Producer: Software Projects
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Jim Scarlett

Jim Scarlett wrote the very good Doombugs, which was published by Workforce and seems to have been rather underrated. That was an original but fairly simple game to play. Tribble Trouble is a highly original game and a very difficult one to play.

For those who remember the Star Trek series, it may be possible to recollect an episode called 'The Trouble With Tribbles.' Tribbles were cuddly, cute but rather troublesome creatures that began multiplying on board the Enterprise until they posed a serious threat to the ship. In this new game they are still cute and cuddly and even more of a menace. The hero of the piece is Brian Skywalker (yes, Luke's little known brother), and he's a Tribble Farmer on the planet Noom. When on a mission to round up wild tribbles, his Noomrover runs out of fuel and Brian is forced to herd his tribble back to base on foot.

This trek takes him and his tribblesome herd through five sheets of sheer hell. In the first Brian is stranded near his Noomrover at the foot of Firebug Mountain, beside a river which he must cross. Gems sparkle occasionally and then he can dash up and dig out a rock, nudge it into position and fling it into the river. The first stones sink down, so he has to make two lines of three rocks on the bottom, and then another two rows of three on top. When this is done, it will be possible to take a tribble across to the next screen. The problems, however, are soon manifest. Tribblesome trouble starts when the tribble, never content to stay in one place, start to emerge from the Noomrover. The Firebugs that live on the Mountain like eating tribbles, so they start to move in. Tribbles also run straight at the nearest water and drown. Fortunately, they are fairly obedient-ish, and will follow Brian if he's near. This lets him lead them up and pop them back into the top of the Noomrover.

In sheet two, The Goofer Desert, the tribbles eat goofers but are killed by cacti, and Brian sometimes gets caught up too. Then there's the Spheroids' cave. Spheroids, too, like tribbles, and in the Snappers' Lair, the Snappers like tribbles, while the tribbles run off everywhere after the mushrooms. In the last screen you must get all the escaped tribbles back into their pen before the air runs out. In fact the only 'good' thing about this game is that for once you can play the part of a hero who is practically indestructible!

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/Z up/down, I/P left/right and zero to 'dig'
Joystick: Kempston
Keyboard play: good, very responsive
Use of colour: excellent
Graphics: ultra-smooth, detailed and very fast
Sound: excellent, great tunes
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
Screens: 5

Keeping tribbles out of trouble is a very difficult task, as they seem to enjoy exploring a great deal, unaware of what hazards are around them, or what Brian is doing. All the figures in this game are detailed and very well animated. Every screen is colourful and enjoyable to play - which doesn't mean the game is easy, in fact it is difficult and will take ages to get through. The tunes are excellent as well. It's a MUST BUY!!

Brian Skywalker stands every chance of becoming a Spectrum hero. He is simple in shape, nicely drawn and immediately likeable, like Miner Willy or Horace. The tribble, though much tinier, are also beautifully drawn and animated, and look suspiciously like mini Brians. On the first screen, keeping an eye out for the brief twinkle which denotes a gem to be dug for, whilst keeping the next emerging tribble out of trouble, takes all your concentration. when a gem is dug, a rock pops up somewhere else that may be nudged into the river. All the movements in the game are delightfully done, and the pixel movement graphics are first-rate throughout. Compelling and enjoyable.

I had to break off to get the review done, but there are still three screens to fight through before this game is conquered, and even then I will have to go back. All I can say is if tribble farming is this much trouble, I think I'll stay here and play computer games! Excellent sound, colour and graphics, an excellent game and very unusual too.

Memory: 48K
Price: £5.95
Joystick: Kempston

Somewhere in the remoter reaches of the galaxy, on the backward and barren planet Noom, Brian Skywalker, space shepherd extraordinaire, is having a spot of trouble with his tribbles. Tribbles are engaging but maddening items of alien livestock which will not stay where you put them and have no concept of personal safety.

That is a pity, as almost every other lifeform on Noom thinks that tribbles make a very tasty snack. In Tribble Trubble from Software Projects, Brian's Noomrover, full of captured tribbles, has broken down at the foot of Firebug mountain and, somehow or other, you must help him herd his flock to safety through five screens of hazards. That is no mean task, as while you are digging for gems and bridging the waterfall with rocks to provide your means of escape, those tribbles are wriggling out of your ship and have to be rounded-up and stowed back in the hold. Otherwise, the firebugs will nip down for some fast food and you will be out of business.

The program features attractive, fast graphics and a series of complex and taxing problems which encourage you to return again and again to the game. You can use either the keyboard or a Kempston joystick for movement and there is a full demonstration mode at the beginning of the game, coupled with entertaining music. Tribble Trubble is a highly amusing and original arcade-style game. It demands a great deal from the player but gives good value and is a refreshing change from zapping aliens.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Keys, Kemp
FROM: Software Projects, £5.95

Strange that Software Projects should give this game the name of an existing Commodore 64 game reviewed in this issue. The two games are completely different.

This one has a delightfully original feature in that you have no direct keyboard control over the tribbles you are trying to protect. Instead you control a cheerful, hippopotamus-like creature called Brian Skywalker whom a tribble will follow, but only when the two are close to each other.

So you ease along gently with tribble in tow, only to see it suddenly dash off in the wrong direction because you moved a little too fast. You'll soon develop strong maternal instincts and start to feel positively guilty when one of your tribbles perishes.

And perish they do. because there are five different deadly hazards you and it must go through. Completing one takes you on to the next.

In stage 1 you have to collect rocks and throw them into a waterfall to build a bridge, across which you and your tribble can escape. But the crazy tribble refuses to stay in the safety of the spacecraft while you do this. It insists on leaping out and wandering around the screen. You must immediately shepherd it back again to prevent it falling into the waterfall or coming into contact with nasty red tribble-eating firebugs.

Stage 2 requires ultra-sensitive control as you guide the tribble toward little round goofers which he devours, while avoiding cacti which devour him.

Stages 3 and 4 offer two more different tasks, while in stage 5 you have to shepherd half-a-dozen escaped tribbles through the narrow entrance of their pen before your air supply runs out.

The game doesn't offer spectacular pictures or stunning sound effects. Just an enjoyable and original five-part challenge. And, of course, you will have the satisfaction of placing the tribble kingdom eternally in your debt.

Tribble Trouble is a five-screen game and by the time you finish the fifth screen you will wish you had never heard of tribbles. It is not that they are not cute; it is just that they are dumb and it is difficult enough to finish an appointed task without having to prevent one drowning in the river or walking straight into the hands of a monster.

Start the game and one walks straight into the river. The next tribble follows you obediently into your spaceship but will it sit there quietly while you collect jewels and build a bridge across the river? You bet it will not. When finally you escape the first screen, what happens? Your tribble gets caught on a cactus, eaten by a Spheroid, or walks straight into a Snapper. Typical.

Tribble Trouble is exasperating and great fun. It is produced for the 48K Spectrum by Software Projects, Bear Brand Complex, Allerton Road, Woolton, Liverpool and costs £5.95.