Producer: Bug Byte
Retail Price: £2.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Zip

If you have never heard a computer talking 'Scratch' then Zoot could offer you a new experience. As soon as the game has loaded you are greeted with a bit of verbal which, though quite intelligible, defies the confines of the written word.

Zoot is a fairly large, cumbersome sort of a chap. His passion, we are told, is playing marbles but he's lost them down a drain. Well Zoot does what any devotee would do he follows them. So begin the adventures of Zoot and his friend Zip.

Life past the drain cover isn't at all what you might expect. In order for Zoot to recover his marbles he must make his way through eleven caverns, and each one demands the performance of a specific task. On the first screen you are greeted by the Dumb Goopas. You know they're dumb because the instructions say so; you are also told to move Zoot about the cavern bashing each one. Goopas don't like being bashed, so as soon as you hit them they explode and die.

Moving about the cavern is a complicated business. What you see is four platform levels, with each level is divided into a total of eight separate segments or gaps. You guide loot left or right along a platform until he meets an obstruction or comes to a gap in the path. If there is a section missing from the platform Zoot can still move: he squats down, grins, and flies one complete segment across the gap. There's no way Zoot can cross a gap two or more sections wide, however.

Zoot can also pilot platform segments downwards providing there is a section below him to land on which is free from obstructions. If there are no segments below Zoot in the column, he will cycle round the top of the screen. When he travels vertically, Zoot claps one hand to his eyes and looks distinctly worried! No wonder if Zoot moves a segment down when it is the only segment in the column, then he meets a sticky end: if there isn't platform left for him to land on, he loses a life.

Each cavern in the game is, in effect, a giant sliding puzzle and the puzzle element in the game becomes clear by the time you are into the second screen. The task here is not simply to go round billing the creatures but to trap them on single platform segments so they cannot move. This takes careful planning as it's very easy for Zoot himself to become trapped. Other screens involve collecting marbles while dodging the flying Zip (who can be a help as well as a hindrance), collecting or punching bells, removing all of the sections and picking up as many points from as many ledges as you can work your way round. The last five screens require you to perform a combination of the tasks encountered in the first six screens.

The creatures, or Mankins, which Zoot encounters on his journey, vary in their own little ways. The Goopas are dumb while the Bodkins are shy. The one called Cheeky is indestructible when his tongue is out. Others like Spike, Uggy, Bogie and Grimbo have their own nasty habits. For most of the time the Mankins are pretty harmless but they can deprive Zoot of one of his four lives if he comes into contact with them.

When Zoot loses a life he must negotiate the screen again. The same is true if Zoot miscalculates his movement and attempts to move down onto a section where one does not exist. If the Gods are smiling down on Zoot he might get the opportunity to collect extra lives or even an object called an IDC tablet. Picking up the tablet seems to remove random sections and may benefit Zoot by trapping some of the Mankins for him.

COMMENTS

Control keys: O/P left/right, A for down, Q to punch
Joystick: Kempston and Interface II
Keyboard play: fair
Use of colour: simple
Graphics: witty and jolly, but very slow
Sound: superb speech synthesis at the beginning and end
Skill levels: one
Screens: eleven

Zoot is a pretty boring chap. Although the graphics are large, clear and jolly the game was altogether too slow for my liking. The theme of the game is both clever and original but isn't involved enough to fall comfortably into the puzzle game category, while the lack of speed bars it from being classified as an arcade game. A cheerful and jolly game with little substance to it, really.

Another game from the new budget software label, Bug-Byte - as with the rest this one is quite well finished with nice graphics and sound. Zoot's even got a bit of speech included. Generally, though, I felt there wasn't much of a game behind it all. The graphics are large and jolly and the sound is satisfying. As for the game itself... I played it for about half an hour before I sussed out what I was supposed to be doing! It grows on you after a while though, and I found myself quite enjoying it after several goes.

Though I was quite impressed with the style of graphics, I wasn't that overjoyed by the game. If it had been a bit better implemented, perhaps a little faster or a bit less jerky then maybe it would have been received a bit better. Presentation wise I was very impressed-the title screen with accompanying scratch track was amazing - but when it comes down to it, it's not a bad game, but not a remarkable one either, even for a budget label.

Bug-Byte
£2.95

Zoot's an ugly little sprite. But he's a darling compared to the horrors that he finds in the sewers on his search for his missing marbles(!).

With four lives, Zoot starts off punching out his opponents - a selection of ghoulies and ghosties with silly names - but, on the second screen, he has to trap each of the ghosts on a separate ledge. Points are awarded throughout the game but it's the missing marbles that Zoot is really after. It's all very confusing, and extremely frustrating... but it does have you screaming for more.

The program boasts 234 screens, but you'll be lucky to get past the fourth - so you may never find out if the company is making exaggerated claims or not!

Zoot is a very simple platform game - but one that's very addictive and a lot of fun. Shame it's made much too confusing by introducing a silly plot-line that really has little to do with the on-screen action.

Publisher: Bug-Byte
Price: £2.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston

A host of cuddly characters bundled together with an unusual plot makes Zoot a winner.

Zoot, a purple man, who is king when it comes to boxing with monsters, has lost his marbles. They rolled down a drain when he was playing with a friend and the pals have gone down the sewers after them.

Instead of muck they find caves inhabited by pillow-shaped creatures called Mankins. Each creature has a name and peculiarities of character. Bodkin is shy, Cheeky is indestructible when he has his tongue out, and Bogie has a habit which is too disgusting to mention.

There are 234 screens but each requires one or a combination of four basic skills in order to win. On the Punch Drunk screen Zoot must hit the Mankins with his boxing glove. He also has the aid of Super Zip who flies across the screen, fist to the fore, knocking out Mankins.

If all that excitement is not enough you will be turned on by the trimmings of the game. First there is the cartoon-style demonstration which introduces the Mankins. Then Zoot bursts onto the screen and yells in a wonderful synthesised voice 'Zoot, ha, ha, ha...' it's all great fun and criminally underpriced.

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Bug Byte
PRICE: £2.50

Oh Zoot! The Mankins win again! But I'll finish them off next time. Bug Byte bounces back onto the software scene as a budget label with Zoot - an entertaining pick-up-the-objects platform style game. Our hero, Zoot, a cartoon style character has lost his marbles. Well, we all do from time to time, don't we?

Zoot's marbles have rolled down into the caverns inhabited by the Mankons - Goopa, Bodkin, Spike, Grimbo, Jekyll, Bogie, Uggy and Nevil - all with their own characters. Zoot has to deal with each of these Mankins in different ways. He can bash them or trap them. Or he can wait for his mysterious mate Zip to come to his aid.

Zoot is an entertaining and addictive game - above standard for budget products.

The graphics are simple but really nice and the sound is great too. There's a really nice end of game speech synthesis. You hear your Spectrum shout "Oh Zoot!" when you fail to beat the Mankins.

Get your parents to buy you a new Zoot for Christmas - you might even want to miss the Queen's speech.

Spectrum
Bug Byte
Platform Game
£2.95

So you thought the Platform game was dead? Not so according to Bug Byte. This manages to squeeze yet more permutations from an old favourite. You have to zip round the screen moving around pieces of platform, beating-up Goopa's, ringing bells and so on. The tone of the game is light-hearted and even features synthesised speech - "Oh Zoot". the machine shouts with the demise of your lost man.

There are four platform levels on each screen, each platform consisting of up to eight segments which can be moved around by hero Zoot. Not exactly original stuff but reasonably addictive.