BARGAIN BASEMENT

A bit short of the readies? Low on the folding stuff? Totally borassic? Then pop down the Bargain Basement with Marcus Berkmann, and see what goes "Cheep!" (Eh? Ed).

Alternative
£2.99
Reviewer: Marcus Berkmann

Yup, it's the Golden Oldies - Space Invaders, Pacman and Galaxians. Except that here (for copyright reasons) they're called Invaders, Muncher and Axiens, and they're all Very Old Indeed. I mean, I'm as big a fan of Space Invaders as anyone but it does need to be fast to work. This version, written no doubt in the Spectrum's infancy, is pitifully slow and so no fun at all. Surely someone must be able to do a perfect copy of the original by now, but I have yet to see one on the Spec, or indeed on any home computer. The Pacman copy is at least a bit better than this - it's reasonably swift - but again it's slightly different from the original when all we want is a direct copy. And Axiens, or whatever it's called, is a complete shambles - poor collision detection, dull to play and completely inaccurate. This sort of collection is so frustrating. How much would it cost to program these games properly, instead of disinterring terrible old versions from the distant past? In short, AAAARRRGGH!