Producer: Phipps Associates
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Tony Barber

Whilst returning from one of those interminable journies to the furthest reaches of the known universe to reconnoitre some useless grid you would like to defend against 3D alien attack craft, you are captured by (guess what) - aliens. But these are a superior life form, and seeing as they are interested in other aliens (like you) they put you in their Zoo. The only way out, you discover (from the cassette inlay) is through all the cages in the zoo. Each cage holds a button (to open the door to the next) and a ferocious type of alien as well. There is a time limit per cage, because If you spend too long in there, your jailers will start to chase you in a kind of flying machine.

Loony Zoo is a classic type of platform game, where you must make your man jump from level to level within each screen, avoid the rotten old aliens, and thus reach the flashing button to show you where the exit door is placed. This usually turns out to be right at the opposite point in the cage, which necessitates retracing your steps. The demo shows six screens - whether there are more or not will be up to the player since this didn't prove to be an easy enough game for any reviewer to find out!

COMMENTS

Control keys: 6/7 = left/right, M = jump
Joystick: none
Keyboard play: very responsive
Use of colour: quite good
Graphics: well animated, although two reviewers noted a tendency for the man to land not on top of a ledge sometimes, but more 'inside' it
Sound: not much, but good
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 3
Screens: 6
Loading: 2-part for intersections

Well I suppose it has to be said, this is a Manic Miner copy. It doesn't have the generous graphics of Manic Miner, nor the complexities in the scenario for each cage. But none of this is to say that it isn't worth buying, because Loony Zoo is fiendishly hard to play. Each cage has a different type of alien, each with their own movement characteristics, and each cage has its own layout of ledges. This means that, like in MM, you have to learn the strategy of getting from A to B and back again. I noted quite quickly that the upward route is by no means the one to use on the way b: ck down the cage. The graphics are nicely animated, especially your man who moves and jumps very well. Okay, it's not as mammoth as Manic Miner it is totally addictive and utterly maddening.

The game is one of the most addictive I have played. It's difficult, requiring a lot of co-ordination and timing so as to arrive at the right place at the right time to avoid the nasties. The movement and graphics are very good, as is the animation. Apart from that, the screens are rather plain, with simple blocks for the ledges, which I think gives a pleasing and uncluttered look. I really enjoyed the game and found it difficult to eventually pull the plug on.

This just goes to show yet again, that a simple - even a well tested idea, can often be better than a complicated one. Top marks to Phipps for their best arcade game yet. It's basically a simpler version of Manic Miner, simple in the graphics and scenarios, not at all simple in the playing. Thoroughly addictive. I reccomend it.

NO ESCAPING ALIEN TRAP

Memory: 48K
Price: £5.95

If you suffer from feelings of being trapped with nowhere to go, Loony Zoo, produced by Phipps Associates, is not calculated to offer relief. The storyline is that while surveying another planet, you have been captured by its vastly superior inhabitants and put into one of their zoos, together with various other alien specimens.

It is possible to escape by jumping from ledge to ledge to reach the door pressure-pad located at the top of the screen. It will let you into another cage with new and more menacing inmates, and another, and another. More than likely, however, you will not need to worry about the next cage as you will find it extremely difficult to get out of the first.

In spite of its relatively simple graphics and slow pace, Loony Zoo manages to be infuriatingly addictive, especially if you enjoy a challenge to your reflexes.

In a similar vein from Phipps Associates is Killer Knight, in which, because of a freak time-slip, an evil knight has dragged away your girl friend whom you must try to rescue. The medieval trappings cannot disguise the basic Kong pattern.

The hero's flea-like hopping movements are novel but otherwise the difficulty of getting very far into the game without starting again, and the fact that it is possible to notch a high score by running back and forth along the bottom level, make it slightly inferior to some variations on theme.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
JOYSTICK: No
CATEGORY: Arcade
SUPPLIER: Phipps Associates
PRICE: £5.95

Take the classic Spectrum game Manic Miner, remove the collapsing platforms and conveyor belts, and cut the number of different screens from 20 to six. You're left with Loony Zoo.

Instead of picking your way through a mine, you have to escape through a series of cages in a zoo, each of which contains a number of carefully positioned platforms.

There are of course aliens to be avoided. And Loony Zoo does have one innovation in that as you near the end of your task in each cage, a different set of very nasty aliens is likely to home in.

Loony Zoo is challenging and fun, but it doesn't represent nearly such good value for money as Manic Miner.

WELL-WORN THEMES RE-APPEAR

The trend in software production appears to be to take stock, build on successful ideas and await new developments. New games tend to be new variations on well-worn themes rather than startlingly original concepts. The number of games based on the premise that all computer owners love shooting as many things as possible is decreasing and giving way to games which need thought and strategy as well as fast reactions.

Unfortunately for ZX-81 owners, although their computer has remained consistently among the top five bestselling computers, new software for the ZX-81 is almost non-existent and W H Smith is not intending to accept any new ZX-81 software for sale in its shops. Due to the shortage of new software, no ZX-81 programs have been received for review this month.

Shades of Manic Miner are apparent in Loony Zoo - Phipps Associates, 48K Spectrum. The storyline is that, while surveying another planet, you have been captured by its vastly superior inhabitants and placed in one of their zoos, together with various other alien specimens.

It is possible to escape by jumping from ledge to ledge to reach the door pressure-pad at the top of the screen. Needless to say, you escape only into other cages from which it is more difficult to escape. Despite its simple graphics and slow pace, Loony Zoo is a difficult and addictive game.