Producer: Logotron
Retail Price: £7.95

XOR presents the challenge of 15 brickwork mazes through which the player searches for masks, clearing each maze of masks before progressing to the next.

Clues can also be found in the form of map sections which show the maze you're in and the uncollected masks. Some routes are blocked by barriers that cannot be penetrated; other barriers can be broken through by the shield you operate. But none-of these obstructions appear on the map screen -and the number of moves on each level is limited.

Further dangers await on higher levels. Springloaded chicks can pin you to a wall, dolls and fish fall when a supporting shield or shelf is removed, bombs explode and poison pits offer uninviting swims.

On exiting each level, you receive a letter, when all 15 letters are collected, they form an anagram which can be solved to give a clue to XOR's true nature (Logotron's words).

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: simple but large and colourful
Sound: average tune and sound FX
Options: you can start on any level

XOR's graphics are very simple, but it's addictive and the presentation is slick. It's a lot like a larger version of Cavelon, a very early Ocean game. Toggling between two characters - if you can call them that when they're only shields - is supposed to make your task easier, but it doesn't a bit. The only useful feature is the map that shows where all the uncollected masks are hiding, and because the screens are all basically the same it soon gets very boring.
NICK [50%]

XOR is a puzzle game in the genre of Survivors, it's well difficult, but becomes quite playable with perseverance - some of the later levels are much too tricky for me, though, so I gave in a fit of rage. The simplistic large characters and a fast but disconcerting scrolling routine leave little impression; I'd advise a few goes before buying.
BEN [63%]

Despite poor scrolling, XOR isn't as bad as it might first strike you; the graphics are big and quite colourful, and the gameplay soon grows in attraction and addictivity.
MIKE [60%]

Label: Logotron
Author: Astral Software
Price: £7.95
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Tamara Howard

The first problem, I suppose, is one of etiquette. How do you pronounce his name? is it "Xor," "Xor" or even, "Xor"? Myself, I'm not so sure, but I feel it's important to settle things in your own mind before wading in with the game.

It's a maze game. Controlling the mazes (all fifteen of them) is Xor, and your job is to reveal him by zipping through all the mazes and reaching his HQ. And while you're at it, collect all the masks too. Not very easy at all in fact. You control two different shields, and by switching between them, you can hopefully pick up all the little Xors. A monitor down the side of the screen will tell you where to find the masks, how many you have, and how many more you need to find. It also tells you which of the two shields you control. You have something like two thousand moves in which to get round the maze (not many when you keep forgetting where you are), but there's no time limit imposed.

Xor looks pretty good. The graphics are large and clear, and the game's very easy to get into. But I'm not sure that you're going to want to stay there. It's just a bit too clever-clever for my liking, and I must admit that I can only be impressed by the look of the thing for so long before I start to wonder where the gameplay went. I like the general idea, but there's no real excitement, you just keep plodding around the place. It looks good but Xor is let down by its gameplay.

Supplier: Logotron
Version Tested: Spectrum

IF you just like high-speed mindless blasting games, you won't enjoy this one too much. Not that XORs dull mind you - it's infuriatingly addictive and can get very tough in places - but you'll really need your thinking cap on to get anywhere.

You control two shields, Magus and Questor, on their journey through a series of 15 fiendish mazes. You can move your current shield up, down or sideways, or switch control from one shield to the other. The shields have identical properties but often start a maze a long way apart - so they're both needed.

In each maze there is a set number of masks: collect them all, and that unlocks the maze exit. Get either shield to the exit and you're onto the next maze Of course, the masks aren't always easily accessible. As you work your way through to the later mazes you'll find various kinds of object in your way. At first these are just the maze walls themselves and the games two kinds of forcefield, but you'll soon come up against a tougher pair of obstacles - fish and chickens.

Given the chance, fish fall downwards and chicken run to the left. Often you'll find them resting on masks or forcefields, poised to fall/run as soon as these are removed. They may well block your way to a mask if they do this, or trap your shield. They can even kill you if you get in the way, so great care is needed: you don't get any extra lives, so a death usually means restarting the maze you were on.

Once you've got the hang of chickens and fish separately, you're then faced with the two used together. The resulting chicken-fish formations can be very dangerous indeed: one wrong move and animals fly in all directions.

With care you can 'disarm' these formations, nudging fish or chickens aside to safely remove masks from within. The thinking involved here would tax the mightiest of brains, with interlinked formations two or three screens high. One false move can drop a fish on your head, wall you in or bury a vital mask.

It's horrendously tricky stuff, and there's plenty more where that came from with bombs, transporters and cute little dolls adding to your problems on later levels. XOR is infuriatingly difficult at times, but always maddeningly addictive. An action replay feature lets you review a failed attempt on a maze and (you hope) see where you went wrong.

The graphics may look a little simple but they scroll nicely and serve their purpose perfectly well. The point of course is the puzzling, and that grips like a vice.

Reviewer: Andy Wilton

RELEASE BOX
Spectrum, £7.95 cs, Imminent
Amstrad, £9.95 cs, £14.95 dk, Imminent
C64/128, £9.95 cs, £14.95 dk, Imminent
Atari ST, N/A, Oct 87

Predicted Interest Curve

1 min: 5.5/10
1 hour: 8/10
1 day: 9/10
1 week: 8/10
1 month: 7/10
1 year: 5/10

Spectrum, £7.95cs
Amstrad CPC, £9.95cs, £14.95dk
C64, £9.95cs, £12.95dk

Fifteen giant mazes full to the brim with puzzles provide the challenge in this enormous test of spatio-visual logic. The maze components - fish, chickens, H-bombs, V-bombs, dollies and forcefields among others - behave according to strict physical rules, so you always know what they're going to do in any given circumstance.

By shunting these objects around with your two shield-like explorers you can unlock the tricky formations in your way and get at the masks you need to complete each maze - but only after some very careful thought. It's easy to work out what an individual object will do when shunted, but since one object can set others in motion it's perfectly possible to trigger a fish-chicken-bomb avalanche by an ill-considered move.

There's no time-limit to the game and no manual dexterity required, but clarity of thought and attention to detail are vital. You'll also need considerable imagination to think your way sideways out of problems. A classic game for brains!

Amstrad, £9.95cs, £14.95dk
Spectrum, £7.95cs
C64, £9.95cs, £12.95dk

This game of maze puzzles with chicken, fish and explosions, is a classic for getting "walled out" and it can happen at any time. The puzzles are constructed so that in nearly every case one wrong move can scupper the whole game. Of course your second shield might be able to get you out of trouble but you'll probably be too flustered to manage it.

The worst part about it is the speed with which events can happen. You decide on a move and put it into action, only to find the unstoppable sequence of events results in a fish penetrating your skull.

It's also a classic for the creeping feeling of "Oh no, what have I done?"" as it slowly dawns on you that you've blocked off an essential passage. It's absolutely devastating and makes you that much more determined to have another go and succeed.