Producer: Bug-Byte
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Machine code
Author: David Turner

Here we have what Bug-Byte describe as a multi-screened animated platform-type game. Turmoil certainly is a platform game, although a very varied one, containing 26 screens with a multitude of hazards and layouts. The game features Mick the Mechanic, who must collect enough oil for his car to get it going. On each screen there is a different car sitting in the garage. It's invisible until you start pouring oil over it which makes it appear. As soon as it is fully visible it will drive off and you get to the next screen. As you progress through the screens the cars get more sleek and expensive (from a Mini to a Porsche and beyond).

On each screen there is a dripping tap of oil at the top. Mick must go and collect a can, then make his way to the tap and fill the can before going to the garage. Life is made more difficult by swinging ropes, poles, conveyor belts and a couple of angry Arabs who don't approve of having their oil stolen. Now and again tools appear in different locations which ought to be collected and taken back to the shed structure at the bottom right of the screen, otherwise the Arabs will become angrier.

Any game must have something that distinguishes it from previous ones, and Turmoil has a very novel difference in the large spring-like trampolines which both Mick and the Arabs use to leap up onto the higher platforms. Mick's only protection is to spill drops of oil on which the Arabs slip up, removing them from the game for a few moments. Unfortunately this is also guaranteed to kill Mick off as well if he's not careful of where he treads.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/Z up/down, I/P left/right and M to jump
Joystick: not indicated on the preview copy
Keyboard play: highly responsive - 'a joy'
Use of colour: excellent
Graphics: excellent
Sound:
Skill levels: progressive difficulty
Lives: 5
Screens: 26

Turmoil is a classic platform game and overall a very good game. The graphics are of a high quality and work well with few attribute problems. The colours are excellent and everything makes for a slick, well executed program. This game is fun to play and addictive. If you like platform games then you will probably like Turmoil which is a bit different from the Manic Miner type game. Well worth buying.

It must be said that this is quite an original platform game. Screen graphics are highly variable and exceptionally pleasing to the eye. Playing characters are large, well animated and detailed. I especially like the trampolines where you have to time it properly to jump when the tension in the spring is right to give you a high leap. Timing the swinging ropes is also difficult, although not half as difficult as some games which have used these devices - this is a pleasing factor. The pace of the game speeds up as you progress through the various screens, not in the sense that the characters move about more quickly, but in the sense that more tools appear and as a consequence the Arabs get angrier and come after you harder and there are more Arabs as you go along. I love the idea of having cars that alter from screen to screen, progressing from the low class Mini through high performance sports cars (and maybe onto the supertax bracket). Overall I think this game has a high playability factor, and each screen definitely needs a different skill factor.

Originality in a game is sometimes a question of an entirely new idea, and sometimes it's a question of intelligently re-using old ideas in a new way. Turmoil is one of the latter sort, and a very good one. All the elements have been combined like a classic recipe to make an excellently playable, funny and addictive game that has an entirely new flavour to it. There is also a very good training mode which gives you an opportunity to have a go on the higher screens for practice. There are marvellous animated graphics, and the leaping Arabs flashing their long scimitars are particularly good. A very good game that should keep you playing for quite some time.

Ross: Picture a garage, our man with a spanner Mick the Mechanic, and a plague of marauding Arabs and you've got Turmoil! The idea of the game is to guide Mick up and down ladders and along platforms to fill his oil can with the precious black stuff. Now manoeuvre Mick over a grid in the floor and drop the oil; this makes a car appear on the conveyor belt. If you manage to complete this feat a second time, you get to move on to the next screen to build another motor.

Turmoil stands out from other 'ladder and levels' games currently flooding the market because it makes use of 'spring' power. Mick himself has no natural jumping ability, so to get him leaping on to the necessary platforms, you have to guide him over a spring... he'll then be thrust up in the air in proportion to the 'springyness' of the spring. The Arabs, who seem to be very intelligent, also use the springs and ladders in their efforts to thwart your plans. You can kill an Arab by spilling some oil in his path, but they're soon replaced so it hardly seems worth it!

Well, it may be just another 'platform' clone, but it's suitably different to be successful - I liked it. 3.5/5 HIT

Dave: A nice change from the usual selection of platform games. The springs are a great idea and the bouncing Arabs are enough to give you a case of the Sheikhs! 3/5 HIT

Roger: It's a tried and tested formula ... with a few dirty tricks thrown in. 4/5 HIT

MACHINE: Spectrum 48k
SUPPLIER: Bug Byte
PRICE: £6.95

As platform games go for the Spectrum, Bug Byte started it all with Manic Miner.

Turmoil continues the craze which the company started and it's just as good.

You're a mechanic and, once you've collected an oil can from the side the screen, you have to take it to the top of the screen and fill the can from the leaky tank.

Then, take your can of oil and pour it into the car, which gradually takes shape.

It takes more than one journey to make a full car, though. When it's done, you move to a harder screen.

Like Manic Miner, you have to complete one screen before you can move on to the next. If you lose all your lives, you start again from screen one.

There is a training mode, though, which lets you practise the harder screens but you don't score any points this way.

The screens are beautifully animated, with conveyor belts and trampolines to help you escape from the Arabs. Well, what do you expect with all that oil about? They're after that oil and, if you run into one, you lose a life.

You can defend yourself by dropping some oil around the screen which will kill anything it touches. But this means that you'll need even more trips to the tank to fill up the car.

Graphics are as good as any similar game on the Spectrum and sound effects are as bad. But it does play a reasonable version of Stand Up and Fight, from Carmen.

OIL IS TOO SMALL A WORD FOR IT

MAKER: Bug-Byte Software
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £6.95

Turmoil owes a debt to the girders-and-ladders games that have appeared in drives this year, but has a certain bizarre individuality that saves it.

The hero, Mick Mechanic, is an obvious descendant of long-suffering Mario, but instead of rescuing Fay Wray, he has to collect oil from a dripping tank and carry it to a grille, where after filtering through, each drop makes a bit more car appear. When the full car has been drawn in, you win the frame. This procedure is not without hazards, because roaming up and down the ladders, along the ledges and bounding off the trampolines are a number of irate Arabs. It isn't easy to avoid them, and if they catch Mick they give him a jolly good hiding. the can be made to slip on drops of oil though.

This annoyed me a little. Arabs are an easy target, because they're seen to be rich, but I do not find funny the use of any ethnic group as arcade baddy. After all, what next? Happy eye-rolling, melon-eating darkies with a nacth'l sense o' riddem? Or thick Micks (like this reviewer) with a predilection for alcohol (that last bit is true in my case)?

Getting off the soap-box, in spite of this, Turmoil isn't bad. There are about seven different screens, and the game is challenging enough. I just wish people would stick to aliens and killer robots...

MACHINE: 48K Spectrum
CONTROL: Keys, Kemp
FROM: Bug-Byte, £6.95

You've heard the joke about the bouncing Czechs, now play the computer game with the bouncing Arabs. I'm not sure the Race Relations Board is going to like this game a great deal but I'm sure you will.

Taking the role of Mic Mechanic you must negotiate your way round a factory collecting tools, returning them to the workshop and collecting oil so that you can fill your car and make your escape to the next screen. You collect the oil and tools by running up and down ladders and jumping between platforms using ropes, springboards, conveyor belts and a wrap-around screen to help you.

If this isn't enough, you are chased around by sword-wielding Arabs who are more than a little disgruntled by the mess you've made in the factory and the fact that you're stealing their oil. Considering the price of the stuff these days I'm not at all surprised!

The game has twenty-six screens (Coded A to Z) and each one presents a new challenge. There are some really difficult obstacles to overcome and it's easy to become addicted. The main task on each screen is to collect enough oil for your car to drive away. The real problem is not getting at the car but obtaining the oil in the first place.

You drop the oil down a grid to fill up the car which gradually appears from the wheels up till the roof plonks on top. The car trundles off the screen sounding rather sick, so it's no surprise that you have to fill it up all over again.

Graphics are excellent throughout the game and that all-too-frequent phenomemon of colour clash is virtually non-existent. There's some nice animation and the Arabs can be quite fast and extremely ruthless so you've got to be on your toes.

The graphics are well drawn and animation is smooth. Colours are used effectively, so there is the minimum of clashing as the characters meet. Sound consists of a reasonable tune and the usual burbles and beeps.

Gameplay is challenging and amusing, the late screens are very difficult and will tax even the most proficient player.

One reservation is the lack of variety in the characters, just you and the Arabs.

Overall, it's a very competent game with attractive graphics, good animation, and challenging screens. But isn't this game a little racist?

STEVE SPITTLE

I really liked this new game by Bug-Byte. The animation is superb and hilarious. The sound gets a bit annoying (pity there is no on/off option). It is a platform game but because of the many objects to spring off and swing on, as well as lifts and conveyor belts to anticipate... well there is a lot to think about!!

Lasting interest? Twenty-six very difficult screens to complete, that should be enough to keep you glued to the computer for a good while. the original touches should give it the edge on its competitors.

MARTYN SMITH

Turmoil is quite simply a game in which you have to help Mic the Mechanic to steal oil from the Arabs' oil refinery in order to build a car. This is not as easy as it sounds as you are chased by the Arabs who are incensed at the thought of their oil being stolen.

At the beginning of the game players have a quick view of all 26 stages if they do not choose to start playing or to sample the training mode. I am glad to see that the author retains some sympathy for the player and allows Mic the Mechanic to fall from any height without meeting with death. Unless, of course , he collides with an Arab in mid-flight. It also makes a change not to have to watch a time and fuel limit as you can devote more concentration to the game. For those of you who feel a sense of achievement whenever a high score is obtained you can collect the tools that appear at intervals and return them to the shed at the bottom of the screen.

I chose to ignore the tools and aimed to fill my oil can with five drops of oil. Once the oil was collected I poured it through a grid and watched my car grow. We all know it takes six drops of oil to build a car so I was compelled to risk life and limb once again by returning to the refinery for a refill. At this point it is best to collect another five drops of oil as the extra drops can be spilt in front of the Arabs when the going gets hot. The pursuing Arab, and his skirts, are consequently sent flying and you can then finish building your car.

After playing the game for a very long time I was determined to surpass myself and send the car off to the fourth screen, screen D. I had completed the first three levels numerous times and finally managed to access screen D. It was not long, however, before I was whacked on the head by an angry Arab wielding a lethal weapon. The last of my five lives was gone and I was back to the beginning. Feeling dejected, I sat for five minutes debating whether or not to pull the plug. All thoughts of saving my sanity were soon abandoned when I pressed the START key and headed for another bout. Through screen A, and then B with the help of the rope and then on to screen C and the moving platforms.

All three screens were nearly as difficult as the first time I played Turmoil which shows that the game will still be playable should all 26 screens be completed, and not discarded to a drawer marked 'Conquered'.

I moved on to screen D with three lives to hand and rather fancying my chances of completing the level. Success at last, and I was on to screen E and then F. At this point I decided to give the game a rest.

The next time I played I was lucky enough to have a reviewer's copy which allowed me to practise on all the levels. Moving platforms, disappearing walls, lifts, lift shafts, ropes and conveyor belts were rife. I found some screens harder than those following them and at times could not work out how to drop the oil onto the grid. The refinery, jug and grid were often difficult to reach and these points combined with the obstacles added up to make the game more challenging. As you complete each harder level you get a different car so you are able to work up from Mini and Volkswagen to a flash sports car.

The playing keys are easy to master and the game can also be controlled via a joystick. The animation and graphics are good although there do appear to be a couple of problems. You can often walk up ladders when not properly positioned and on the screens where a rope is involved it is possible to stand in mid-air whilst waiting for the rope. Obviously a fault but it makes for easier playing.

Anyway, there's no point crying over spilt oil, as they say, oil's well that ends well.