Producer: Createive Sparks
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £2.50
Language: Machine code
Author: C.S. Pryke

With games such as Toy Bizarre and Chucky Egg 2 there really does seem to be a spate of industrial crisis games, after a childhood spent playing of these games I'm not surprised that nobody wants to go into industry it's too dangerous.

In Quackshot the player assumes the role of a nightwatchman at the Acme Clock work Toy Factory, who, no doubt had hoped that his first night on the job would be a quiet one, not a chance! He is going to face a revolution. As he explores the factory complex he is faced with numerous toys, ducks, spiders and snakes to name a few. For some reason all the toys have taken a strong dislike to watchmen and are out to kill him. His only means of defence are a stun gun and antiduck bombs. The gun only fires left and right so the bombs are needed to rid those toys not prepared to come out and chance a straight fight. In fact a bomb will clear the whole screen of every sort of nasty but as the bombs are limited you can't use them too liberally.

The game is played over a series of 16 linear mazes. Each maze is about 5 screens long and access to the next maze is gained by finding the key which unlocks the door. Each progressive maze has an increasing number of locks within it, forcing you to collect more keys to work your way to the next door. As you can only carry one key at a time this means exposing yourself more frequently to the nasties while you go back to get the next key. The maze is full of surprises, the least pleasant being a helmet shaped creature that homes in on you at great speed. Transport chambers allow you to relocate yourself, a useful means of escape. Points are scored for moving from one maze to another and for picking up strange objects from within the maze, apart from the keys these objects have no other purpose.

As you move the maze scrolls sideways. A map of the current maze is shown at the top of the screen and a countdown is provided to allow the player a measure of progress in any particular maze.

COMMENTS

Control keys: D/C up/down, N/M left/right, SS for bomb, S to fire
Joystick: Kempston and Sinclair
Keyboard play: comfortable
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: very good
Sound: good
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 4
Screens about 80

Quackshot is a very original and very addictive maze-cum-platform game. The scrolling screens bear a strong resemblance to Skool Daze but the game is very different. The graphics themselves are a gem being perfectly smooth, no flicker at all. Creative Sparks must have been proud of the graphics because they actually print a screen picture on the front of the inlay card. My only criticism is that the pattern of the maze walls never changes but this is a minor point because the game is so addictive. The sound is excellent with a tune and additional effects. The map at the top is a great help but beware of being attacked while studying it. The action is pretty quick (certainly quick enough for me) so it's going to take some mastering. Quackshot is a superb arcade game, well worth a look at.

Quackshot is one of the best maze games I've seen over the past few months. It just seems to have so much life in it, it's really wacky! With many stages, the game builds up in difficulty from reasonably challenging to dead hard. Quackers proves that you don't need complex plots and tasks to make a great game - just plenty of action!

I'm sure everyone's got a game like this- it's fun to play and very addictive, but you never seem to play it because you always play the brilliant games instead. Quackshot has great graphics that scroll well and are nicely drawn, the sound is quite good and there is a lot of it (which makes a change). One thing that the instructions don't say is that you get a limited number of bombs and shots with your stun gun which makes playing even harder! I love all the different keys that are out to get you.

Ross: It's a cheapie and a jolly good one at that! But it doesn't have the most original idea for a game. In order to disguise this fact, the programmers have come up with a silly scenario that sets the action in a toy factory where rampaging ducks and other beasties are on the loose. And because the inspiration comes from Ancient times - well, when did Tutenkhamun first come out? - the on-screen playing area looks more like a dungeon than an industrial complex.

At any one time you'll find yourself looking at about a quarter of the maze that's made up of brick walls. As soon as the chap you control reaches the edge, the screen does a fairly fast and flicker free scroll. But then so it should be - everything else stops while this takes place. In all there are sixteen such mazes.

So, what stands in the way of your success then? Well, there's a complete collection of cuddly toys that have turned rather nasty. All that comes between you and constant cuddliness, is a standard issue laser-spitting gun and your duck busters. To escape the mazes you must collect the keys that'll unlock the doors but you can only carry one at a time.

OK, so you've seen it before but for my money, and more importantly, for yours this ain't a bad budget buy. 3/5 HIT

Roger: Another dollop of duck soup that doesn't taste too fresh! Still, for the price of a Kentucky Fried this'll fill you up for longer. 3/5 HIT

Rick: OK, I was going to say this was foul but that wouldn't be true - or particularly funny. I've played versions before but I never said I wouldn't play them again. 3/5 HIT

Publisher: Creative Sparks
Price: £2.50
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair

Slithering snakes and clockwork yellow ducks are your enemies in Quackshot.

Your task is to keep everything quiet in the Acme Clockwork Toy Factory. But as you hear strange noises and start to investigate, you are pursued by giant ducks and green snakes and other wacky wind-ups. The only way to escape is to destroy the clockworks with your stun gun and duckbuster bombs.

You have a time limit on each stage, collecting keys and bonuses to transport you to the next phase of your mission and add to your score.

You have to negotiate the maze of corridors, which are obstructed by toys or dead ends. There are 16 screens for you to pass.

The graphics are smooth and as basic as any other maze game. It is reasonably priced if you like this sort of run-of-the-mill game.

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Creative Sparks
PRICE: £2.50

Everything has gone quackers at the Acme clockwork toy factory.

All is peaceful for the nightwatchman until the toys - led by large yellow ducks - stage a rebellion.

Armed with a stun gun and duckbuster bombs the nightwatchman has to shoot and blast his way out of trouble.

The nightwatchman also has to collect keys to open doors to various levels of the factory and hunt down the wacky-windups as they rampage over 16 screens of action.

Watch the feathers fly!

PRICE: £2.50

Mid May saw the launch of a new range of budget software from EMI called Sparklers. First release is Quackshot.

As night watchman in the Acme Toy Factory you must get through your nightly routine of checking in at various points and patrolling the factory, whilst avoiding the lethal windups rolling around the passageways.

The game takes the form of a maze through which you must move, avoiding as many toys as you can, stunning and bombing the rest. Bonuses can be collected at certain points, as can keys to unlock the doors in your section.

The toys are fast moving and the maze layout complex. Scrolling is screen by screen rather than continuous so, until you know a section of the maze it is possible to be almost on top of one of the toys before you know it.

Not an outstanding game, but certainly good value at the price, Quackshot is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Thorn EMI, 296 Farnborough Road, Farnborough, Hampshire.

Spectrum
Creative Sparks
Arcade Adventure
£2.95

No prizes for innovation, but value for money at the Sparklers economy price. A Tutankhamunesque maze game in which you, nightwatchman in the Acme Clockwork Toy Factory, are confronted by rampaging clockwork ducks. Armed with duckbuster bombs and stun gun you must fight them and the green snakes off. As with Tutankhamun you have to collect keys to move between levels.

QUACKSHOT is the first release that we have received from the new £2.50 "Sparklers" range. This is quite a respectable maze, chase, and shoot 'em up game which kept me busy for some time. It is just as good the earlier releases which were full priced. You are chased through a maze-like factory by berserk ducks, and there are also similarities to Tutenkamen, the old arcade game.

I liked it and say welcome to the market to Sparklers and hope we see more.