Producer: Bug Byte
Retail Price: £2.50
Author: Muraya

Sbugetti junction is a game of skill and judgement starring a put-upon traffic policeman. Louigi Pepperoni is a trainee traffic cop on loan from sunny Italy to find out how the British manage to have less accidents on their roads than their hot-blooded companions in Rome. Although Louigi has had quite a bit of training, his performance is still a bit shaky. Now in Britain to further his training, he's been turned loose on an unsuspecting public to direct the traffic in a busy street.

Louigi has to get large numbers of vehicles through certain junctions safely and without any unsightly pile-ups. If he manages to pass the tests set him, he can progress to the next junction and so on until he is a fully fledged traffic policeman who knows what he's doing. Once Louigi has achieved this status he can return home to Italy and become reunited with his voluptuous wife, Fettucinee.

Louigi directs the traffic by way of a number of hand signals which you control by pressing the relevant keys. Each section of traffic has to be properly co-ordinated and each vehicle sent where it's supposed to go. Miscalculation in this area causes large accidents and Louigi's life may also be in danger from a mis-directed car. It's not just the continentals who get hot under the collar and shout a lot when driving. According to Sbugetti Junction. the British can get quite stroppy too. If Louigi keeps the lines of cars waiting too long then he'll be in for a bit of aggro...

The game is played against the clock. Louigi has five minutes in which to complete each junction. If the cars are kept waiting then they start to beep him, and if they beep Louigi too much for too long them the game-a is-a prematurely-a terminated, or as we say in English, it's curtains for Louigi.

There are three levels to the game. Louigi can choose whether he wants to direct light, heavy, or if he's feeling particularly ambitious, rush hour traffic. Louigi is actually over in Britain to learn about our traffic rules, but if you feel like doing a bit of traffic controlling au continent, then there's a European option in the game where all the cars drive on the right hand side of the road.

Points are awarded for cars correctly navigated across the junctions with the current high Score shown below for you to try and beat. Please try to help Louigi control the traffic successfully so that he can return to the land of Pasta and motzerella, and be reunited with his estranged wife and his bambinos which he a-misses so-a much-a.

COMMENTS

Control keys: redefinable
Joystick: Kempston, Cursor, Interface 2
Keyboard play: no problems
Use of colour: simple
Graphics: nothing wonderful
Sound: tune on title screen Skill levels: three
Screens: two viewpoints - British and European

Hmmm. I'm not at all impressed with this one. One game was enough to tell me that it won't appeal to anyone. The graphics are shoddy and small, but some of them are nicely detailed. The use of colour is a little garish but there are only a few attribute problems. The game plays very slowly and it is hard to amass high scores on the lower levels so it gets very very monotonous after a short time. Controlling your man is not as easy as it could be - in fact for the first few goes it is almost Impossible. After a while it does get a little easier, though, as does the whole game. Even with its cheapo price tag I wouldn't recommend this game.

Sbugetti Junction is great apart from one thing - the game. The loading screen is great and the inlay pictures look impressive, but the game is very boring and repetitive. I found that Sbugetti Junction consisted of two junctions; one easy and one impossible: this didn't help matters at all. The graphics are very neatly and clearly drawn but, due to them being all the same colour and the traffic controller being very small, none of them seem to really catch the eye. I also had some suspicions about the legality of the hand signals that the traffic would obey. Sbugetti Junction is certainly original, but whether you would come back to the game after a few months is very unlikely.

If you've always wanted to be a traffic cop, then I reckon Sbugetti Junction will completely revert you. If this is a real portrayal of a traffic policeman's day, then I'm suprised that any still exist! This game is, in a word, boring. Even in the 'rush hour' mode, there is very little to keep the eyelids open, and even less to keep you playing. Despite reasonable graphics, a passable tune, and even an acceptable amount of playability, Sbugetti Junction is one game that I will certainly not be coming back to, because I know that within five minutes, I'll have switched it off.

Bug Byte
£1.99

Louigi has come over from Macaroni to learn the Breetish way of traffic control. Simple - buy three million of zese hideous orange cones and cover any road with the prefix 'M' with the flippin' things so that it's impossible to move anyway.

But seriously though, Louigi has a pretty tough task on his hands 'cos the Brit drivers don't want to be kept waiting too long or our lovable Louigi will lose his job. Stage 1 is pretty simple as long as you keep the traffic flowing as quickly as possible. Stage 2 has beaten me every time so far, 'cos in that level Louigi has to turn around to control the traffic, and that's where it gets nasty.

There are three levels to the game, light, heavy or even rush hour traffic (not recommended for those with weak bladders). On top of that you can also choose whether you want to play the British or European versions of the game. (In the European version the cars drive on the wrong side of the road, some even drive backwards (probably the Italians), which makes for interesting game play).

A very simple idea that's been well executed - even if stage 1 is a mite boring. Just-a one Sbugetti, give it-a to me!!

Label: Bug-Byte
Author: Muraya
Price: £1.99
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair
Memory: 48K
Reviewer: Brenda Gore

Being a traffic cop is not all its cracked up to be. Endless streams of cars, lorries and motor cycles can soon reduce the best planned traffic flow system to an impenetrable snarl-up. There is plenty of scope for a number of interesting computer games based around this scenario.

Unfortunately, Sbugetti Junction makes little use of this idea. This one player game from Bug-Byte simply places you in control of one junction. Using three keys, or a joystick, you control the traffic flow in all directions. The object of the game is to move as much traffic as possible in the shortest time.

If you get all the traffic through without crashing, or taking too long, you will move on to another junction.

The graphics are clear but unimpressive, though there is a useful blow-up insert of Louigi, the traffic cop.

What the game lacks is a sense of excitement, a build-up of pace and suspense.

This game may appeal to the very young, though I suspect that even they will lose interest before long, but it is unlikely to grab the attention of anyone else. In short, it's boring.

At £1.99 the program is not expensive, but I doubt if many will buy it.

Bugbyte
£2.99

Luigi is a trainee traffic cop and has come all the way from Macaroni to learn how we Brits cause accidents over here. Before he can return to his wife Fettucine, he has to let lots of cars go pasta him without keeping anyone waiting too long.

The screen is divided into two areas. The junction full of assorted bikes, cars and lorries wanting to go every which way occupies the main area whilst in the bottom left hand corner of the screen, there is a large picture of Luigi doing semaphore impressions and another box giving details of how well he is doing them. There are plenty of game options to select from ranging from degrees of difficulty (light, heavy and rush hour traffic) to whether cars drive on the left or right side of the road.

Luigi can turn to face any of the four directions and can then wiggle his arms around to give various signals such as slopping a lane of traffic or allowing another lane to turn right. Everything must be kept moving smoothly and no-one should have to wait too long before being allowed to move. Dither too much and the cars in the lane in question start to flash. Unless you now remedy things straight away, the game ends. Points are awarded for each car successfully through the junction. Get everyone through without crashing or waiting and you move to the next, more difficult junction.

Sbugetti Junction is a pleasant enough game to play but doesn't really have any lasting appeal. Unless you have always wanted to be a policeman or traffic warden or the Mafia have made you an offer that you cannot refuse give this one a miss.