Producer: Workforce
Memory Required: 16K
Recommended Retail Price: £5.50
Language: machine code

Doom Bugs is an entirely original sort of creepie crawlie game, best left alone if you're squeamish about these things! It introduces us to Tarant Tula, an engaging blue beetle who is our hero - but he's an endangered species, trapped in the Grubbers lair. Inside the lair the young Grubbers are left to hatch out (small round egg-like things) and honey is left for them to feed off. When two Gubbers meet, a nasty squirmy green Bubbergrubber results. Should two Bubbergrubbers mate a Red Backed Grubber is produced. These are similar in size to Tarant Tula but touching one is instant death.

In the centre of the lair is a trap door. To get through it Tarant Tula must first eat a mouthful of honey and then ram the door. It takes several attacks to break through to the next level, taking more honey between each attempt. At the same time the other members of the Grubber family are also gobbling at the honey. Tarant Tula must also dash about eating Grubbers and Bubbergrubbers to prevent them from becoming Red Backs. It's no easy life!

Successfully breaking through the trap door leads poor old Tarant Tula into a maze guarded by three Red Backs. Should he get through there safely it leads into the next lair where the temperature is warmer and the eggs hatch quicker - and so on.

COMMENTS

Keyboard positions: sensible, Q/Z up/down, I/P left/right
Joystick options: none
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: average
Graphics: good
Sound: average
Skill levels: increasing difficulty by screen
Lives: 1

Because of its originality and cute graphics, this is an instantly likable game to play - and it isn't easy either! You only have one life, so the frustration of messing up just before getting your highest score is terrible - in anger I kept pressing the start button and having another go.

This is an addictive game to play, no doubt. My only complaint is that Tarant Tula keeps moving once a key has been pressed until you press another direction. Makes him a bit hard to control. especially in the maze, or when under attack from Red Backs, which do home in on him. A game to come back to anyway.

The graphics are quite good and it's reasonably addictive in playing. Tarant Tula is a bit difficult to control because of the continuous movement. Quite a good game.

Producer: Workforce, 16K
£5.50 (1)

This is an original type of creepie crawlie game but it is not a 'centipede' game, There are basically two screens. In the first our hero, Tarant Tula, finds himself in the Grubbers Lair. There's a trapdoor leading to the next screen which only opens after repeated hammerings of Tarant Tula's head. There's also a pile of honey for the bugs to eat, but Tarant (to use his first name) must take a mouthful of the honey between each attempt on the door. The Grubbers, little round things, wander about and when they meet a green, squirmy Bubbergrubber is formed. These eat honey too, and should two of them meet a Red Backed Grubber results. These are the ones that kill off old Tarant if they catch him. Aim is to get through the trap door before any amount of Red Backs are bred Tarant can, however, eat the Grubber; and Bubbergrubbers. Once through and Tarant is presented with a simple maze guarded by three Red Backs. If he should get through safely he arrives in another lair where the bugs breed faster. Neat graphics and a pretty maddeningly addictive game to play. Only one life makes for terminal furstration on nearing a hi-score. Continuous movement makes Tarant Tula a bit difficult to control although the control keys are sensibly placed. No joystick option. Overall CRASH rating 67% M/C.

Producer: Workforce, 16K
£5.50 (1)

This is an original type of creepie crawlie game but it is not a 'centipede' game, There are basically two screens. In the first our hero, Tarant Tula, finds himself in the Grubbers Lair. There's a trapdoor leading to the next screen which only opens after repeated hammerings of Tarant Tula's head. There's also a pile of honey for the bugs to eat, but Tarant (to use his first name) must take a mouthful of the honey between each attempt on the door. The Grubbers, little round things, wander about and when they meet a green, squirmy Bubbergrubber is formed. These eat honey too, and should two of them meet a Red Backed Grubber results. These are the ones that kill off old Tarant if they catch him. Aim is to get through the trap door before any amount of Red Backs are bred Tarant can, however, eat the Grubber; and Bubbergrubbers. Once through and Tarant is presented with a simple maze guarded by three Red Backs. If he should get through safely he arrives in another lair where the bugs breed faster. Neat graphics and a pretty maddeningly addictive game to play. Only one life makes for terminal frustration on nearing a hi-score. Continuous movement makes Tarant Tula a bit difficult to control although the control keys are sensibly placed. No joystick option. Overall CRASH rating 67% M/C.

FAST ACTION FOR TRAPPED TARANTULA

Billed as "the bugs bite back", the Work Force Doom Bugs for the 16K Spectrum promises you a busy time. The player takes the role of a tarantula trapped inside a grubber's lair. The way out is via a trapdoor at the centre of the screen and you must try to bore your way through it with the help of a nibble of honey to renew your strength at each attempt.

Meanwhile, the grubber are reproducing at an alarming rate. When two eggs meet, a green bubbergrubber is hatched and if two green bubbergrubbers meet, they form a red grubber which will destroy you if you collide with it.

What with locating the centre of the trapdoor, nipping back for some honey, and trying to destroy eggs and grubber: before they team up to destroy you, escaping is an exacting task. The placing of the keys, which you cannot re-define, does not make things easier.

The graphics and sound are suitably frenetic and the action is fast enough to satisfy the most practised of arcade addicts. You receive points for eating grubs and a bonus for fighting through to the next level where the scene is a maze and the action even hotter than before.

Doom Bugs can be obtained from Work Force, 140 Wilsden Avenue, Luton, Beds. It costs £5.50.

MACHINE: Spectrum 16/48K
JOYSTICK: No
CATEGORY: Arcade
SUPPLIER: Work Force
PRICE: £5.50

You must try to break through a trapdoor while gobbling up eggs and Grubbers in a hopeless attempt at preventing them turning into Lethal red-backed Grubbers.