Publisher: Hewson
Price: £7.95
Memory: 128K
Joystick: Kempston

Ted has been given a much easier job than the one in the 48K version of this game, but there's much more work to be done.

The game is twice the size of the original, with 100 rooms in the factory and 30 tasks to perform. Unlike the original game, in which you had to guess which tasks to perform, each of the jobs is numbered.

That does not make their performance any easier, though. Some, like the one waiting in Ted's Den, are split into two and you have to find out which part should be performed first. Others are hidden behind objects, such as rampant C5s over which you must jump at the right time.

Some of the new screens have been created with current affairs - well almost - taken into account. There's the C5 production line which never breaks down but constantly runs over its hapless work force, and the Sinclair Research factory.

The cloth-capped hero also has to put up with the brothers on the picket line who have the help of an Arthur Scargill lookalike. Scargill's face pops up in nearly every screen blocking the way for Ted. He will have to jump over him and sometimes sneak under him.

The interactive graphics are slightly better than those in the original game. You do not lose a life unless you score a direct hit on an obstacle.

Hewson has put the cutest sound track and effects in the package and those can be played throughout the game. Effects and music are controlled separately on the main menu before the game begins and you can have one set on without the other.

The music at the beginning of the game, Tchaikovsky at his raunchiest, uses only two of the three 128 voices but, nonetheless, adds a carnival atmosphere to the game. The tunes may be slightly off key but I have a feeling that the notes were made to droop to make the game more amusing.

The Mega-Mix is not just another 128 revamped con job. The authors, Steve Marsden and David Cooke, have made the game more playable for beginners and a viable buy for those people who have the 48K version. It's not a total re-write but gameplay is different and the new locations make you forget that you are playing a game which has been around for over a year.

MACHINE: Spectrum 128K
SUPPLIER: Hewson
PRICE: £7.95

Well it's time for fun and frolics again at the local Microprocessor factory.

Yes, Technician Ted is back for a 128K mega-mix of Hewson's chart-topping game.

The original 48K with more than 40 screens has been boosted to more than 100 by programmers Steve Marsden and David Cooke.

There are 30 tasks to perform as Ted starts his day at 8.30am and clocks off at 5.30pm. If he doesn't get all the work done he gets the OBE - Order of the Big Elbow!

Time is all important. Lives are lost if Ted collides with any hostile objects and there are quite a few.

No doubt platform freaks will be sent into ecstacy by the huge, sprawling game. Map-makers will also find it a challenge.

Hewson
£7.95

Hewson's everyday story of life of a silicon chip factory has been overhauled for the 128 to take full advantage of the sound chip and increased memory.

The Mega Mix contains 100 screens, twice the number of the original and music plays throughout, beginning with a Viennese waltz to accompany the loading screen and moving onto a rousing march to get you in the mood for Ted's quest to complete his daily tasks.

With so many more locations the gameplay is different so that technician Ted in the 128 version can be considered almost as a new game rather than just a cosmetic enhancement of the 48K program. Technician Ted, harassed by lethal C5s, floating heads and viciously rotating keys seems set to persuade a new wave of converts to clock on to this addictive platform foray.

128 GAMES

And so they came - the first trickle of 128 games. Sinclair cleverly made sure that the software was there, ready for the new machine. But most of the first releases have been expanded versions of existing titles, and we all know, don't we, that bigger doesn't necessarily mean better? After all, it's what you do with it that counts. So here it is - the highly personal, Rachael J Smith guide to those first ten releases.

Hewson
£7.95

Isn't it about time Ted got promoted? This one's been about since the time of the miner - no, not the coal strike - it was one of the first great challenges to Matthew Smith's Willy. While it now boasts new tasks and an expanded playing area, plus lots of loading screen nonsense to minimise bauddom. I can't see it being a crucial purchase unless you've never seen a game of the type or you're such an addict that you can't bear to miss out on one. It's difficult and silly but Hewson's produced far better since.

So there they are, ten offerings for the 128. All benefit from having their amplified sound blasted out through the TV, and where the new sound chip has been used to full effect it's like suddenly being able to hear after years of deafness. But while there are things here to appeal to the person who's never owned a Spectrum before, I can't see much point in duplicating a game unless you were a big fan of the original. And that means that we're not yet in a position to say whether the 128 itself is worth buying. We'll have to wait until games that make full use of that extra memory - that do things that can't be achieved in 48K - appear before we all decide to trade in our old machines.

ALL THE LITTLE EXTRA BITS

Julian Rignall, for it is he, puts down the joystick attached to his Commodore 64, wanders into the CRASH office and has a quick look at the game we've received for the 128K Spectrum. Between thee and me, he ended up well impressed - a diehard Commie 64 man, Jaz left the office muttering about buying the new Spectrum. Can't be bad news for Sinclair, that....

Hmmmm, a Spectrum with added bits? What would they be? I wondered. Wheels, a bit of whoosh, twiddly things? Nope, none of these - just extra RAM and an on-board hot plate to keep your coffee warm as you bash the baddies through the night. Well, it's not really a hot plate, but it doesn't half act like one. Anyway, what do these extra features mean to yer average gamesplayer on the street?

IN THE CHIP FACTORY

Moving on to the 128 games you'll have to pay money for, Hewson's take the prize for releasing the very first 128K game - Technician Ted - the Megamix. Technician Ted 48K first appeared early last year, earning a CRASH Smash for programmers Steve Marsden and David Cooke. What Hewson have done is taken the original torturous platform arcade adventure and expanded it, making it twice as big - now there are over 100 different screens and thirty tasks to complete. AAAAAGGGH you might say, those lousy sadists... the original Tech Ted was bad enough!! The gameplay is radically different and the whole program has been 'tweaked' to take advantage of the new machine's capabilities.

But don't fret poor things, each of the tasks has now been numbered so at least you know which task you're supposed to tackle next; the only problem is finding out how you complete them. Three channel music adds extra atmosphere to the game as you whizz around the factory. A special mention must go to the loader - it tells a story whilst the game loads and the music is superbly done. £7.95 buys you this piece of arcade adventuring action, only £2 more than the 48K original.