Producer: Fantasy Software
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £7.50
Language: Machine code
Author: Bob Hamilton

In collating this review the office was full of odd sounding comments like, 'What's a Googly Bird like to do?' Reply: 'Sleep mostly - with it, because Fluffels lick everything to death.'

There was a time when army commanders were cautioned to make sure their men looked after their feet properly and everything else would be okay. That was in the days when men marched everywhere. The old caution is a good pointer to playing Backpackers Guide to the Universe, because in Part 1, your main task is to collect a hit squad of wierd aliens who have been isolated in cages on the Planet of Exile, in order to go up against the egregious Scarthax who is threatening to pull the Great Plug of the Universe.

Fantasy's favourite hero Ziggy is back in the saddle - or to be more accurate - in the harness of his backpack. The backpack is quite a marvellous invention (see the October issue of CRASH for more details!), which is capable of holds all the various wierdos that Ziggy frees. The problem is knowing what also to collect to both feed them and keep them happy so that they won't die of heartbreak or become a meal for some other creature.

To help you in your nurse-maiding task is the Backpackers Guide which is located on the reverse side of the cassette from the actual game. This colourful device will introduce you to the creatures and their needs. Ziggy's backpack also allows him to fly about, but it uses up more energy than walking, as does use of the flamethrower which deflects the wraiths that flit about the planet's caverns.

Contact with the wraiths also depletes energy. When the energy runs too low you will be beamed back to the main capsule and repair time is added onto your overall playing time. This is the interesting facet of Backpackers. The three projected parts must add up to only the 24 hours Scarthax has given the Universe before he pulls the plug. To have any hope of getting through to complete all three parts you must complete part one in under 12 hours (real time), which is why something like backpack repair time is important. At any time during play you can press SYM SHIFT and a blue status box appears with scrolling information. This informs you of amount of backpack damage and interesting details like how your creatures are doing.

Backpackers Guide to the Universe Part One is played in a giant complex of caverns, a large maze, in which keys and useful objects constitute a large adventure and strategy element.

COMMENTS

Control keys: O/P left/right, Q/A up/down, bottom row to fire (when flying) and to pick up (when walking), BREAK to beam back to capsule, SYM SHIFT for status report
Joystick: Sinclair 2, Protek, AGE, Kempston
Keyboard play: responsive and well laid out
Use of colour: excellent
Graphics: excellent, imaginative and varied
Sound: none
Skill levels: 1
Lives: N/A
Screens: not known, but loads
Special features: game on Side 1, guide on side 2 of the tape

Having previously seen a preview of the program I had high expectations of the game. Now, at this present moment, playing the game it gradually became apparent that my expectations were set too high. Graphics are very bright, detailed and imaginative, but nothing really seems to move other than the wraiths, which is a great pity for this game. As time goes by it would have been more fun if the wraiths had developed into more evil and deadly enemies and changed from their fluffy look to a more aggressive look. As it stands Backpackers seems to lack in 'action content'. Saying this, the game does not lack content - a vast amount of strategy is needed to collect at the creatures out of this huge maze of caverns and to keep them all alive. This where the marvellous Backpackers Guide comes into its own and provides many hours of enjoyment just reading what creatures are, what they like and what they dislike. Ziggy, my favourite super hero since Pyramid was brought out, now has this wonderful backpack - it's marvellous what this device is capable of doing. When Ziggy flies, he moves very quickly, accurately and it's fun to control him when he's doing so. Walking is a different matter - why has my favourite super hero got such spindly insignificant legs? They don't seem to be very well animated either. I'm sure his thin pegs are the reason why he doesn't walk very quickly (probably because they are so weak). This game has many good points and will probably provide many hours of enjoyment in strategically capturing, feeding and nursing this planet's wierd but wonderful creatures and taking them back to your space capsule. Other than this though, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of addictive qualities.

At last Backpackers has arrived, and with it the even longer awaited return of Ziggy. When you see Backpackers you will see that it has truly amazing graphics which would benefit just about any game! Backpackers has the ingredients for a really great game, b graphics (no sound though), Ziggy, a brilliant plot and not forgetting the wierd and wonderful creatures which inhabit the Caverns of Exile. But sadly, the game didn't telly grab me. I don't know why but I just didn't find enough action in the game to keep me compelled for long. But with that said, it's still an enjoyable program which I'm sure many will like. On the B side of the tape is the Guide which (must say is a delight to read and it provides vital information on the conservation of your animals after you have freed them from their cages. I mean how else would you know that you feed Urks on teabags an that the Flufelump is a blood sucker (it looks quite cute actually). Overall Backpackers is a fun program but it had limited appeal for me.

Here is a game that will appeal to those who enjoy adventure and strategy games and want an arcade game that isn't too demanding on reaction skills. It's true that you have to be able to avoid the wraiths, but the real skill in Backpackers lies in collecting the creatures from their cages and discovering the useful items that help to keep them alive, as well as coping with the other useful objects that help you in your quest. These include keys which allow you to withdraw some of the stalactites and stalagmites and ind shortcuts. All this is done to a background or wit and humour and marvellous graphics. Ziggy flies very well, although the animation on his walking about is a little thin. With the second and third parts yet to come, Backpackers should prove to be a big hit and a very involving game.

BACKPACKERS GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE
Fantasy Software
Memory: 48K
Price: £7.50
Joystick: Protek, Kempston, Sinclair.

Meet Ziggy - again - as he takes on the role of a metagalactic zookeeper. Having found the dread Scarthax is out to pull the plug on the universe, our hero is visiting Thallis, Planet of Exile. Here are assorted caged monsters who may prove some use against the great adversary.

Caverns measureless to man stretch out in screen after screen of graphics and poor Ziggy, bless his little backpack, has to go round getting the beasts and returning them to his module back at the entrance.

The reverse of the cassette contains the Guide itself which describes a variety of mainly unpleasant beasts such as the Pricklepuss.

Dedicated followers of Ziggy are bound to enjoy it and the tasks are complicated without being impossible. Those not so dedicated may find it all a yawn.

If you can't manage to get the animals back to your module you can always see how many screens you can get through. It numbs the brain after a while and should appeal strongly to ashen-faced arcade freaks.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Joystick
FROM: Fantasy, £7.50

The scenario pits Fantasy's hero Ziggy against the 'infinitely evil Scarthax' who has found the Great Plug of the universe and is threatening to send the whole of creation down the drainpipe. Ziggy's not the sort to take this lightly. He accepts the challenge to tackle Scarthax - but he only has twelve hours to do so.

Arriving on the planet of Thallis he has to assemble a hit squad of creatures. Details of these are found on the flip side of the tape in the Backpackers Guide. They include such weirdos as the schizoid Double Headed Emu of Thwark, the paranoid Googly Bird and the disgusting Snottoid.

Ziggy's backpack is singularly capacious: he can store all eleven critturs at the same time. Unfortunately they don't all rub along together very well - they may eat each other -and they all require different diets. Working all this out, as well as finding them, is what this first part of the projected Backpackers trilogy is all about.

Thallis consists of a huge underground maze, with lots of colourful flora - but fauna is a little thin on the ground. As Ziggy goes hovering around he has to shoot aliens: but these are just rudimentary balls and become very boring indeed. Even worse, there's no sound at all in the program.

This is not a game which you could call exciting. It requires patient exploration, map-making and note-taking in order to work out the various combinations of animals you can carry. The absence of sound is a disappointment, as is the fact that Ziggy's backpack is not yet convertible to submarine or buggy - we'll have to wait for parts two and three for that.

Backpackers is not going to give instant fun, and will appeal more to those with time and tenacity to spare.

I found this rather unoriginal an something of a disappointment. The Guide itself is a very clever idea, wonderfully implemented with a great deal of imagination and humour. The game, however, suffers from being yet another run of the mill arcade adventure.

Certainly it is complex and will take a long time to solve, but I found the instructions lacking in places. On a brighter note, the graphics are good and there is a useful option to save your current position.

All in all, I wasn't particularly stunned by this game and although it does provide a very difficult challenge, I won't be holding my breath for Part Two.

STEVE PERKINS

Long awaited game this, and frankly it's a big disappointment. The graphics are of a good standard and colour is used well but there is a total lack of sound - why?

There isn't much to do and it becomes clear that most of what is promised in the advertisement blurb is contained in the other two games in this series.

Let's hope that the other two games in this series are of a better standard.

MARTYN SMITH

GAME TYPE: Maze

You remember Ziggy, star of The Pyramid, and Doomsday Castle. Now he is back. In a game entitled Backpacker's Guide to the Universe, part 1. A title very similar to that of a well-known radio program, book, record and television program .

Ziggy's aim is, naturally, to save the universe, although his method or doing so is a little bizarre. Moving around a maze of underground passages, he must collect all the strange creatures he finds there, and return them to his ship.

As Ziggy left his ship, a giant stalactite fell, blocking his way back. He can beam his way back, using his backpack, but this is only possible four times. Either he must find the key which will allow him to pass the stalactite, or he must be very careful which animals he stores in his backpack. Some will kill each other, some will kill themselves, and some will simply die.

Produced for the 48K Spectrum by Fantasy Software, 27a St George's Road, Cheltenham.

Spectrum 48K
Fantasy Software
£7.50

A real Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy game is rumoured to be on the way from Douglas Adams. Fantasy have made an attempt to cash in on a cult - but the game and the name are mutually irrelevant. No jokes, primitive sub-Atic-Atac graphics. More complex than previous "Ziggy" games.

This game bears no relation whatsoever to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, which I am sure is where Fantasy Software pinched this title from.

Side one of the tape is the GUIDE, which takes you pleasantly through your mission of saving the creatures on this planet, where the evil Scarthax threatens to pull the plug out in 24 hours time, and a magnified picture of each creature is given, along with a description.

Side two of the tape is the actual game, and you start off by selecting either the keyboard or joystick option and then fire away. You are equipped with one of the most advanced creations of our time, the backpack, which takes you around the planet, provides storage for the creatures and a flame thrower, which is your only weapon in your plight.

Damage to the backpack will not only take you back to the ship for repair, but also if too much activity occurs while fighting the fireball enemy, the creatures that you have saved will perish, and you will have to start afresh. You can also choose to go back to the capsule for repair, but as there is a time limit of 12 hours per game and repair always costs time, it is advisable to do this only when absolutely necessary.

As you travel along the passages of the planet, various objects can be picked up for later use, keys, indicator discs, which will help you find the location of the exit key, transporter crystals and dynamite. All these will help you travel across the planet and rescue as many creatures as possible.

At the end of the adventure, when you go back to the capsule for backpack repair, a score is given and also the option to save the state of the game so far.

This game is truly another arcade adventure and although the graphics are not up to the standard of Ultimate, they are still superb. The security coding at the beginning of the game is a very good idea, where you have to enter a code from a special grid, but I did find it a trifle confusing.