Producer: Argus Press Software
Retail Price: £9.95
Author: Matthew Rhodes, Colin Jones, Jeremy Nelson, Nick Vincent, John Pickford

This review was to be the great expose on Grange Hill, the television program everyone's heard about but never seen. Alas, several factors have conspired against this, the two major failings being my inability to find any bookshop that sells the book this program is apparently based upon, namely Grange Hill After Hours, and my missing, the television program on several occasions due to a propensity for scoffing things about the time it goes out. I thought I had it beat when I chanced upon as large a collection of Grange Hill memorabilia as could be thought plausible, covering every aspect of the cockney rascals' education for lack of it), piled deep in the children's section of Boots (this after many embarrassing scenes in learned bookshops where whispering 'Grange Hill' could reduce even the most composed assistant to bouts of the giggles - or was I just imagining it?).

However there was no sign of After Hours among the varied Grange Hill antics, and indeed, the antics of that famous former pupil, Tucker. The book continued to elude me but I did manage to see the TV program in question this very day, although a certain amount of my tea got deposited on the cast list in the Radio Times so I might just misspell one or two of the names.

There's been a bit of a fuss recently about the TV program Tutti Frutti, not because it's as boring as sin (nothing unusual in that), but because of its thick Scottish accents (though I wouldn't know, having never seen more than 15 seconds at a time). But what about this here Grange Hill? Stuck in front of the television, there's me sitting on every lilt and intonation trying to decipher words mumbled into jumpers and caught in coffee cups leaving only the feeling that something cockney's been uttered. I caught an episode 23 where Mr Scott gets his revenge on Trevor, Mrs McClusky punishes some rebels for reasons lost to some previous programme, and more to the point, women and girls want to fight for the right to hurl lethal red balls at one another, all in the name of cricket.

The story behind the game is a piece of cake. Goncho, whose mush is plastered over the screen during the early part of loading, has pone and got his Walkman confiscated for having it on in a lesson; and this after his last one was confiscated and lost. His mum wasn't too pleased at that, and so warned him he'd be skinned alive it he ever came home without the replacement she bought him. It's ten-to-four in the afternoon and Gonch is about to go home when he realises that returning home without the cassette player is going to lead to such a shouting match he probably wouldn't be able to hear a Walkman again. The only alternative seems to be to return to school after hours, break into the staffroom, and retrieve the machine. All this has to be done before midnight, and with the help of his trusty schoolpal, Hollo.

Grange Hill the computer game has tried its best not to be pigeon-holed. It can't be said to be an adventure, as there are occasions where only deft control of a joystick or keyboard can guarantee progress - a very rare occurrence in adventure. This isn't the only arcade aspect either, as sudden deaths seem to lie around every corner. And herein lies one of the game's most serious drawbacks. The inability to save your position just before one of these untimely deaths results in much monotonous repetition of routes you've already mastered; a fundamental flaw this.

The upper half of the screen depicts the scene with your own character, Gonch, walking around outside the litter-strewn playing fields and perimeters of the school, as often as not accompanied by your sidekick, Hollo. Both you and he are animated, or more strictly, your legs are animated whilst the upper torso is rigid, with arms pinned down. The background graphics are rudimentary and, in my book, disappointing. Any characters you meet, like the celebrated drug pusher, also appear in this window, the text area below giving the opportunity to 'just say no' (a phrase pinched from the training films for newly appointed bank managers).

The speech aspect isn't altogether successful in Grange Hill, although you can get Hollo to state how he would prefer to remain put rather than follow you any further, at one stage in the game. I've forgotten to mention the time element, where the clock runs at (our times normal rate, which means you could he playing this game for (12 - 4) divided by four hours, which is a long time to play a game that never quite wins you over.

Difficulty: deft control of keyboard or joystick required
Graphics: cheap game standard
Input facility: menu and sentences for speech
Response: fast

Argus
£9.95

Are we going to see Gonch trying to flog copies of Grange Hill in the playground? Well, if he can put them out at half the price he might have a chance, but at £9.95 he'd get a knuckle sandwich.

The story's simple enough. Gonch has had his Walkman confiscated (his own fault for wearing it in class) and has to get it back from the staffroom to avoid his mother giving him GBH of the lugholes when he gets home.

The top half of the screen is a graphic of where you are, with Conch and his mate Hollo walking about in it. You control Conch with keyboard or joystick and generally have to wait while Hollo trundles along after you, though you do need help from your faithful assistant to complete some of the tasks.

At the bottom of the screen is a clock, which you're up against, and room for the various text messages that pop up in little boxes. Press the fire button and a menu of eight commands comes up. Among these are pick up, drop, examine use and so on - choose these and a sub-menu comes up listing the objects available for each verb. There's an option to talk to other characters, but with moving graphics to take care of you can imagine the parser's not exactly Level 9.

So, can you pick up objects like torches and use them in the right place? Can you leap over gaps in walls, that being the average arcade element of the game? Course you can, Malcolm!

Label: Argus
Author: Assorted
Price: £9.95
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Graham Taylor

Grange Hill. How I used to love it! Dear ole Basser, Wodger, Codger, Bosser, Dodger and all the rest of the gang.

The real life! The teenage problems!! The romance!!! The computer game?

Now that, you have to admit, is a pretty odd licencing deal - even by the BBC's standards.

Quicksilva has got the deal and has produced the game.

And it's pretty odd. It's a mixture of adventure game text input, animated graphic action and menu and window option selections.

You play out an exciting plot in which you have to retrieve a Walkman from the locked school. It features a strong socially responsible line on teenage subjects (well drugs anyway). At an early part of the game you have to say 'no' to a drugs pusher (a man in a peculiar overcoat - always a strong sign).

Parts of the game are essentially arcade game tests - jumping over things, climbing down ladders and the like. In other ways the game is played like, say, Spellbound where you see an object, choose to pick it up using a menu system, select Examine to find out what it is and select Use if you want to use it - using the right object at the right time is obviously the test.

You are Gonch (for Gonch read Bilbo Baggins) and Holo, your school chum, is Thorin. And he acts like Thorin who, you may remember, frequently slowed up the action in The Hobbit by sitting down and signing about Gold.

Hollo just gets fed up and won't move until you plead with him. The pleading can take a while since frequently Holo says things like 'right' to your pleadings and then proceeds to ignore you.

Oh, and there's a time limit - you have to get the Walkman back before midnight - the current time is shown in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.

There are some curious anomalies in the game. One instantaneous ending is when you trip over a paving stone on the third screen. Not only is it a bit much that such a thing ends the game, it seems that Hollo can just walk over it (you have to perform a curiously straight legged leap).

As you play the game some good points emerge. The various kinds of action - typed instructions, menu selection and graphic action - interact very well and, at its best, Grange Hill is one of the best attempts at taking text adventure style puzzles and turning them into real actions.

The graphics are, well, OKish in a simple sort of way. Some of the backgrounds are pretty simple but they are functional enough I guess. The central animated characters of Gonch and Hollo are better than stick insects - quite like the schoolboys in Skool Daze only bigger.

But you'd better be into the puzzles aspects of the game if you're really going to get a lot out it.

The end result is pretty difficult to summarise. Imagine a mixture of Spellbound, The Hobbit and Skool Daze and you've got some idea.

Certainly Grange Hill is nothing like a dodo. I think if you like Spellbound style games or you're really into the characters of Grange Hill (anybody?) you'll like this I guess.

I felt a bit undecided. In some ways - for example the interaction of the different command systems and the windowing - the game is very clever and sophisticated. In others - some of the graphics - it looks a bit cheap and shoddy. Look before you buy anyway.

AN ANIMATED ADVENTURE WITH THE KIDS FROM GRANGE HILL.

Argus Press Software
£9.95

Grange Hill - The Computer Game has been designed as an easy to play adventure with drop down menus and cursor control cutting down the amount of typing instructions required. All you are required to type in is speech when you want to talk to a character or use an object in some way not covered by the verb options.

The plot concerns Gonch and Hollo's attempt to break into Grange Hill after hours and retrieve Gonch's walkman which has been confiscated. Only by getting the Walkman back can Gonch avert the wrath of his mum.

Gonch is controlled directly by joystick while Hollo generally just tags along, although at times he needs to be encouraged or reprimanded in order to keep him following you.

Conventional commands such as pick up drop examine, use, take etc are accessed using pull down windows. So with all these commands taken care of what are you supposed to do? The trail to the staff room is strewn with puzzles to solve and hurdles to overcome. As you would expect the objects along the way come into unexpected use later on. By dispensing with the mapping aspect and concentrating on the puzzles Grange Hill proves to be an enjoyable game with a few surprises in store - if for instance you meet "the pusher" and take what he offers, you are instantly out of the game. This is just one of a number of quick exits from the game but you only get caught once.

To add a degree of urgency there is a time limit - you have to get the Walkman back to Gonch's house by midnight and the game offers a fairly stiff challenge although seasoned adventurers may find it a bit of a breeze. Obviously aimed at the same age group as Grange Hill viewers, the game with it's easy access system, animated graphics, familiar characters and puzzles will certainly appeal to its target audience.