REVIEWS COURTESY OF ZXSR

The Prize
Arcade Software
1984
Crash Issue 6, Jul 1984   page(s) 59

Producer: Arcade
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.50
Language: Machine code

This game takes its name from the fact that Arcade Software are offering a prize of £5,000 to the first person to locate the innermost chamber of a massive maze and discover its secret. You are in control of a space ship armed with laser torpedoes to be used against the various guardians in the maze. These include Death Drones, Mutants with vulnerable pads which you must discover as they won't just die by being shot anywhere, and Crushers, large ladder shaped objects that work in threes and which kill on contact - and keep on killing!

On each level of the maze there are energy bases which charge your ship so that it can withstand contact by the guardians and destroy them instantly. Once charged, the ship alters colour and will remain in this super-state for a random time. Time running out is indicated by the force field flashing. Whilst in this stage also, you can search for the coded pods to aid your progression to the next level. The pods are numbered 1 to 5, 5 being the transporter pod. These must be collected in the correct numerical order. Photographing the special code off the screen on level 4 is required for entry into the competition for The Prize.

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursors
Joystick: Kempston, AGF and Protek
Keyboard play: responsive, though made harder by use of cursors, and generally better with a joystick
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: good
Sound: above average
Lives: 5
Originality: standard giant maze type game


This is a huge maze game with each 'chamber' taking up one screen - I don't know how many there are (perhaps that's the secret at the centre), but there are a lot. Graphics are well animated, parts of the guardians moving within themselves. Different aliens have different firing techniques to try and destroy you. Colour shading for the walls of the chambers is used very well, and is quite varied. Keyboard layout (only the cursors) is not so good, but the keys are very responsive. Finding your way around this maze is a considerable task - never mind finding numbered. An amazing game with an incentive of £5,000.


The Prize is nothing special as games go except for its sheer size and the fact that the graphics are of a high standard. The aliens are very variable, well animated and imaginative in design. The way they behave is also varied, and it's a nice touch that on clearing a chamber and entering another only to find it packed so that you retreat back the way you came, you find the once empty chamber you originally left is now packed again. That sort of mistake can cost lives! The game keeps you busy which gives it its addictive qualities. I must say, I enjoyed playing this game.


At last Arcade have brought out a game that is addictive to play and not just graphically pleasing. The game has several difficulty factors built in - the Crushers are particularly hard to get past, requiring nerve and some skill in timing. I also enjoyed the energy base idea. This not only looks quite effective as it charges your ship up, but it also gives you a few moments of carefree fun as you charge where you like, sweeping everything before you. Colour is well used throughout the game, especially in the solid areas behind the edging walls, and the graphics are large and move smoothly. Quite an addictive game.

Use of Computer60%
Graphics82%
Playability75%
Getting Started69%
Addictive Qualities70%
Originality55%
Value For Money69%
Overall69%
Summary: General Rating: Fairly addictive, playable and with good incentive.

Transcript by Chris Bourne

Your Spectrum Issue 10, Dec 1984   page(s) 57

The Prize is a variation on the maze theme. You have to control your spacecraft through the maze, collecting 'code pods' as you go. The pods are numbered and must be gathered in the correct order; reaching number five promotes you to the next level.

Those hitting the fourth level are asked to find the 'special code', photograph it, and send the evidence to Arcade Software. This entitles you to enter the competition that goes with the game. The competition has a prize (cunning title isn't it!) of £5000, but the catch is that the money will be divided between all the people who send in correct answers before January 1985.

On the game front The Prize is quite good, the maze is very large and your ship moves nice and smoothly. This is, however, really a game that will appeal more to cartographers than to shoot 'em up freaks. 2/5 MISS

Ross: A very colourful maze game with a large prize for the winner. The nasties aren't that clever, so only the overall size poses a problem. It loses its appeal very rapidly. 2/5 MISS

Roger: Being quite unable to imagine what five thousand folding green drink vouchers will look like stacked next to my keyboard and as I've never had that much wonga in my short and miserable life, I find it hard to imagine this game holding anybody's interest... 1/5 MISS


REVIEW BY: Ross Holman, Roger Willis, Dave Nicholls

Ross2/5
Roger1/5
Dave2/5
Transcript by Chris Bourne

Big K Issue 6, Sep 1984   page(s) 27

The Prize is you actual maze game. The quest here involves putting the three types of Guardian under heavy manners and collecting the vital 'code pods' in the correct order in order to progress through the levels. Getting to the central maze chamber might give you even more than a gloat - Arcade are offering £5,000 cash money for a snapshot of the final screen. Could this be the final winkling of the walnut of life? Raj didn't think so.

"I think it's a real cheat. For starters it's too much like Berserk, and the graphics are poor and gaudy to the point of naff. It may have a few more screens, but it's basically a shoot 'em up , now what I'd call an adventure. The money is just a gimmick to entice you into playing what is basically an uninventive game. Even money won't make you play a dull game. I think it's boring."


REVIEW BY: Raj Singh

Transcript by Chris Bourne

Sinclair Programs Issue 24, Oct 1984   page(s) 28

The Prize is a phenomenally complicated maze game. The player's first task is to collect five code pods in numerical order. There are forty nine locations in this section of the maze, and each is populated by deadly monsters which must be avoided or killed. The death drones and mutants shoot at you, while the crushers block your way, squashing you to pieces.

There are only tWo points in your favour. Firstly, it is possible to find extra lives hidden in the maze. Secondly, somewhere in the maze is an energy base which provides immunity from enemies for a limited period of time.

Once you have mapped this level, avoided the drones, mutants and crushers, and collected the pods in order you find yourself transported to the next section of the maze, where you must repeat the process.

Prize money will be awarded to the first person to send a copy of the code screen on level four to Arcade.

The Prize is produced by Arcade Software Technology House, 32 Chislehurst Road, Orpington, Kent and costs £5.50.


Transcript by Chris Bourne

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