Producer: TV Games
Retail Price: £7.95
Author: Oxford Digital Enterprises

Well, what d'you know? Find out by testing your knowledge with the legendary Bob Holness in Blockbusters, the first TV release from Domark's label TV Games. The new label will specialise in game-show licences, and Countdown, Bullseye, The Krypton Factor and Treasure Hunt are planned.

In Blockbusters, based on a Central TV series, question master Bob smiles benignly on you from one side of the screen; the rest of the display is a pattern of coloured hexagons. In each hexagon is a letter.

Each player chooses a hexagon on his turn. Bob then asks him a question, the correct answer to which will begin with the letter in the chosen hexagon. (The form is 'what D is a small domestic animal?'. Choose an X and the answer is probably 'xylophone'.)

If the player answers correctly, the hexagon is 'taken' and filled with a colour representing that player; to win, you must capture a line of hexagons from one side of the display to the other.

The spelling of answers needn't be totally correct - and Blockbusters will allow some variations through with the comment 'close enough'.

COMMENTS

Joysticks: none
Graphics: simple but adequate; absurd picture of Bob Holness

How many more Blockbusters-type quiz games do we have to suffer? This must be the fourth at least, and there's not much you can do with the theme. There's a nice front end and a cute little picture of Bob wobbling his head when he asks a question, but the game is boring and repetitive. There are lots of TV programmes that would make much better games.
PAUL [42%]

What F is an adjective with four letters and describes Blockbusters? Answer: FAST. You hardly get enough time to answer the question when a TIME OUT message appears! But there have been so many games like Blockbusters that bringing out another seems ludicrous. And most of the questions are too hard for me anyway - winning in Blockbusters calls for plenty of brains, so that counts the whole CRASH team out.
NICK [47%]

Quiz games lose that vital human element when computerised, eliminating all humour and leave the room dreadfully quiet. Blockbusters is very typical of this. But it's good that you don't have to beat an opponent, and Blockbusters is certainly a must for those who can't resist showing off their quick thinking.
BYM [48%]

TV Games
£7.95
Reviewer: Rachael Smith

Ooh, my favourite TV quiz. The one where Bob asks the questions while the teams take the P. If only I could take part. I'd just love an F!

Suddenly Domark's new label, TV Games, waves its magic wand. "Yes, Rachael, you too can be a Blockbuster." Whoopee! Where's that dummy Gwyn? I can't wait to thrash him.

Actually Blockie has appeared in several computer guises already, but this is an all new version, and comes complete with several blocks of questions, which should keep you busted for a while, as they're all pretty tough.

In the two-player game the puzzles appear word by word, just as if the divine Bob Holness was actually saying them. You have to hit your buzzer immediately you think you know the answer if you want to stop your opponent beating you to that section. A lot of the fun comes in blocking their path by getting in fast, or guessing what the L Bob is talking about.

The one-player game gives you more time to answer, because the computer won't challenge you, but if you get it wrong or are completely stumped, then control passes to your Spectrum, which seems to choose its letters at random. It's not the ideal way to play the game but it's still more fun than most computer quizzes.

If you do best out of three games, you get a go at the Gold Run - and I don't mean the result of eating too much rich food (gold - rich... geddit?). This time two or three word answers are required and you only have a minute to cross the board. All that's missing is the chance to win a trip to Kenya or even a Blockbusters sweat shirt.

A lot of thought has gone into getting this right. It's close enough to call a telly simulation, in fact. Fuzzy logic allows for the odd misspelling (and some of mine are decidedly odd); the clock stops when you start typing, so you don't have to be a 60 words-a-minute person (and no - I don't mean Gwyn, who never stops talking) to win. Don't dawdle though or it'll start ticking again.

But best of all is the digitised Bob which twitches away as the questions appear. It's not so much the animated graphic that impressed me, but the fact that you can turn him off. If only it was so simple in real life!

My only real complaint is that the packaging isn't Spectrum specific. It's meant for all versions and remains rather vague on some of the details. But load up and it won't take long until you're stepping onto the hot spots for that all important Gold Run.

Blockbusting fans are sure to want this. But remember - U had better join the Q because I go first! OK?

Coming, erm, now actually, to a cinema near you...

THE COMPLETE YS GUIDE TO FILM AND TELLY GAMES

Knowing full well what a square-eyed bunch you are, we thought it was about time you were given the facts on film and television licenced games. Once again, JONATHAN DAVIES was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

(Cough. Deep, manly voice.)

'In the beginning there were loads and loads of Speccy games. Loads of them. They sold all right, but not exactly in enormous numbers. The trouble was, you see, that none of them seemed particularly exciting. They had nothing that caught the public eye. They were just computer games. Had no 'cred'.

Then a small cog within a long-since-extinct software house had an idea.

"Why don't we give our next game the same name as an incredibly popular film? Then everyone would buy it just because they'd seen the film and they'd foolishly think the game would be just as good. How about i, eh?"

"Er, we could do, I suppose."

"Great."

"But what if the film company finds out? They might sue us or something."

"Oh yeah."

"Tcha."

"I know - we could ask them first."

"That's a point. Go on then."

"What? Me?"

"Yeah. Give them a ring and ask if they'd mind."

"Oo-er. Cripes. Okay then." (Dials very long trans-Atlantic phone number.)

"Hullo. We'd like to name our new game after your film and we were wondering if it was okay by you. Right... yes... oh, I see." (Cups hand over receiver.) "They want us to give them lots of money."

"Erm, well in that case we'd better." (Removes hand.) "Yes, that'll be fine. We'll send you some right away. Bye."

"Super."

"But. er..."

"What?"

"How are we going to come up with a game that's anything like the film?"

"I don't know really."

"How about if we have a bloke walking around shooting people?"

"That sounds fine. I'll program it right away."

And so the film and telly licence was born. It... cough. Choke.

Oops. There goes the deep, manly voice.

Anyway, film and telly games, eh? Everyone's doing them these days, as they're one of the few remaining ways of making serious money with computer games. Run a grubby finger down the charts and you'll find nearly all the top-sellers are film and telly licences. (Or arcade conversions, of course.)

But why do we keep buying them? After all, just because a game's named after a really brill film doesn't mean it's going to be any good, does it? Surely we aren't buying them simply because of the flashy name on the box?

Erm, well in the old days, software houses assumed this to be the case, and chucked out a stream of absolutely appalling games with 'big name' titles. Things like Miami Vice, The Dukes Of Hazard and Highlander were all pretty dreadful, but it was hoped that they'd sell on the strength of their names. But we weren't fooled. Oh no. The games didn't sell well, and the companies were forced to think again.

Eventually they came up with... the 'bloke walking around shooting things' idea. And they've used it more or less ever since. Lucky then that they tend to be jolly good all the same, and sometimes come up with the odd original idea to spice things up (like The Untouchables did, or perhaps Back To The Future Part II).

RATINGS

As always seems to be the case, the trusty YS ratings system doesn't really seem adequate when it comes to film and telly games. So here's what we've put together instead...

LIGHTS
What does it look like? Nice? Or not very nice at all? (You mean are the graphics any good? Ed) Er, yes. That's it in a nutshell. (Then why didn't you just say the first place? Ed) Erm...

CAMERA
How does the general atmosphere compare to the film or telly programme the game's meant to go with? Have programmers just taken a bog-standard game and stuck a flashy name on it? Or have they made an effort to incorporate a bit of the 'feel' of the original?

ACTION
Does the plot follow along the same sort of lines as the film or telly programme? Is there plenty action-packedness? And is the game the same all way through, or does it follow the original's twists and turns?

CUT
Um, how does the game compare to all the licences around at the moment? Is it better? Or worse? In other words, is it a 'cut' above the rest? (is that really the best you can manage? Ed)

BLOCKBUSTERS
TV Games

Bob fans will find that this one's worth getting it only for the digitised pics of their ageing hero to be found within. They're even animated (sort of), so Bob reads out the questions and grins broadly when you get one right. Everything else is there too, like the signature tune, the Gold Run and even the odd "Can I have a P please, Bob?" if you keep your eyes peeled.

And if you find the telly version compulsive, the game should set your adrenalin pumping too. There are one- and two-player versions to choose between. The two-player game proceeds pretty much like the programme, while in the one-player version you only lose a square if you answer a question incorrectly. And there are plenty of questions. Several load-fulls, in fact, with 50 in each so you shouldn't find repetition a problem. Well, question repetition that is. The game as a whole is incredibly repetitive, just like the telly programme. If you like the show then the game is just as good. And if you don't it's, er, just as bad.

Label: TV Games
Author: ODE
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: None Bob
Reviewer: Graham Taylor

I have a problem with Blockbusters. The problem is Bob Holness the quiz master on the TV show. He... how can I put this? He makes me go yeeeeearggggggggrgrgrgrgrgrgrgrhahahahahahhhhhhh!!!!

I had to overcome a good deal of residual prejudice before I could even Load this one up. That and the fact that the original version of the game was put out by Macsen. Both biggish obstacles you'll agree.

Well this Blockbusters is a reworking of the game of the TV series by TV Games - the latest Domark label. The reprogramming has been done by ODE which did Trivial Pursuit and, it has to be said, the firm has done a highly professional job. I'm still not sure though.

Here's the game - just like the TV series: you answer questions posed by quizmaster Bob Holness. Each correctly answered question lights up a hexagon on a grid made up from 20 of them - if you can light up a line of hexagons from one side to the other you win the game. The answer to each question is given by the initial letter on the centre of each hexagon. From such humble beginnings began the now majestic Blockbusters which gave us such legendary phrases as 'Can I have a P please Bob?'

Bob Holness actually appears in the computer game - he lurks in a corner of the screen all digitised and daft looking - not only that but when you answer a question he gets animated! Your Spectrum flips through a bunch of digitised screens of Bob in different poses, and with my Bobphobia it made me pretty sick I can tell you. Clever though, and evidence of the efforts ODE has gone to.

More clever touches - the big problem with this sort of game adaptation is that you have to type in answers to the questions. This means that not only do you have to know the right answer but you have to spell it correctly as well. But that's not what happens here - Blockbusters will try and make sense of whatever you type in and if it is right but for the odd spelling mistake there is a good chance it'll understand what you want.

It doesn't work every time though and consequently wrongly spelt right answers still cause much frustration when Bob (despite the misspelling routines) still thinks you've got it wrong.

If you win two out of three games then, just like the TV programme you get the 'Gold Run' in which you have to cross the board in 45 seconds.

So it goes, there are a lot of questions, your Spectrum really will print 'Can I have a P please Bob?' and the game actually features an animated Bob Holness. Hard to see what else you could possibly expect from the game, really. Personally I think it has a longevity of around three minutes (apart from watching Bob go mad with excitement which is pretty funny). Fantastic job ODE, but I'm not sure there is point.