Producer: Mr. Micro
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.90
Language: Machine code

Punch & Judy shows probably still exist at the British seaside, but there's no longer any need to travel afield to see a show. Mr. Micro can now bring you all the glitter and sand, right at home on your Spectrum. This game has similarities with Hunchback, but it is all couched in proper Punch & Judy terms - and it speaks!

The playing area is a very expanded and colourful puppet stage which makes up 16 screens, at the end of which Punch has Judy locked up. You are the hero, Bobby, and you must rescue Judy by jumping over or ducking under rotten tomatoes thrown by Punch, leap over gaps, use the flying carpet, swing from the angels' tails and avoid the back-attacking custard pies, whilst leaping over gaps filled with soldiers and clubs. Every once in a while Judy will throw a sausage. If Bobby catches three of these they can be used in an emergency to transport him to the next screen without harm.

A scanner above the stage shows Bobby's progress Each screen is timed for points and each one completed awards a policeman's helmet. For every five helmets collected, a bonus is added. A neat feature is that without any added hardware, the program talks - 'That's the way to do it', or more famously, 'Rock the baby, rock the baby.'

COMMENTS

Control keys: 6/7 walk left/right, zero = jump, 8 - sausages!
Joystick: Kempston and will work with Sinclair ZX2
Keyboard play: positive, though jumping takes some practice
Colour: excellent
Graphics: very good
Sound: excellent speech and tunes, though a little bare during a screen
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3 (1 more after 60,000 points)
Screens: 16
Features: programmed speech

It's a very long load, but well worth it. The graphics must be among the most eye-searingly bright I've seen on a game! All the status details are contained in decorative scrolls, written in gothic text. I really liked the evil little theatrical mask 'face' that appears in the clouds and laughs when you lose a life. The game itself is reasonably difficult to play, with timing an essential part, and it gets extremely difficult when there are tomatoes coming from one direction and custard pies from another! Bobby jumps very well, although it takes a bit of practice as this is a very laid back hero! Very good value.

The unique thing about this game is that it speaks understandable English without hardware. The use of colour is excellent and the graphics are smooth and very good. Apart from the speech there are very good tunes. The whole thing comes very nicely packaged too, with good instructions on the inlay and on-screen. You can see the task ahead of you with the very good demo. It really is great. Just buy it!

Nice simple keys to control Bobby, and a difficult game. Perhaps it gets a bit repetitive after a while, but it's certainly amusing to play and the graphics combined with the speech make it almost worth the money alone.

Producer: Mr Micro, 48K
£6.90

In effect this is another 'Hunchback' game, but it has been attractively dressed up in the guise of a Punch and Judy show. You must guide hero Bobby across the stage to rescue Judy, while Punch hurls custard pies at you. There are 16 screens which require jumping over holes, swinging acrosss pits, leaping on magic carpets, dodging soldiers' clubs and always keeping an eye open for those custard pies. Judy sometimes throws a sausage acrosss - if Bobby collects three he can whizz across a screen and onto the next without harm. The graphics are amazingly bright and coloured, well animated and with lots of detail. The game also speaks (without a Speech unit). Sensible control keys, joystick: Kempston and Sinclair 2. Highly rated despite the price, CRASH overall rating 88% m/c