Producer: Ocean
Retail Price: £7.95
Author: Paul Owens

Our hero, Number Five is no ordinary robot - well, not any more anyway. All was fine, until the unfortunate android was struck by a freak bolt of lightning which raised his logical circuitry towards the level of human consciousness. Now, to all intents and purposes he is 'alive'- and he prefers it that way.

Number Five's creators, the scientists from the Nova Corporation, want to pull him apart diode by diode, in order to find out how his circuits have been able to assume human qualities. This doesn't make the nouveau human particularly happy, and he begins to plot his escape.

The game takes up the story in the Nova Robotics building, with The factory complex displayed in isometric perspective - that is, three of the current room's four walls in view. Number Five is not yet fully equipped to escape, and begins by collecting a few items to expand his powers. These add the capacity to jump and fire a laser to his basic capability of simply trundling around. A computer printer in the status area monitors Five's activities, and two bar meters reveal the status of his laser and mechanical frame.

To escape, Five has to log-on to the Nova computer. This gives the robo-hero access to three program routines: Search, Read and Use. Search is the most vital, enabling Five to examine desks, cupboards, coat racks - in fact, anything in the factory where something useful might be hidden.

Linking doors between the rooms are occasionally locked, while others require a security pass. Therefore, finding keys and passes is high on Five's agenda.

Before Number five can attempt to leave he needs to have in his possession all the correct objects and components. If anything has been left uncollected, he's immediately captured. A successful escape allows the player to load up the second half of the game -a frantic chase.

The chase sequence sees Five dashing over a horizontally scrolling rural landscape. Number five is so sensitive that if he injures a creature, grief overloads his emotion circuits. immobilising him for a while and leaving him prey to the Guards who follow his tracks. Five can jump and fire, but his shots aren't deadly -the guards are simply stunned. Other Nova Robots also pursue Five, and like the Guards, they can be temporarily disabled by laser fire. While the fugitive is busy dealing with his pursuers he must also avoid hazards such as rocks, logs, puddles and the occasional lake - falling into the lake is fatal, as it shorts out the robot's circuitry.

A van awaits at the end of the chase, and, providing Five arrives there without being detected by the Nova Helicopter, he can make his escape to freedom. What he gets up to then is another story altogether...

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2, Cursor
Use of colour: monochromatic on first game, and reasonably colourful on the second
Graphics: good use of perspective, and lively
Sound: funky tune and spot FX, with more tunes on the 128 version
Skill levels: one
Screens: 64

I don't know what to make of Short Circuit. The first part lacks depth, but is somehow still compelling - and the second is merely an arcade-pattern game (which also appeals for some obscure reason). The graphics are very good, with the main character well drawn and animated - the rooms and backgrounds are also pretty (if a little sparse). The sound is up to OCEAN's usual high standards; there's a great tune on the title screen and some useful effects during play. Short Circuit works well, but I'd recommend a couple of trial plays before buying.
BEN

Okay, so the film was quite good for the most part, but this tie-in has captured none of its excitement or cuteness. Number Five moves much too slowly for my liking, and takes far too long to react to joystick movements. The first stage contains some nice scenery, but the general presentation is very hard on the eyes. The second stage is very repetitive, and is no fun at all. Short Circuit is very boring, and hasn't used the good points to bring it to life.
PAUL

Short Circuit is one of the best film licences for ages and represents value with the inclusion of a second, and very different, game. The first part, the 3D arcade adventure, is constructed well with just its right amounts of exploration, puzzles and thought involved. The 'Scrolling printer on the status panel works to good effect giving what could have been a rather dull information screen a bit of life. The Second part may prove frustrating as Five has only one life and it's really a matter of gradually learning what happens when - and making sure that you're positioned in the right place. Well, worth checking out.
RICKY.

Ocean
£7.95

Something miraculous has happened... licensing deals are alive! Yes, you read me right. A tie-in need not be a malfunction. Short Circuit is living proof that if time and trouble are taken over a title, it doesn't need to look like it was designed by a bored android.

I've not actually seen this movie, cute androids being anathema to me (Oi, watch it! Hex Loader). But I couldn't escape the publicity machine and as far as I can tell, this is quite close to the screen adventures of No 5, the military robot who develops a conscience.

It all takes place in two parts, and while undernourished 48K weaklings will have sand kicked in their faces by the split load, big butch 128-ers get it all in first time, with an enhanced soundtrack to boot! Everybody can play either part independently of the other though.

The meat of the game is in part one, where No 5 is trying to escape from the lab, once it - remember, we're talking hunks of metal here - has collected the vital lazer (sic) and jump mechanisms. There's an ingenious collection of logical puzzles that'll win over even dedicated anti-adventurers!

Using only four direction keys, plus select, Ocean has found a way of giving 5 total control over his environment, as he wanders through the characterless chambers of military bureaucracy. Normally the direction keys move him - sorry, it - around and fire scrolls through the options. But when 5 is in contact with furniture, and that includes doors, pressing fire brings the current action into play. After that the number keys are used to make selections.

The first thing you'll need to do is move up to a computer bench, having selected Link. This will give you the chance to download the first three vital programs. Others are available at other terminals. You'll need Search immediately, to let you pick things up, but you can't Drop them until you've delved further into the maze.

Don't overlook any possible place where objects could be hidden, and make sure you've found a way through the security doors before you become laden down. Even for a robot, the ability to Read is useful, especially if he's becoming more human by the minute. Learn all you can and use the objects logically and eventually you'll be out in the open air.

That takes us neatly to the second part, which is a decided let-down after the great beginning. No 5 trundles along a country lane, trying not to trample wildlife and ducking to let low flying sparrows past like some Greenpeace shopping trolley. There are robots in pursuit, but even blasting these takes its toll on 5's conscience. Unless he can outrun them he shuts down, suffering from depression.

The splattered bunnies, when 5 fails to dodge them, are most amusing, but while it's probably true to the film, this arcade sequence is a shallow let down after that superb first part. Okay, so it won me over. I believe that 5 is human. But only when he's compared with Rachael!

Label: Ocean
Author: Paul Owens
Price: £7.95
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Jim Douglas

After a string of very wobbly tie-ins (Knight Rider, Street Hawk, Top Gun) Ocean was coming close to gaining a rather undesirable reputation.

Short Circuit - from the movie of the same name - should put all this to rights, at least for the time being.

In the game (and the film) Number 5 is a robot designed and owned by the wildly unstable and totally potty military people. As with all inventions of genius scientists, something goes wrong with the very core of Number 5 and it suddenly thinks that it is eek - human.

The scientists in charge of the project want Number 5 back on the workbench in order to find out what happened. The security people want to make sure Number 5 won't run amok and kill innocent bystanders with the wacking great laser it haS on-board. And No. 5's quite happy off on its own, and would prefer to stay that way.

Whether any of this info enhanced my enjoyment of the game is, I reckon, highly debatable.

Part 1 of the game (there are two sections) is a quasi-3D affair with thirty-six rooms filled with benches, tables, chairs, drawers, chests and palms. There are lots of palms. They're a little irritating in fact. The palms seem to have been used as a slower-downer by the design team of the game. As it's possible to examine or search any item of furniture or scenery, it's possible for an object to be hidden almost anywhere.

As a result, you have to search every possible receptacle instead of solely appropriate locations for the desired items.

And because robots are a bit thick, you'll have to find the programs to instruct Number 5 how to do things like pick up, drop, break, search etc.

The aim of this part is to move through the rooms, collecting the various items that you find and attempting to use them in an appropriate fashion enabling you, eventually, to escape the complex.

It shouldn't come as too much of a shock that this is really rather more difficult than it sounds.

Part 2 (which you can reach either by completing Part 1 or simply by skipping to it) is loaded separately from tape in 48K mode. Lucky 128K owners can load the whole lot and flip between the parts. This bit is far more aracdey and I preferred it.

Everything is viewed side-on and Number 5 trundles along from left to right. The background is a landscape scene which operated with pleasing three- dimensional effect.

As the screen scrolls from right to left, numerous cute woodland creatures crop up. Bunnies, squirrels and birds all appear from time to time. Being an environmentally sound robot, Number 5 isn't allowed to kill anything. Thus, should it run over, flatten, shoot or manage to kill one of these creatures, it will suffer a terrible mental trauma. Too much trauma and it's Game Over.

There are holes in the road which get in the way. You'll have to jump over them as running into/over them will cause you head to fall off. At the same time you are pursued by similar robots who are programmed to capture you.

Contact with such a robot will end the game too, but it's possible to blow them away by shooting them with a laser beam. Apparently other robots don't count as life-forms and so it's OK to waste them. The objective is to go as far as possible before getting caught.

Short Circuit is really rather good. There's the combination of adventure and arcade elements and some quite special graphics and entertaining gameplay.

Even the horrendous picture on the packaging of No 5 reading a book - which we've played around with here - almost qualifies in the it's-s- bad-it's-good stakes. Certainly a couple of tads above your standard licence deal.

Hit Squad
Spectrum, C64, Amstrad: £2.99

Number Five is alive! But not for very long if the authorities get to him first in this budget incarnation of Ocean's game-of-the-film. A two-parter, load one sees Number Five trying to break out of the Nova Robotics factory where he was assembled, solving puzzles using his in-built devices and newly-acquired intelligence, before he is shut down by the Nova engineers. Part Two is a straightforward horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up, blasting the baddies with your laser and jumping over innocent woodland creatures.

While the first section of the game is a reasonably addictive arcade adventure, part two is much too difficult, requiring absolutely precise timing to avoid the many animals which get in your way. Number Five is recognisable from the movie, but the game itself makes little attempt to stick to the plot. The music is jolly, though.

A ROBOT WITH SOUL IN OCEAN'S ARCADE ADVENTURE.

Ocean
£7.95

"Number five - Alive!" is the plaintive plea of a robot that was hit by lightning in a freak thunderstorm and is now alive! You must help him escape from Nova Robotics and keep him alive! The only trouble is that he's a SAINT robot (Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport) and he's still armed! The scientist who built him wants to take him apart to find out what went wrong, Nova's boss wants to capture him before millions are killed and the security chief wants to blast so he can get home in time for dinner You - must keep him alive.

Based on the superb film, Short Circuit (highly recommended - go and see it immediately!) the game is split into two parts. In part one you must escape from the Nova Robotics complex with the essential jump and laser accessories and in part two you must flee for your life and avoid the pursuing guards that aim to disassemble you! You can attempt the parts in either order but it's logical to begin with part one.

The game begins with Number 5 alone in a room full of mysterious desks, chairs and plants and he's only got a LINK program. He needs input! Luckily, he can log on to terminals and download additional software. After a little exploration you'll soon find a terminal and be able to download the programs to SEARCH, USE and READ Now you can explore the rooms of the complex, SEARCH for useful objects which you can then USE to solve the games problems. Searching couldn't be easier as all you do is stand in front of an object, select the SEARCH program on a duckshoot menu and press the fire button. The results of your search will be reported on your printer, which also presents you with single key options if you've found an object you can pick up or books to read ("ooohhh input!") that provide important clues.

As you progress through the complex you'll find locked doors, file cabinets and units that require keys and coloured passes to open them and eventually another terminal. Now you can download three more programs that allow Number 5 to DROP objects (useful as he can carry only three at a time), BREAK and LOOK with which you can identity objects. For example, something that you thought was an empty desk actually turns into a fruit machine and a use for the pound coin that you found stashed away in a plant pot.

MAPPING

As with all arcade adventures a map is essential particularly if you mark on it where you found each object, no matter how obscure, as might find a use for it although it's hard to imagine why you'd want a coffee cup, paper clip or scared mouse.

In part two Number 5 is literally on the run as he's being chased by other SAINT robots and he's determined to get away. Armed with the laser and jump mechanisms, you must hurtle along a country road strewn with rocks and wildlife.

By now Number 5 has developed a conscience and must avoid disassembling the birds and crawling creatures otherwise he'll get so depressed that he gives up.

Using keyboard or joystick controls you must time your leaps and ducks to avoid the wildlife while also avoiding the boulders that will injure and break him while keeping a finger near the laser fire button in case a robot or guard gets too close.

Number 5 is alive! It's up to you to keep him that way.