1985 – Doctor Who and the Warlord
BBC Micro (Cassette)
Publisher: BBC Software/BBC Microgames
Designer: Graham Williams
From the back cover:
The game – The first part takes you across a strange planet in the distant future. In your efforts to track down the ever-elusive Doctor you will encounter interstellar gypsies, lurking androids and, worst of all, King Varangar’s moody bloodguards.
Using your intelligence, fluency and good looks you will need to think, talk and charm your way out of scores of mind-wrenching situations and collect the objects essential to completing the game.
In Part B the Tardis spirits you back in time to the Battle of Waterloo where you will need all your wits to defeat both Napoleon and the malignant Warlord. Finally, pray for a quiet end to your Adventure…
A Spectrum version was apparently planned but not released. The use of the TARDIS on the cover was supposedly following a drop in sales of The First Adventure after Davison’s regeneration – the producers deciding that the low sales were related to out-of-date artwork, and that using the TARDIS icon would ‘future-proof’ it. As the player plays the part of the Doctor’s assistant, the Doctor himself is hardly in the game, making it difficult to ascertain which incarnation he is in – he is presumably intended to be the Colin Baker incarnation of the time, however.
Controls
Type-in game
1985 – Brian Bloodaxe
Spectrum 48K, Amstrad CPC464, Commodore C64 (Cassette))
Programming: Charles Bystram (and Trevor Imms on C64)
Publisher: The Edge Software
Also appeared on Spectrum compilation cassettes Now Games 1 (1985, Virgin Games Ltd), Classix 1 (1987, The Edge Software) and All Stars (1988, The Edge Software)
A massive platform game that features a guest appearance by a Dalek (in the Commodore version this on the second screen to the left of the start screen). Samples of the graphics can be seen below (Spectrum, then Amstrad, then Commodore), and a Dalek, from the C64 version.
From the instruction book:
The game will start automatically once loading is complete.
Please note that this game features our turbo loading technique. This means that the game will load approximately twice as fast as is usual on the Spectrum. However, to ensure reliable loading do please check that your tape player’s heads are clean and regularly demagnetised, and that it is either running from mains or from well charged batteries. If these simple precautions are taken then you should enjoy trouble-free loading of this game.
WARNING. Do not play this game. This game features “Primary Imbalance” and may be injurious to mental health.
Well you seem to have ignored my warning, so I’d better tell you something about this silly game.
THE GAME
“It was a Thursday afternoon at around 3 o’clock when the signal to go was beamed across the known universe. Boarding your supa-interspatial mega-galactic craft you set off knowing full well that you are Mankind’s last hope, but not at all sure that you remembered to lock the front door…”
Sorry, wrong game, lets try again.
“Wow are you hungry, and as you guide your snapping form around the maze you find fruit to devour, but look out! Those nastyghosts are…”
Hum, No, that’s wrong too. I’m sure I had it here somewhere…Ah yes here it is.
BRIAN BLOODAXE, Conqueror of the Brits
It was pretty late in the week, probably Thursday I should think, when Brian got bored. Well, you’d get bored too, I can tell you, if you’d been stuck in a flaming great ice-cube floating about in the North Atlantic for a few centuries. Brian had reached a decision, not before time you might say as it had taken him around 500 years to formulate. But then Brian was never much of a quick thinker. “I’ll invade the Brits …” spluttered forth his excuse for grey matter.
So he did. Trouble is he chose a certain Tuesday in 1983AD when the entire population were either “out to lunch”, “in a meeting”, or on the edge of their seats about to be informed who exactly had shot J.R.
Not being put off, Brian set forth to conquer.
Being an exceptionally sly creature Brian decided to choose one of three major invasion points around Britain, non of which were Hastings.
Oh yes, due to an old war-wound (and, some say, an inherent laziness) Brian can only carry three things at a time.
“Uh that’s about it really.
“You sure?
“Well, yeah. I think so.
“Haven’t told them much hve you?
“No. S’pose not really. But they’ll soon get the hang of it.
“What do you think those bird brains out there are going to be able to make their little ways around all 104 screens, each of which present a unique and mind boggling mental puzzle?
“Yea.
“And discover all the weapons, tools and goodies as well as how to use them?
“Hope so.
“And discover the point of the game?!!
“Well, no. S’pose not really.
“Well aren’t you going to tell them about how Brain’s task is to get hold of the Crown Jewels and sit on the Throne with them?
“Yea, all right. But I’m not telling them the rest.
“What not even the penguins?
“Nope.
THE COMPETITION
If you’re the fist person to get the Crown Jewels and to sit on the Throne then bully for you, but we’re not giving prizes for that. No, achieve that petty task first and then you’ll be asked to do something else. None of your simple problem solving here, no, the final task is a real humdinger (the dinger’s humming is full animated).
At the end of Brian’s final quest he can be carrying up to three things – it’s the war wound you see – and the first person so solve the game WILL WIN THEIR CHOICE OF ONE OF THE THINGS BRIAN IS CARRYING WHEN THE GAME ENDS. But a word of advice to this lucky winner, ‘play in the spirit of this game and you’ll win in the spirit of this game, and be amply rewarded.
A rather eccentric game to say the least, it was also infamous as upon completion of loading the Amstrad version, it faked a system crash and reboot to annoy the player before getting going.
The prize referred to above was a genuine competition – a doctored version of the game, however, was distributed for review purposes, and came into the hands of some unsuspecting members of the public, who hastily phoned in to claim their prize – only to be disappointed…
Controls
Left: Caps Shift (or Joystick)
Right: Z (or Joystick)
Jump: C (or Joystick)
Pick Up/Drop: V (or Fire Button)
Fire: Spacebar (or Joystick down)
Use: X (or Fire Button)
Tune On/Off: T
Restart Game: Enter/H
Complete Solution
First of all you get the red key from the screen on the right to where you start. Next go and find the bomb and detonator. Go down off that screen and go right on to the screen with the green key. Put the bomb on the ground above the key, set the detonator and blow it up. Now go and get the green key. Go left and you should end up in the mines. Go right and get the bomb leaving the red key behind; go back (left) and up the space in the roof in this room.
Now here’s a tricky bit – when the shark comes towards you jump on its back and get to safe ground. Now get the gold key and go through the gap in the roof. Plant the bomb close to the sword and when it comes near blow it up.
The next part is to get off this screen and get onto the right hand side of the first screen. Put the detonator down and jump onto the bit in the middle. Go
through the gap in the roof to the pool room and collect the triangle but leave everything else in this room. Go left then left again until you find a room with a blueish key in it. Get this and go back to the pool room (presumably a take off of the town Poole in Dorset) get the two other keys and go right onto the loo scene. Get the sword and pint of beer and attack the duck – you can use the beer to give you energy. Now go up and open the doors on the right with the keys you’ve got. Now go back from the screen you’ve just come from and get the other key, the sword and the beer.
When you get to the screen with the throne take the plug out and go down. Here you will find a screen with a snowman, three doors and an elephant. Kill the snowman and go and open the door with all the keys you’ve got.
Go over to the barrel and put an object near it, jump on the object. Now jump again while pressing the drop key but only if the elephant is below you. Now kill the elephant, go down the hole to the room with the crown jewels in it, collect them and go back to the room with the throne in it and you’ve done it.
Cheats for Spectrum Version
| Infinite lives | 26582,0 |
| Infinite energy | 27957,0 |
| No enemies | 29182,118; 29183,201 |
| Immune after death | 25127,0 |
Use these on an original Spectrum, or an emulator with POKEing ability.
Or try typing this listing and running it to load the game with infinite lives:
5 REM BRIAN POKES
10 CLEAR 64000
20 PRINT AT 9,2; “PLAY IN BLOODAXE TAPE”; AT 11,9; “FROM THE START”
30 RESTORE
40 FOR N= 23296 TO 23374: READ A: POKE NA: NEXT N
50 RANDOMIZE USR 23296
60 DATA 6,3,197,221,33,0
70 DATA 0,17,0,0,62,255
80 DATA 55,205,86,5,193,16
90 DATA 239,221,33,232,254,17
100 DATA 34,1,62,255,55,205
110 DATA 86,5,62,201,50,149
120 DATA 255,58,84,92,254,92
130 DATA 40,9,33,240,92,17
140 DATA 182,92,205,229,25,205
150 DATA 3,255,49,135,144,221
160 DATA 33,24,240,17,136,19
170 DATA 62,255,55,205,86,5
180 DATA 175,50,214,103,195,224
190 DATA 96
Cheat for Commodore Version
POKE 38270,165 for infinite lives. Use this on an original Commodore, or an emulator with POKEing ability.
Downloads
Some music from the C64 version of Brian Bloodaxe, digitally extracted for playing on a compatible player (TME recommends sidplay2/w, available here):
1985? – Time Lords
BBC Micro (Cassette or Disc)
Publisher: Red Shift
Game Design: Julian Gollop
Programming: Andrew Greene
After the appearance of a Gallifreyan on the loading screen (see right, holding The Big Stick of Rassilon from the looks of it), the player(s) can choose from 5 characters: Kaled, Cyburman, Zarby, Nestine or Human and the planets Scaro, Mundas, Vortys, Neston and Earth.
A complicated role-playing game then ensues, which we’ve never quite got the hang of.
An alternate (presumably pre-release) version is also available, in which the characters include Daleks, Cybermen, Zarbi and Autons, and the planets are Skaro, Mondas, Vortis, Neston and Earth.
1985 – Stranded
BBC Micro, Commodore C64 (Cassette or Disc)
Publisher: Superior Software
Designer: D Woodhouse and C Hughes
A small type-in game with bright graphics and a good vocabulary (“drop fuel” being the sole exception), in which the player comes to on a strange planet, and must get back to civilisation.
The game’s inlay gives little extra plot information than this:
“An adventure game using hi-resolution full colour graphics. You are stranded on a strange planet, and your mission is to return to civilisation and home. Many of the locations are shown graphically, including the spaceship, the cliffs, the mountains and (if you succeed) your home.
After some exploring, the player finally blows up a robot who is guarding a spaceship. Inside the spaceship, after walking down some corridors, the player comes to an airlock. There is a picture of a blue police box with the following:
“You are standing outside a familiar looking Time Machine. The entrance is locked.”
The player then gains entrance by picking the lock. With a picture of the console room:
“You are in a large control room. A large circular console is in the middle of the room. The console has three buttons (red black and white). There is a slot here for a time crystal.”
BBC graphics are on the left, C64 on the right.
Controls
Type-in game
Complete Solution:
W, Get Fuel, N, D, W, N, Climb Tree, Get Parachute, D, E, S, Jump, Get Laser, Jump, S, E, N, Get Lockpick, N, W, D, S, Shoot Robot, Enter Airlock, Pick Lock, Drop Fuel, Pull Lever, N, W, N, E, E, S, N, W, W, W, N, Pick Lock, E, E, Get Suit, W, W, S, S, E, E, E, S, S, Get Crystal, N, N, W, W, W, N, Pick lock, N, Drop Crystal, Push Red Button, S, S, S, W, S, Get Key, N, E, E, E, N, Push White Button, S, S, Unlock Door
1985 – Paradroid
Commodore C64 (Cassette), Amiga (as Paradroid 90), Atari ST (as Paradroid 90), Acorn Archimedes (as Paradroid 2000) (Disc)
Programmer: Andrew Braybrook
Developed by: Graftgold
Music by: Rob Hubbard
A typically early-80s sci-fi adventure, in which a ship has been taken over by robots, and the player must take control of the robots in order to take back control of the ship. One of the robots, (#883) looks uncannily similar to a Dalek.
The opening screens explain the plotline the best:
A fleet of Robo-Freighters on its way to its way to the Beta Ceti system reported entering an uncharted field of asteroids. Each ship carries a cargo of battle droids to reinforce the outworld defenses.
Two distress beacons have been recovered. Similar messages were stored on each. The ships had been bombarded by a powerful radionic beam from one of the asteroids.
All of the robots on the ships, including those in storage, became hyper-active. The crews report attacks by droids, isolating them on the bridge. They cannot reach the shuttle and can hold out for only a couple more hours.
Since these beacons were recovered two days ago, we can only fear the worst.
Some of the fleet was last seen headed for enemy space. In enemy hands the droids can be used against our forces.
Docking would be impossible but we can beam aboard a prototype Influence Device.
The 001 Influence Device consists of a helmet, which, when placed over a robot’s control unit can halt the normal activities of that robot for a short time. The helmet has its own power supply and powers the robot itself, at an upgraded capability. The helmet also uses an energy cloak for protection of the host.
The helmet is fitted with twin lasers mounted in a turret. These are low powered and have a slow recycle rate.
Most of the device’s resources are channeled towards holding control of the host robot, as it attempts to resume its ‘normal’ operations.
It is therefore necessary to change the host robot often to prevent the device from burning out. Transfer to a new robot requires the device to drain its host of energy in order to take it over. Failure to achieve transfer results in the device being a free agent once more.
An influence device can transmit only certain data, namely its own location and the location of other robots in visual range. This data is merged with known ship layouts at your C64 remote terminal.
Additional information about the ships and robots may be obtained by accessing the ship’s computer at a console. A small-scale plan of the whole deck is available, as well as a side elevation of the ship.
Robots are represented on-screen as a symbol showing a three-digit number. The first digit shown is the important one, the class of the robot. It denotes the strength also.
To find out more about any given robot, use the robot enquiry system at a console. Only data about units of a lower class than your current host is available, since it is the host’s security clearance that is used to access the console.
Paradroid later appeared as part of the plug-n-play joystick “C64 Direct-To-TV” (pictured below) – released in 2005, this joystick plugged directly into a TV set and allowed the player to enjoy 30 C64 games by Epyx and Hewson (although one, Speedball, was from Image Works), including Paradroid.
Controls
Joystick – directions to move, fire to fire/transfer
Cheats
One of the ROMs available for this online is hacked to include options to speed up the game, give unlimited energy, unlimited colour time, unlimited pulsers, enhanced ramming, no score decrease, starting level and level select and finally starting droid.
Download
The music from Paradroid, digitally extracted for playing on a compatible player – TME recommends sidplay2/w (available here)
1985 – Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror
BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC464, Commodore C64 (Cassette/Disc)
Publisher: Micro Power Ltd
Programmed by: Gary Partis (BBC version), Ian Clements (Spectrum and Amstrad versions), Tony Sothcot (Commodore version)
Format: Cassette and disc (2 versions available for each format)
This is a highly complex game about the sixth incarnation of the Doctor (controlled by the player) and companion Splinx trying to infiltrate the mining moons of Rijar and prevent the Master and his Madrags from using your brain to create a Chaos Weapon. Micro Power sunk a large amount of money into production and promotion of this game, and disappointing sales contributed somewhat to the company’s eventual bankruptcy.
The Doctor and Splinx and must halt the production of Heatonite, a time-warping mineral, disable the Time Instant Replay Unit and regain the plans to the complex.
The game came with many information sheets, which are reprinted below.
In order to improve the game on the BBC Version (which features probably the best graphics see above), the box contained an extra ROM chip which required fitting before gameplay could commence.
Bizarrely, many Commodore ftp and download sites also contain a file called ‘Dr Who 2’. This is simply The Mines of Terror saved part way through the game.
In Zzap! 64 issue 13, to tie in with a review of The Mines of Terror, a spot-the-difference competition was run (see below), for the lucky winner to spend a day watching Doctor Who being filmed
The Spectrum version came very close to fruition, with articles appearing on a number of occasions in Spectrum magazines:
Sinclair User: Dr Who, from Micro Power, is due to materialise in the high street later this month. The reason for the delay of the program, which was due out last year, is that the programmer originally doing the coding had to work on other versions of the game. Bob Simpson (below), managing director of Micro Power explains: “We have put our top programmer on Dr Who and it should be ready by April.” Those who have kept faith will be able to buy the game for £11.95, a lower price than originally stated. Simpson says: “We were going to launch it at £14.95 but now feel that the price might be a bit over the top for Spectrum owners.”
Your Sinclair: Who’d have thought it? Cliff Richard clone, Dr. Who, immortalised on silicon? Yeti is – in a new Speccy game from Micro Power. But exterminate all thoughts of getting it in your hot little hands el prompto – ‘cos Micro Power says it’s a long way off. The biggest horror awaiting you in the game, called Dr. Who – Mines of Terror, must be its attempt to emulate the View To A Kill scrolling window. I’m afraid to say, Who’s old mates, the Daleks, don’t appear to get a beep in! The game’s all about the good doctor’s efforts to destroy the Tiru (Time Instant Replay Unit) and nab the plans for the machine from the clutches of arch- enemy, the Master. Micro Power’s Time Lord seems powerless to reveal a release date for the game, but it should be some time before Christmas and at a price of £14.95. Phone (0532) 458800 for more info.
Crash: Michael Baxter of Solutions Public Relations slips an interesting phrase into a press release which arrives moments before press time. He describes a game as being “entirely scrolling”. He’s referring to the long overdue release from Micro Power, Dr Who and the Mines of Terror, which was launched before Christmas (our man in London, John Minson, attended the launch but lost his copy in a drunken haze – the sort of common occurrence you expect from a big city Lounge Lizard). As per usual, the Doctor is fighting the Master, who’s out to dominate the Universe – this time by building a time-instant replay unit. The Time Lords have asked the Doctor to nip along to the planet Rijan, where the Master has his workshop, and they’ve thoughtfully provided our here with a programmable droid cat called Splinx. March 17th is the appointed day, and providing there are no more problems with the Tardis, Dr Who, the Splinx and you should be able to explore the hundred plus screens, which include a mine-works, a reactor, a lift shaft and a monorail – all entirely scrolling, of course.
Download
- The manual, and scans of the security card, the map and the characters necessary to start playing the game.
- Some music from the C64 version of The Mines of Terror, digitally extracted for playing on a compatible player – TME recommends sidplay2/w (available here).
1985/6 – Mind Maze, The Five Doctors
ZX Spectrum 48K (Cassette)
Programmer: Kevin o’Shea [website] No longer available
During the 1980s, Spectrum owner Kevin O’Shea was inspired by “a love of Who and the game The Key to Time” and produced two text adventures based on the series – The Mind Maze and The Five Doctors. In the late 90s, Kevin put these on his new website, and was rather surprised to soon find them not only being copied to Doctor Who sites, but also into Spectrum archives. These games were never intended for public consumption at the time, and wheras he understands that by today’s standards gameplay is a little limited, he described to TME some of the comments made on certain Who download sites as “hurtful”.
The Master explains the storyline to The Mind Maze as you meet him early in the story:
“Welcome Doctor to the Mind Maze where the memory of the subject is transformed into physical reality! Prepare to face your past as it destroys your future! I am aware that your TARDIS is in need of a replacement Dimension Cicuit, there is one deep within the Maze. You will never find it. Even if you do, the key to your TARDIS has been stolen by old friends. They too are in the Maze but will not be too keen to return it.
Farewell Doctor…FOREVER!!”
Whenever you quit in this game and have to restart, the Doctor regenerates. Once he has ended his thirteenth life, the game resets and you are forced to load it again.
The Five Doctors was a text adventure based heavily on the TV story of the same name, and puts you in charge of the Fifth Doctor, as the game’s opening sequence describes:
..It is as though great chunks of your past are detatching them-selves like melting icebergs.
The Time Scoop is being misused to transport you and your other selves from their proper places in Time and Space to The Death Zone on Gallifrey.
Someone is using you to secure the famous Ring of Rassilon on their behalf…
Your aims Doctor are as follows:
1. To become “whole” again by joining with all of you other selves, including your fourth self who is trapped in the Vortex. The rest of you have made their way to the Tomb of Rassilon.
2. To discover the identity of who or what is misusing the Time Scoop.
You will recieve marks as you play the game. To find out just how well you are doing, type in ‘SCORE’.
For further help on playing the game, just type in ‘HELP’ at any time.
Your adventure starts on The Eye of Orion…
Brave Heart Doctor.
Controls
Type-in games
Review of The Five Doctors by Sarah Hadley for TME
Oh, this is absolute tripe. Anyone who knows anything about The Five Doctors… especially the novelisation… will know how to beat this sucker. Throw in an exceedingly small vocabulary and an irritating maze, and you have one painful game. Recommended only for completists and masochists.
1986 – Odd Job Eddie
ZX Spectrum 128K (Cassette, with Witchfiend)
Programmer: Harry Price
Publisher: Strobe
A charming (if sometimes irritating) game in the typical Spectrum screen-flipping mould – a television set is broken, so Eddie the repair man must go inside it in order to fix it. Numerous TV characters, including a Dalek, appear. The game describes the gameplay thus:
Well here we go again, telly’s on the blink and we cannot play our favourite games. Better send for the king of do it yourself ‘Odd Job Eddie’ jack of all trades,master of none. Try and take ‘Eddie’ through the works of the T.V. collecting his tools as you go… Avoid all moving creatures as these are instant destruction, but you may use the sliding platforms to walk across …….. If you manage to collect all Eddie’s tools take them to the viewing room to find your way our again…..
To reach the first Dalek, head left, up and then right.
Controls
Left: Q
Right: W
Jump: M
Pause: P
Quit: Shift and 1
Cheat
Poke 30349,0 for infinite lives on original Spectrum or on emulator with POKEing capability.
Map
To help find your way around, use the map in the gallery above.
1986 – Doctor What!
ZX Spectrum 48K (Cassette)
Publisher: Software Foundation Team
Written by: CRL
Author: A Fox
Art: P Fox
The four Doctors (What, Why, Where and When) have got drunk together and become lost in time and space along with their Trydises. They must all meet at the Castle and find the Jelly Babies of Wisdom.
The cassette’s inlay notes read:
What has ended up somewhere strange.
Where is somewhere, it goes without saying.
Why is in What’s laboratory – why worry!
When is stuck in a pretty heavy predicament.
Don’t ask Why.
Don’t ask Where.
Don’t ask When.
And especially don’t ask What.
The Doctors are busy. Trying to reach the jelly baby of infinite wisdom and ultimate knowledge!
An arcade adventure with a difference. “What’s the difference?” I hear you ask! But we already told you not to ask that!
What its all about
When the four doctors – What, Where, When and Why got together for a party they didn’t anticipate a simple problem. Getting home afterwards.
Traveling through the continuum of time and space under the influence of Neuro Cardial cocktails wasn’t their best decision.
Several million years, many eons and four hangovers later, What, Where, When and Why found themselves in a bit of a sticky situation.
Frazzled heads, sizzled ships and problem environments called for only one solution.
A trip to the jelly baby of infinite wisdom and ultimate knowledge in the tower of Darabur!
Why is in What’s laboratory!
What’s totally lost!
When is stuck on a nasty planet!
Where Where is, is anybody’s guess!
Where What is, Why Where is where What is and when will get to where Where is, and what will do when Why gets to where When is, (if he’s not gone somewhere else) is up to you! ! !
INCREDIBLY BRIEF INSTRUCTIONS!
A pulsing selector shows the position of the object to be dropped or if it is blank the position occupied by the object to be picked up. The doctors strength is determined by the Jelly Baby on the bottom right. It is gradually eaten away when the Doctor suffers energy loss.
That’s all you are getting, so make the most of it!
This inevitably leads to a puzzle-game in which the player can switch between any of the four Doctors at will (predating classics such as Head over Heels and Spellbound, which would employ the same technique, by several years).
Controls
Left: Q
Right: P
Get/Drop: O
Jump: M
Enter door: A
Use: Z
Change Doctor: 1-4
Quit: Y
Map
To help find your way around, use this map:
1986 – Herbert’s Dummy Run
ZX Spectrum 48K, Amstrad CPC464, Commodore C64 (Cassette and Disc)
Publisher: Mikro-Gen Limited
In this part of the Wally Week series (also featuring Automania, Pyjamarama, Everyone’s A Wally, and Three Weeks in Paradise), Herbert must search a department store for his Mum and Dad, and play various arcade-style games in the process. The booklet describes the game thus:
Herbert was visiting a large department store with his Mum and Dad (Wally and Wilma) when he got lost! Now the store is a scary place and full of beasts which will hurt Herbert and make him cry! Help Herbert to explore the store, manipulating the objects he finds to help him get into the lost children office where Wally and Wilma are waiting for him.
One of the games is a Space Invaders-style adventure with Daleks in place of the invaders. To get to it, simply walk right twice, down the stairs and right again (jumping up to get through the doors). It is impossible to win, but sometimes fun to play. The Amstrad version (below-right) contains easily the best graphics, and the Spectrum (predictably) the worst (below-left). The Commodore version (centre) was, as was standard for the time, a lazy conversion from the Spectrum, and as such features the same poor graphics with the small benefit of better sprite-handling on the hardware.
Controls
Left: O
Right: P
Jump: Space
(Or joystick on Spectrum and Commodore versions)
Cheats and Tips
Play the Commodore version – it’s the slowest moving and therefore the easiest.
Poke 51924,0 for infinite lives or 36739,x for a set number on original Spectrum or an emulator capable of POKE-ing.
Another way to get infinite lives on the Spectrum version is to go to the room with the ropes, start climbing one of them (the game will only let you climb the one) by repeatedly pressing left and right. Then start sliding down, but hold down the keys C, H, E, A and T before you hit the ground.
And the complete solution on any platform:
1) First of all get the box key and get the honey pot.
2) Now go to the room that the game starts in and jump up on to the box. This will spring you up to where you can exchange the honey pot for the teddy.
3) Get the rope. Now with the rope and the teddy go to the arcade room with the Daleks in it.
4) The teddy will go and open the right hand side door; you can now go through this. Jump at the rope in the next room and it should extend into a room with a rubber duck, collect this. s.
5) Load the pop gun (with the cork) and go to the castle.
6) Exchange the pop gun for the flag and with the rubber duck go to the seaside screen. You can now collect the pebbles to load the catapult.
7) Now get the torch and the bulb, this will mend the torch.
8) Go to the dark room with the bulb and this will enable you to see. Shoot all the ducks and a couple of rolls of caps should be dropped. Put these somewhere convenient.
9) Get the A brick and the chocolate 10p and go to the screen with the till.
11) Climb on top of the brick and walk past the till with the chocolate 10p, this should now be exchanged for a real 10p.
12) Take the 10p and the bomb and then go to the room with the 10p slot on the door and jump at it. You will now be in a Blitz game, and when this is completed you will receive a cannonball.
13) With this and the rolls of caps go to the room with the cannon and walk through it. The cannonball will be launched and a hole in the wall will be made.
14) Pass through this hole and get the spacehopper.
15) Then go back up to get the tennis racket, put the space hopper in a convenient place.
16) Next go into the Breakout room and complete the game. Once the Breakout game is completed you should receive a glove.
17) Get the space hopper and with the glove go to Level 1 where there is a room with a hand guarding a door. You must now jump into the room behind the hand (the hand will no longer harm you because you have the glove).
18) You will be in a room with Wally and Wilma at the top of an escalator. As you have the space hopper you will be able to jump very high. This means that you can now jump up and switch the escalator on and be reunited with Wally and Wilma to complete the game.
Downloas
Some music from the C64 version of Herbert’s Dummy Run, digitally extracted for playing on a compatible player (TME recommends sidplay2/w (available here).
Review by Chris Bourne for Sinclair User
The Wally-lovers at Mikro-Gen continue their researches into suburban sub-culture with a visit to the department store in Herbert’s Dummy Run. Herbert is the nappy-clad offspring of Wally, hero of Pyjamarama and Everyone’s a Wally.
Herbert has become separated from his father, and must make his own way to the exit of an enormous department store. Being a toddler, he cannot always reach many of the objects he needs to escape without assistance, so plenty of thought and backtracking is required to complete the arcade adventure.
Graphics are extremely colourful and pleasing, in the same style as the previous games. Colour clashes do still occur, but in general the cartoon-style decor of the store is sharp and clear.
Mikro-Gen programmers seem to enjoy filling up the screen with furniture and decoration, and the department store setting suits that style very well.
Clever touches include the addition of several rooms with arcade-game sequences, satirising Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, Bomber and Breakout, among others. Herbert should also proceed with care in the lift – if he forgets which floor it is at, he develops a parachute and floats down the shaft.
Although representing no great advance on the programming techniques and style of Everyone’s a Wally, the game will nevertheless delight fans of the series and provides plenty of humour and excitement for the arcade-adventure brigade.
Review for Crash
As with the other Wally games, many of the screens take the form of well known arcade games. One screen can only be solved by dismantling a wall, ‘Breakout‘ style – if you manage this the resultant pat on the head is well deserved.
The game would be too easy if you could pick up and carry every object that you came across. Only being able to carry two objects at a time forces you to do a little forward thinking. At the top of the screen you are reminded of what objects are in your possession – the one that you have had for the longest is automatically exchanged for another ‘collectable’ piece as you walk past it.
As you explore the store looking for the ways and means to solve the game you are under constant pressure from a wide variety of mobile ‘thingies’. You have three lives and when you come into contact with some of the nasties your energy, shown by a large tear that fills up, will be reduced until you escape the meanies, or lose that life. A few mobiles kill immediately on contact so you will have to learn to identify them quickly. You are able to reverse the drain on your energy by eating the sweets found scattered around the store.
CRITICISM
I have mixed feelings about this game, on the surface it is an excellent program but I feel that Micro-Gen may be repeating the formula once to often. If you don’t mind that, then Herbert’s Dummy Run may be worth having. The graphics are excellent, even better than those in Everyone’s a Wally, the sound is reasonable and the colour is used well. The game is as infuriating as it’s predecessor and should please the arcade/adventure addicts. Those horrible colour attribute problems are still with us but they really can’t be helped, after a while you tend to ignore them. I think the asking price of £9.95 is a little steep – I feel the game would be much better value at £6.95. Overall it’s a very good program if you don’t mind more of the same. I hope Micro-Gen’s next game is graphically as good but with a substantially different game format.
Herbert’s Dummy Run contains graphics which are well up to Micro-Gen’s high standard. They are both colourful, large and detailed. The game is fun and very addictive and contains many mini games within its overall structure. While these mini games are nothing than fairly simple shoot-em-ups they add to the overall peril of the game. Herbert is destined to be another Micro-Gen star. At this rate I don’t think the Wally trilogy is ever going to stop, with all those characters to choose from. I’m glad they’ve only got one character in this one – let’s face it, when you’ve got five characters all stealing the object you need next, infuriating isn’t the word!
Staying on the same lines as before – Herbert’s life while he grows up in a wildly strange place – Herbert’s Dummy Run is set in a large department store. Graphically it seems to be far better, perhaps it’s the use of more colour, or even more detailed characters. One room that I liked particularly was the one with a huge bed and lots of ‘Z’s floating around. Plenty of arcade sequences are included in the game, which follows on from the general idea of the previous Wally games and requires some thought to enable you to progress with it. I only wish that Mikro-Gen had included some other characters that wander about, as in some of their other games, but sequels are based on on the fact that the production is better in some way than the last game. Overall I think that this is another winner for Micro-Gen.
COMMENTS
General rating: more of the same excellent stuff.
Use of computer 90%
Graphics 90%
Playability 89%
Getting started 83%
Addictive qualities 89%
Value for money 82%
Overall 90%
1987 – Imagination
Commodore C64 (Cassette)
Publishers: Firebird
Another text game, this time a highly-amusing and often witty story about a young boy who buys a mysterious games disk and ends up imagining it’s real. The ‘disk’ contains four games which the player can hop between, a science-fiction one (2002 – A Very Odd Day In Space) features a brief appearance by the AA Timelord, who sounds remarkably similar to the good Doctor, along with many other references to cult sci-fi and computer gaming.
The beautiful loading screen was by regular digital artist Stephen Robertson, who was paid £150 for work which would usually take him a day.
The game was rereleased in 1988 as part of The Power Pack budget compilation from Prism Leisure (see tape above right).
Controls
Type-in game
Complete Walkthrough
Put disc, examine screen, one, pull lever, view, press switch, open hatch, south, south, get bucket, east, examine bunkbed, get cord, east, get map, pinch arm, four, get paint, paint cord, drop tin, out, get spade, dig, get gloves, drop spade, pinch arm, two, north, examine bull, west, north, west, west, enter tower, give map to woman, pinch arm, three, east, east, east, east, get coals, get poker, pinch arm, two, east, north, north, drop bucket, get grass, south, west, west, examine cow, give grass to cow, milk cow, get icicle, east, east, give icicle to child, get yoyo, pinch arm, three, east, east, up, north, east, north, east, play yoyo, drop yoyo, pinch arm, four, out, enter plane, aim at bull, fire, pinch arm, two, north, enter citadel, down, unlock cell, get bread, drop key, up, up, examine plaque, pinch arm, three, east, east, up, north, give bread to bat, pinch arm, one, pull lever, view, press switch, open hatch, south, south, east, east, north, press button, get bag, pinch arm, four, out, drop bag, east, enter airbase, down, get pickaxe, pinch arm, three, east, east, up, north, east, north, tip toes, get oilcan, hit floor, fill can, pinch arm, four, smear gun with oil, fire, pinch arm, two, north, enter citadel, examine font, drink elixir, pinch arm, three, east, east, up, north, east, north, tip toes, enter mole, pull lever, out, get ramboard, pinch arm, one, pull lever, view, press switch, open hatch, south, east, insert ramboard in console, pinch arm, one, pull lever, view, press button, press switch, grab spacesuit, open hatch, get spacesuit, open hatch…
1988 – Doctor Goo and the Samaroons
ZX Spectrum 48K (Cassette)
Publishers/Programmers: Global Software/Spectrum Adventure Exchange Club (reissued in 1991 by Delbert the Hamster Software as ‘Doctor Goo and the Samorons’)
A witty puzzle game spoofing Doctor Who. From the game’s opening:
During the 20th century mankind faced a perplexing problem. Many seafaring vessels and aircraft mysteriously vanished without a trace in a part of the planet Earth which was subsequently named the Bermuda Triangle.
Now, in the 31st century, senior Time Lords are investigating the disappearance of several space freighters which were carrying valuable fuel supplies to a distant colony, BT MINOR.
The “interception” of the fuel supplies is causing great concern amongst the Time Lords, not to mention the anxiety of the inhabitants of BT MINOR!
As you have probably guessed you must assist Doctor Goo, the cream of the Time Lords, who has been chosen to investigate this strange affair.
Controls
Type-in Game
