Game
Manic Miner
Submitted by Dan Dooré on Sat, 2006-01-07 16:43. Game
Brian McConnell, Jeff Coppard, Matthew Holt, David Ledbury (Cover art: Darren Blackburn)
1992
Miner Willy’s Back!!!
Revelation presents everybody’s favourite platform game, the classic MANIC MINER. This brand new version has been programmed by a newcomer to the Sam games scene Matthew Holt and is now three times bigger than the original versions with 40 totally new “caverns” with wierd and wonderful titles such as “Trainspotter’s Paradise”, “The Haunted House” and “The Twilight Zone”. All of the original 20 levels are there as well!
Manic Miner features Sam quality graphics and a super stereo soundtrack courtesy of Czech programming ace Frantisek Fuka.
WaterWorks 2
Submitted by solaris104 on Wed, 2006-01-04 23:58. Game
1994
Use logical thinking to connect up the pipes and complete the level, but watch out for any aliens who might like to pay you a visit!
Being a sequel to the original WaterWorks, this game is a lot harder. Below is a list of the additional features which have been implemented in this game. All the other features were in the original, which you were so good at that you bought the follow-up. We have enclosed a copy of the original instructions for your convenience.
I hope you thoroughly enjoy the game, and no, we don’t offer a “how-to-do-a-level” service!
New Features
Jeep: The jeep is similar to the helicopter and submarine except it cannot fly - it can only travel horizontally. Lifts have been provided to allow the jeep to move up or down, although for small drops gravity can also help here. Drops of more than two blocks will destry the jeep.
Lift: The lift can move the jeep vertically, although they do not affect the helicopter or submarine. Lifts are triggered by a switch.
Spike: Immobile, but deadly.
Barrel: Wooden barrels float on water. The jeep can travel across these like a bridge or becauase the barrels float on top of the water, if the jeep is on one, it can use the barrels like a lift.
Player positioned blocks: These act like normal solid blocks, but can be moved around like pipes. Because you cannot move onto a block, simply moving onto an adjacent square and pressing fire will pick up a block. These are extremely useful for building water reservoirs, water barriers and platforms.
Review by Graham Goring from the Sam Coupé Scrapbook
See the review of Waterworks
And now onto the somewhat connected subject of WATERWORK 2, this one is really and truly as above, but it has several new features…
- BLOCKS - These are solid blocks which can be picked up and put down in any empty space. Adds a whole new, and almost unwelcome complexity to the game.
- JEEP - A new vehicle to keep you occupied, can be half submerged in water but it feels gravity. Cannot fall too far.
- BARRELS - Very nice idea these, float on water, and can be used as a sort of lift by the jeep.
- LIFTS - These are switch activated platforms that either rise or fall when the switch is activated.
Theres even more but, by golly, my sieve-like memory has forgotten them. And finally, after that rather brief bit.
| Area | Score | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Graphics | 64% | By Neil Holmes, not his best work… hmmm… |
| Addictivity | 78% | Where it not for the stupidly hard level 3, it’d be 85% |
| Instant Appeal | 93% | It still has that old magic… |
| Sound | 83% | Lovely Craig Turberfield music, same terrible FX, though. |
| Overall | 82% | This only suffers, as it can be unreasonably hard at times. |
WaterWorks
Submitted by Dan Dooré on Wed, 2006-01-04 23:18. Game
1993
Waterworks is a game the like of which has never been seen before - let alone on the SAM.
A cross between arcade, strategy and puzzle. WaterWorks provides you with a unique experience - combining speed, addictiveness, the need for forward planning and lateral thinking.
You must take control of the hundreds of water particles which can be moved individually to open doors, flood rooms, kill aliens, and lots more.
You have the full use of various plumbing utensils: pipes, pumps, taps, nozzles, switches, water collectors and drains to name a few. You can either progress steadily through all 20 levels - or you can just have fun flooding rooms and killing aliens!
Any person caught pirating this game will be given concrete boots and free bunjee jumping lessons from the London Tower Bridge (elastic not supplied).
In each of the WaterWorks levels you must escape through the exit - naturally, it is locked so a key must be found. In case you were ready for an easy game, you might be surprised to hear that numerous puzzles must be solved before completing each level - generally involving the use of pipes and the transfer of water!
The water in the game flows pretty much like normal water so common sense is fairly important.
There are numerous ways that you can die in the game: being crushed under a door, drowning or touching an alien or spike. If you get stuck, pressing ESC lets you start the level again.
Whenever you complete a level, you are given the password to the next level so that when you lose all your lives, you don’t have to play through dozens of levels.
Items in the game
Blue pipes: Allows water to flow though them. Cannot be moved.
Red pipes: Same as blue pipes except they can be moved. To pick one (or any other item) up, press fire over it. Fire again will drop it. If you are holding something while picking up/dropping an item, the two will be swapped. You should note that if water flows through a pipe, there is a good chance that there will be water left in the pipe (see Water Level indicator on right of screen). the pipe, with water, can then be moved.
Nozzles: Water will not flow out of a normal pipe into the level area. However, if a Nozzle is attached to a water supply, then the water will flow out. Water in the level area acts like any liquid - falls due to gravity and settles flat on a surface.
Water Collectors: These funnel water from the bottom of a reservoir (possibly supplied by a nozzle) into a pipe network.
Your Sinclair review, courtesy of The YS Rock ‘n’ Roll Years.
Review by Graham Goring from the Sam Coupé Scrapbook
WATERWORKS is a bit of an old chestnut at the time of writing, but, if you’ve got a couple fivers burning a hole in your pocket then you’d be an absolute berk not to snap up Waterworks, for it is one of the most original and corkingly playable games I’ve ever had the pleasure of slotting into my drive (oo-er!).
Now, the problem with original games is that they are a bum and a half to explain. If you’ve seen the demos on Fred you’ll know how it plays, but if you ain’t. Well… Take a splash of FLOOD, a hefty dose of Pipe Mania, a honking great splodge of a jigsaw and big ol’ final dollop of originality.
And you get WATERWORKS.
Basically you have to connect up pipes so that water can flow from one place to another, maybe spilling out of a special outlet attachment or maybe activating a switch that does something, open/close a door, open/close a tap, send sharp spikes hurtling out to kill an enemy or any number of things.
You have to decide what switch activates what device, when the device should be activated and how the hell you’re going to get water over there thankyou-very- much!
Fortunately it’s not all click and guess, the problems are laid out so that lateral thinking will see you alright in the end, and the learning curve is fairly steep, but not to the point of being unfair (except on the last levels). So, if you stick at it, you will reap the rewards of seeing your tightly timed, precision built machine executing perfectly. And when that happens all seems right with the world, it’s really, genuinely, satisfying. Especially if the device culminates in the destruction of one or more of the bad guys.
Klax
Submitted by Dan Dooré on Wed, 2006-01-04 22:10. Game
1990
It is the nineties, and there is time for… KLAX.
THE TIC-TAC TILE GAME
It’s here! The newest most addictive craze from California. Already a runaway success in the coin op arcades, Klax is now available for your computer!
It’s simple in concept and easy to play. Catch the coloured tiles with the paddle and flip them into the bins to make the same coloured stacks, diagonals and rows of three. Sounds easy? It is! The hard part is pulling yourself away from the game.
Crash review courtesy of worldofspectrum.org
Review by Steven Pick from the Sam Coupé Scrapbook
My ST owning neighbour is currently flurting to me his copy of KLAX, and shouting out how good it is! When suddenly, the postie arrives with my sack of mail-and what’s this? Why the SAM Coupe version! Yeeesss… Imagine if you would, a long conveyor belt, in some deserted forest(or anywhere else!). Add a widget to put a load of different coloured blocks into lines(or KLAXES!), and you get a recipe for an addictive puzzle game!
You have to place these blocks, so they land on the Dropmeter, in lines of 3 to 5! These disappear, till you get to the desired Klax count, then on to another well drawn ST screen! Actually, this got me in a bit of trouble, as I was meant to be revising! Ah, well! Hmmm, looks like Enigma Variations have done it again! A brillantly original and addictive puzzle game, which moves at a fair whack, and will leave my nights on the computer sleepless! (There go my Friday nights out…!).
| Area | Score |
|---|---|
| Graphics | 94% |
| Sound | 92% |
| Instant Appeal | 95% |
| Lastability | 93% |
| Overall | 94% |
Defender
Submitted by roger.j on Wed, 2006-01-04 01:16. Game
1998
SAM Defender was programmed back in the summer of 1998. The project took about four months from start to finish. The initial goal was to write an accurate version of the Williams classic for the SAM.
The SAM version contains faithful reproductions of the original arcade machine graphics, even down to the planet surface which is almost a pixel-by-pixel reproduction of the original. The original arcade machine has a slightly taller vertical screen resolution, so the SAM landscape is ‘squashed’ a little. However, the contours remain exact.
The font used in the SAM version is an exact reproduction of the original, as are the pulsing palette colours. However, some colour resolution was lost due to the original having a palette of 256 colours opposed to the SAM’s 128.
The movement and actions of the various enemies are also faithful to the original, as is the overall game speed.
Perhaps the most disappointing part of the SAM version is the sound effects. The original arcade machine had a 6809 CPU for the game program and a separate 6808 CPU (with its own ROM/RAM) for the sound effects. This separate sound board also had a DAC to produce some amazing sounds. Sadly, the SAM’s old SAA just doesn’t cut it. It is possible to get the SAA to play samples, so the original arcade machine sounds could have been reproduced. However, the poor old Z80B would have been seriously overloaded trying to cope with the game AND the samples! I’ve tried to get the main sound effects as close to the original as I could, the player laser is almost exact. However, some of the more exotic sounds have been improvised. I’ve tried to keep the actions and priorities of the sounds the same as the original. The original could only play one sound at a time, sounds having priorities. I’ve tried to simulate this.
GAME CONTROLS:
———————
Anytime during the front-end/attract screens the following keys apply:
1 … Starts a ONE player game.
2 … Starts a TWO player game.
K … Allows you to re-define the main game controls.
DEFAULT GAME CONTROLS:
———————————
Q ……. UP
A ……. DOWN
O ……. THRUST
P ……. REVERSE
K ……. FIRE LASER
H ……. HYPERSPACE (Zap to a random point in the world)
SPACE … SMARTBOMB (Kills all enemies on-screen)
ESC ….. ABORT GAME
F9 …… PAUSE GAME
There’s a 25% chance of death on re-entry from hyperspace, so only use it if you have to!
You start the game with 3 lives and 3 smartbombs. An extra life and smartbomb are awarded every 10,000 points.
GAME OBJECTIVE:
———————-
Basically shoot everything that moves! Except for the humanoids walking along the planet surface, it’s your job to protect them!
If a Lander captures a humanoid you can release its victim by shooting the Lander.
On shooting the Lander the humanoid begins its fall to the planet surface. Don’t let it fall too far - or it will die on impact!
You catch falling humanoid’s by flying into them. 500 points are given for each catch, a further 500 points are awarded for each humanoid you place back on the planet surface. Falling humanoids will survive impact providing they don’t fall too far. A 250 point bonus is awarded for surviving fallers. Beware, you can also shoot your humanoids - this isn’t generally a good idea!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIu0p3wPcbY
Escape From the Planet of the Robot Monsters
Submitted by Dan Dooré on Mon, 2006-01-02 04:40. Game
One of the few major commercial title conversions from the Spectrum. While the intro screens were not changed, the game itself was updated to use the SAM sound chip and mode 4 graphics.
Control system remained the same as the Spectrum (sadly!) and not the 16 bit versions.
A fun-packed shooter for up to two-players.
Crash review courtesy of worldofspectrum.org
Review by Steven Pick from the Sam Coupé Scrapbook
Yes! At last, Escape comes to the SAM, and boy is it tasty! The story revolves around a Lost In Space plot, about two hardened soldiers, JAKE and DUKE. They are briefed, and must go to PLANET X, where they must rescue the lovely Professor Sarah Bellum, or else the evil Reptilians get to destroy the Earth!! So, you, or another Samster (it’s 2 player), must rampage round the 3D screens and destroy the robots, and rescue a few billion fair madiens!
As the game progresses, you meet a giant End of Level Reptilian! Yikes… Well, I must admit, the graphics on the SAM for this are BRILLIANT! The music which plays throughout is also toe-tapping, and the control method, though quirky to begin with gets a lot better with practice! The game is full of neat animations as well - like if you fall off a platform, you hang for a short wait until you leap up! Though I was a little disappointed at the intro from the Spectrum, but the rest - BRILLIANT! Get it NOW…
| Area | Score |
|---|---|
| Graphics | 93% |
| Sound | 91% |
| Instant Appeal | 84% |
| Lastability | 96% |
| Overall | 91% |
Wop Gamma
Submitted by Dan Dooré on Mon, 2006-01-02 04:15. Game
Revelation Software (Software Direction by FRED Publishing)
1993
Every platform has a Boulder clone, and Wop Gamma is the enjoyable conversion for the Sam. Colourful, smooth, fast and with some great background tracks.
Your Sinclair review, courtesy of The YS Rock ‘n’ Roll Years.
Review by Graham Goring from the Sam Coupé Scrapbook
Wop Gamma was the SAM’s answer to such hits as Rockfall, Rockford, Boulderdash and all the others. But for me, it really didn’t do the magic of Rockford’s Riot, or have the skill of Earth Shaker. But I am going to review it objectively as a damn good game in it’s own right…
Why it’s own right? Well, because the rocks (or pnuematic hammers, or whatever they are are on the level) and other falling items do not respond in the same way as EVERY other version of the game.
As you might know, in your standard Boulderdash type game, a Rock (or gem etc) will fall off of a surface (ie, a rock or platform (though not earth)) if there is a free space down/left or down/right of it and a gap to the left or right allowing it to get there. I will illustrate my point, with a pointless diagram:
O = Boulder = Earth
1. Boulder resting on another boulder…
..O
..OO*
*****
2. Clear space to down/left and left, so boulder moves left…
.O.
..OO
*****
3. Boulder becomes familiar with concept of gravity and drops…
...
.OOO*
*****
Where-as in Wop Gamma:
Splat !
Submitted by Dan Dooré on Mon, 2006-01-02 04:10. Game
Colin Jordan (Conversion)
I. Andrew & I. Morgan (Original Game Design)
Frantisek Fuka & Colin Jordan (Music)
Edwin Blink (Digitised Speech)
1991
Originally released on the Spectrum, Splat! was another of the addictive SAM game conversions.
The aim of the game was to control Zippy (via up / down / left / right) and eat the grass growing around the maze. The catch being, the maze itself moves randomly. If you get trapped against a wall, you’re dead!
Due to it’s random nature, each play was never the same as the previous one.
Your Sinclair review, courtesy of The YS Rock ‘n’ Roll Years.
Crash review, courtesy of worldofspectrum.org
Review by Graham Goring from the Sam Coupé Scrapbook
Aha! A game I can review and explain in about one paragraph. Hurrah!
You play the part of a little green blob that has to eat all the greenery and food that he can on a largish map. You can move about the screen as you wish, but impacting on any walls or water results in your immediate death.
Meanwhile the screen scrolls away in a set pattern, meaning that you can get trapped in innaccessable places quite easily and you will often have to make speed retreats when the screen suddenly decides to change direction.
And that is it. Okay then, 2 paragraphs.
| Area | Score | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Graphics | 14% | Terrible, but they don’t need to be good. Hardly an improvement on the Speccy original. |
| Addictivity | 75% | Soooo simple, and playable to boot. But may not last that long. |
| Instant Appeal | 93% | Easier to get into than a pair of greased pyjamas. |
| Sound | 86% | Nice tune, and a sampled ‘Yippee!’ at the end of every stage. |
| Overall | 78% | Easy to become addicted to, but it won’t offer long-term gaming. But at around 4 quid, who cares? |
Lemmings
Submitted by siostrzonek on Sat, 2005-12-31 18:23. Game
1993
Yes, that Lemmings.
A UNIQUE MINDBOGGLING GAME OF MULTIPLE SKILL LEVELS. Take command of the wackiest collection of misdirected rodents ever seen on your screen.
Review by Tim Paveley from the Sam Coupé Scrapbook
I really don’t see why I should bother to explain about Lemmings, since it is available on most popular systems. Oh well here goes!
The object of Lemmings is to help guide a pack of cute but dumb lemmings across a series of different landscapes. Your basic lemming is rather dumb. It just keeps walking forwards until it either can’t go any furthur and it turns around, or it dies by ie falling into some water.
However, you are allowed to give some of these Lemmings, carefully selected skills, ie to dig through scenery, or fall great heights. Though the number of skills you may give out are strictly limited.
The aim is simply to use these skills to get a percentage of lemmings across each level to thier ‘home’. You have loads of levels, of varying difficulties, and occasionally get unusual traps and things to get past.
Lemmings is a great game, the animation is wonderfully smooth and cute, and the tunes are perfect lift muzak. So how does it compare to other versions? Well, naturally it is slightly slower than some versions. But then the Sam is slightly less powerful than an ARM 3! It is however still perfectly playable. There is quite a bit of disk access, which can get slightly tedious between levels, but it’s not that bad, and is all on one disk, so at least there is no disk swapping.
Review by Steven Pick and Lee Willis from the Sam Coupé Scrapbook
Sophistry
Submitted by Stefan Drissen on Sat, 2005-12-31 00:00. Game
1994
Escape from this puzzly world via the highest level. Collect or buy keys to open up passages to get higher. Various types of level with blocks that decrease in value and disappear when left, timed attempts and more.
Review by Graham Goring from the Sam Coupé Scrapbook
Sophistry is a game that leaked out from CRL in about 1986. It didn’t have much hype, and it had bland, if pleasant, graphics and wobbly sound. The game-play revolved around your character (a bouncing spinning top sort of thing. Odd) opening up a giant structure, consisting of platforms floating in space.
It started 20% open, and by collecting keys, and buying keys you could finally get a 100% open structure. Sounds easy? Well, no, it ain’t. Each board is one of many types. Such as FREEWAY, where you can bouncer till your hearts content. Others have time limits, or point limits, or many other features.
Each screen also has 3 other variables. DEC, TRACK and LOCK. If DEC is set then each time you bounce over a square it’s value is decreased, until finally it dissapears (this can be counter acted by the UPPERS, which increase every square on the board’s value by 1. You’ll need to save these for dire straights later). If TRACK is on, then jumping over a square makes it drop down flat, and you may not jump on it again until it has risen to a normal level. And the only way you get them back up is by jumping onto a target square. Which then re-appear on another part of the screen. Now, there are 3 different states for the LOCK variable, no LOCK means you may exit from the screen at any time. SCORELOCKED means you have to score a set number of points before the exits start opening up, and TIMELOCKED means you’ll have to wait around until the exits open up of there own accord.
