Psyclapse/Clockwise Ltd
£9.99

Here's a turn up for the books. Psyclapse, the software house which normally concentrates on 16-bit games, suddenly pop up in the Spectrum 'field' with this odd two-player Gauntletesque game.

'It's double fun and double trouble all the way!' proclaims the jubilant inlay. Hem hem, this is a bijou libette. What we've got here is a split-screen maze game (two players simultaneously), with very tiny graphics (one character square per graphic) and confusing flick-screen movement.

Captain Fin has to destroy the master computer by eliminating all the alien generators on each of the 20 levels. If you don't, the space station you're on will sun dive. As you and your mate (Cap'n Flu has apparently been cloned to work as a stormtrooping double-act) explore the mazes, viewed from overhead, an onslaught of aliens will try to stop you - quite persuasively too - with their megabolt lasers. You've laser too, so blast 'em back, Cap.

There are also colour-coded keys which are required to enter and explore rooms within the maze. The main objective on each level is to reach the lifts, transporting you to the next level... and so on till you reach the master computer on level 20.

Puzzles and barriers must be solved and broken down to gradually disarm the planetary defences.

A relatively simple game, but with tricky elements, Captain Fizz obviously hopes to win on the playability rather than the graphics - which have little variety throughout and are mainly 8x8 pixels. Unfortunately, it doesn't work loo well and left me unexcited. Even at its best, with two-players, it remains extraordinarily average. A disappointing release from what is actually a decent software house.

RICHARD

It's coming to something when a programmer using single character graphics can't even scroll a quarter screen gameplay area smoothly. You really do have to see the graphics in Captain Fizz to believe them; I think that any software house expecting people to buy a game that looks like this is off its proverbial rocker. If you're already lucky enough to own a magnifying glass, then Mr Fizz might he worth a look (a very close one), because its quite playable it you use your imagination. Value for money is a bit of a joke, I'm afraid. Still, what it amounts to is a poor spacey Gauntlet variant, and a big let down from Psyclapse.
MIKE

Psyclapse
£9.99 cass
Reviewer: Sean Kelly

The planet of Icarus, conveniently made up of 20 levels, has been invaded. Its swarming with billions of nasty Blaster-trons, and it's 'only one brave, expert, strong, stupid man for the job' time again - but with a difference! For, if you find someone as brave and daft as you, you both get to battle simultaneously against the 'orrible 'ordes. 'Cos Cap'n Fizz is a split-screen one or two player blasterama. Coo!

Your aim, of course, is to kill all the Blaster-trons. And to do this you must charge round the large sectors, in a view-from-above screen layout, shooting anything that moves, and collecting pods to increase your shield strength and credit ratings. But this isn't all, cor blimey no. Along the way passes must be collected to allow you through certain doors, and it is only when all the passes have been collected, and all the Blaster-trons killed, that the exit to the next level opens up. Now, slap me with a wet codpiece and beat me about the head with a cricketer's box if I'm wrong, but this sounds an awful lot like Gauntlet, don't it?

And indeed it is a lot like Gauntlet, but with enough differences to make it a worthwhile update of the old formula. There is a strong element of strategy involved, with switches to be hit in a certain sequence to open barriers for a few seconds, enabling you to chunder through, collecting the booty and run away. Realise that you haven done everything you should have before crossing the barrier, and you could find yourself stuck in a sector with no exit, with nothing left to do but wait for the grim reaper. Yikes!

The graphics, although tiny, are excellently coloured. In fact the use of colour throughout is thoughtful and intelligent. Even the sound, though a bit been enhances the gameplay. It's not all good though. The way in which the screen flips rather than scrolls is pretty confusing, and quite often I was puzzled as to why I couldn't move in a certain direction, only to find later that there was a wall just off screen.

The two player game is great fun, being very similar to Gauntlet in this respect, with team work having an appeal all of its own and advancing you much faster. Progress seemed adequate in one player mode, and I managed to get to the third level before dying. At this point, however, after a little while playing, I got a quick message about 'not enough time' or something and died for no apparent reason. This happened a couple of times, and I wonder if any advance beyond the third level is impossible unless you have two players? This seems to be indicated on the packaging, which goes on and on about 'united you stand, divided you fall' and stuff like that. In my eyes this is a major disadvantage, as you must wait until you can find a bud with the same tastes as you before you can really get anywhere in the game. The rest of the time it's just languishing on the shelf.

It's the lack of scrolling and necessity of two players which prevents the game from getting a higher mark, but apart from the aforementioned gripes, this is quite an addictive little number, well presented and thoughtfully designed. I daresay Psyclapse will be a label to watch out for.

Label: Psyclapse
Author: Clockwize Software
Price: £9.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Chris Jenkins

It doesn't inspire you with hope when you realise that the zappy artwork on the cover of a new game appeared on a paperback several years ago - no expense spared, eh chaps? It wouldn't be so bad if the screenshots of the game looked marvellous, but they don't; tiny little sprites placed in a two-dimensional maze, surrounded by meters and readouts which conspire to make the playing area relatively small. "No", I thought, "That must be some sort of introductory screen - that can't be the real game. I expect the real game is some sort of three-dimensional vectorgraphic artificial intelligence space strategy shoot-'em-up with go-faster stripes." it isn't.

Captain Fizz Meets the Blaster-Trons certainly boasts the worst title of all time (OK OK, I know it's meant to be a jolly laughey satirical version of titles from the dawn of software history, but you can only get away with playing for laughs if the game's any good). What the title doesn't give away is the fact that what we have here is basically an inferior Gauntlet clone, notably only because it has a simultaneous two-player mode which probably demanded some nifty programming. But it's not the sort of graphically sophisticated arcade-adventure we've come to expect from Psyclapse/Psygnosis.

There are twenty levels of so-called "action", involving guiding your tiny blob around flip-scrolling mazes representing alien complexes. The aim is to destroy the aliens' master computer; to do this you have to wipe out the alien generators, collect keys and passes to other levels, and work your way through the system of one-way doors.

Each player has a control key for a "blitter-bomb" in addition to their standard joystick/key controls for movement and laser fire. It's easier to work together to solve certain problems; bear that in mind if you don't always have a partner to play with. It can get pretty frustrating trying to handle two joysticks yourself.

The usual Gauntlet features are there; energy, armour and credit cards to pick up, fast-moving weeblies to avoid or blast, sliding doors to negotiate, destructive barriers to cross, moveable objects to shove around and transporters to enter. So, if you enjoy the sheer challenge of Gauntlet-type games and don't mind the lack of graphical sophistication, you might find CFMTBT reasonably engaging.

Sound is pretty good too; a muteable game tune with all the funk you might require, and a range of zaps and bleeps which inform you when you've achieved some worthwhile objective.

Not a complete write-off, then, but a pretty unambitious game to stick in such a flashy box and sell at full price.