygen?) and yet I still progressed on to the next screen. One reason why I couldn't kill them all off was because having just built a ladder, one monster climbed immediately up it and then proceeded to hover on the top of the ladder with obviously no intention of moving further. The 'Panic' elements are all fairly good, but the attempts to make it ever so different have made it a bit unplayable too.

This is a "Panic" game in which you must become a mummy! I found this game had large but rather flickery graphics. It was fun to play but seemed to lack something. There were half a dozen keys required to control things, and this removed some of the fun. Nevertheless, this was a "Panic" game which grew on me with the playing.

Even after playing the game for half an hour I was still unsure as to what I was really supposed to be doing - everything was so unclear. This wasn't helped by some funny things occurring, like the moment when I dug a hole in a spot and apparently 'jammed' the monsters up. One on a ladder and one just the other side of the hole, merely moved a character square forwards and then backwards, and continued doing that with the rest of them following suit until the oxygen ran out. The graphics are nice and large. The keys didn't always respond when pressed. It has some good tunes, which tend to drive you up the wall!

As a distant cousin of Nefertiti, you have spent several peaceful milleniums in your pyramid - until, that is, you were woken by Mad Clive who is an archeologist. Now you must find the 25 magic cartouches explaining the ritual for your burial.

George: Because of its originality it takes quite a while to work out exactly what's happening. It's not a compulsive game, but quite playable, nevertheless. HIT

Johnathan: Graphics and colour are used moderately well, and the action is fast. But these don't help make the game more addictive. MISS

Robert: It's a very difficult game to play, especially for the inexperienced person. However, veterans will probably love it and have no difficulty. Overall, a good game. HIT

HEADBANGERS - PANIC GAMES

Armed with little more than a trusty spade, nimble fingers and wilting joystick, our two arcade playing reviewers, CHRIS PASSEY and MATTHEW UFFINDELL, enter the dusty platforms in search of monsters 'Panic' games involve climbing ladders to various levels within the screen, digging holes in the floors and letting the monsters fall into them. When you trap a monster in this manner, there is usually a short time in which to reach it, bang it on the head so that it falls through to its death, filling in the hole as it goes. Failure to kill it in time will result in the beast escaping and becoming a super monster. The more super a monster becomes, the more holes it must fall through in one go, which means digging holes in a vertical line. You have an ever-diminishing supply of oxygen, so speed is important. This selection contains some close copies and some slight variations on the theme.

MUMMY MUMMY
MC Lothlorien
Producer: MC Lothlorien Ltd
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.95

This is another of the 'Panic' variation games which involves you in trying to return to your disturbed rest in a pyramid. Ghouls and nasties try to stop you doing so. Control is okay and includes ZX and cursor joystick options. The graphics are not bad, large but a bit on the jerky side. The oxygen supply is also included in the game. A problem that you can't jump down your own holes and live. Mummy Mummy is an average sort of game - all right, but inferior to some of the more classic ones and not particularly addictive.
CP

I get the feeling that the search for originality in the 'Panic' framework has gone far in Mummy Mummy and obscured with complicated 'gizmos' what might have been a very good version. The large graphics are fair in their movement, but the overall implementation is confusing and the monsters often do some very odd things - like jamming up! it is also quite slow. Playability is lowered by the fact that at certain times you can dig a hole and then all the monsters will line up to drop sedately into it, giving you time, after bonking one through, to dig the next ready for another monster. I didn't like this one at all.
MU

Memory: 48K
Price: £5.95

The object of Mummy Mummy is to bury yourself. You are an Egyptian mummy rudely awakened from the slumber of centuries by archaeologist Mad Clive. Now you must wander through your pyramid seeking the mystic cartouches which hold the key to your burial rites.

The screen shows a cross-section of the pyramid, which consists of a series of tunnels connected by ladders. The tunnels are inhabited by monsters and ghosts which you must trap by digging holes for them to fall through. They in their turn will try to block your progress by cornering you.

Although the game is challenging, you need a large number of cartouches to win and the mechanics of running up and down ladders and digging holes become tedious after a time. It is a pity Lothlorien could not have introduced more variety into the game, as the initial idea was inventive.

MAKING IT WITH A BAND-AID

MAKER: Lothlorien
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £5.95

A trio of Egyptian Panic variants suitably swathed in rotting bandages and dunked in embalming fluid. The first is fairly pointless to be honest, and merely involves digging a couple of holes in Tutankhamun's tomb in the hope that a crusty Glob (animated and angry) can be tempted up from the lower levels end then brained. It's little more then a ritual really, prior to entering the second levels 'n' ladders screen, which is based on the standard Panic layout, here you must collect at least five of the randomly scattered cartouches (a kind of hieroglyphic notepad) from beneath the noses of prowling Globs, thereby being allowed entry into the third screen which puts you within sniffing' distance of your beloved endgame sarcophagus.

Pharaoh enough you might think! Unfortunately despite the promising scenario, this variation on a theme has little to commend it. The graphics are functional (ie. not quite naff) and the game just happens to be an expert on all things Egyptian and have stacks of interesting Egyptian holiday snaps to show. Y'know, Keaton at the Sphinx, Keaton impersonating a sphinx, that kind of thing. There's even some Super 8 film somewhere! Now where did I put it all...

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Keys, Sinc, Crsr
FROM: Lothlorien, £5.95

In this one you get the chance to become an Egyptian mummy. You have spent peaceful millennia in your pyramid until the ghost of Mad Clive disturbs your sleep.

To get back to sleep you must find the 25 magic scrolls which explain the ritual for your reburial. just to make things difficult you are hindered by Badorgs, Zobs, Dibrachs and of course the ghost of Mad Clive.

There are three levels of play to Mummy Mummy. You start your escapade at the top of your pyramid. the monsters a few levels below you. You must dig a hole, lower a ladder, climb down and entice a monster to chase you.

Before the monster reaches you, you must dig another hole and bury it in the masonry as it falls through.

Yes you're right, it is just a variation on the tried and tested theme of Space Panic. Unfortunately it isn't that good. The monsters don't seem to want to follow you, and when they do you'll have a hard time filling the holes in.

Once through the first stage you find yourself inside the pyramid. In this level the ladders are already in place and you cannot place any more. Down at the bottom of the screen is a scroll which must be read before you can bury any more monsters. Once all the monsters have become part of the pyramid you will be whisked away to a new screen. You must read at least five scrolls before the door to your sarcophagus is revealed.

Once you get into your tomb you must collect the remaining 20 scrolls. Nasties in this room are unburiable and you must avoid them or be killed.

Mummy Mummy offers nothing really special. Graphics and sound are only average - your man does 'walk', but the rest o f the characters simply jump around the screen spoiling the overall effect.

The average games player will also probably find it too difficult.