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THOSE IRREPRESSIBLE Aussies at Melbourne House seem full of arcade games this Christmas, and are just about to release another, in Gyroscope.

Somewhat less violent that the last two gladiatorial offerings, it casts you as a gyroscope, that small spinning toy which appears to defy the laws of gravity. You must guide the gyroscope down five four-screen courses of increasing difficulty, avoiding the cliff edges, walls, and various hazards which are set in your path.


Amusement arcade fanatics may recognise it as a version of the successful Atari game, Marble Madness, but Melbourne House says there's no connection between the two, and Gyroscope is not based on it. Weird - but never mind, it's a remarkably addictive game of great difficulty.

The graphics are really impressive - a 3D landscape of gridded ramps and cliffs along which the gyroscope teeters, speeding up as it goes down hill, running out of steam when climbing. The secret is to build up just the right speed and angle of movement across each part of the course, so as to move smoothly into the next screen without wasting time. But if you go too fast, you'll fall over the edges - and some of the corners must be negotiated with single-pixel precision to stay spinning.

As you progress, the paths become more treacherous. Directional magnets draw you unwillingly towards disasters, while certain sections of track are coated with glass to disrupt your movement. Then there are patches of what Melbourne House claims to be aliens - they chatter at you and bounce you around until, inevitably, it's over the edge again.

There's a time limit of 60 seconds on each spin, so even if you stay out of trouble you have to shift to make it in time. We managed the first run reasonably easily after a bit of practice, but the second is much nastier and the third - well, hair-raising isn't the word.

Luckily, if you lose a life, you remain on that screen, instead of going back to the beginning of the run, so it is possible to achieve some success even if you use up all your lives to do it.

Melbourne House should have another winner on its hands. It seems a pity that only 20 screens could be fitted into the game - but they're a pretty dazzling 20. Whether or not the game is as original as Melbourne House seems to think, we've never seen anything quite like it on the Spectrum. Buy it and go bananas.


Publisher Melbourne House Price £7.95
Memory 48K Joystick Kempston, Cursor
*****

Chris Bourne

Gyroscope puts you in a similar surrealistic situation to the arcade classic Marble Madness. The basic gameplay is very simple - you take control of a gyroscope with the task of getting from the starting post at the top of the course to the finishing post at the bottom within the allotted time. Each time the gyroscope topples, a life is lost. The course is very strange, presented with a surrealistic 3D effect featuring tall geometric buildings, ramps and steep slopes along and around which you have to guide your gyroscope. The course also provides a home for some rather strange (and vaguely familiar) aliens whose touch topples your spinner.

There are five courses in the run, each containing four screens. When you complete one screen the display turns purple and the next part of the course scrolls into view, replacing the section you've just traversed. The whole game is played against a clock, which ticks off the time relentlessly as you try to complete each quartet of screens. Completing each screen earns you bonus points, and completing a course of four screens earns you a bonus related to the amount of time remaining on the clock.

You begin the game with seven lives in store, and pick up a bonus life for each 1,000 points scored. If you fail to complete a screen course within the time limit, the gyroscope topples when the count hits zero, a life is lost and you resume play from the spot you'd reached at timeout with the clock reset to start a new run. If things are going badly, you can press fire at any time and restart the game from scratch.

There are some very thin catwalks between the buildings and here the main danger lies. If you stray too near the edge of a construction or catwalk your gyro will become unbalanced and totter over - another life gone. When this happens your gyro is put back to the top of the screen on which you died, and thus time is lost as well as a life.

Taking control of a gyroscope takes some getting used to - once you start moving in one direction it takes a while to slow down. The beast will accelerate down slopes, and constant checks have to be made when you trundle down a slope to make sure you're not going too fast - if there's a sharp turn at the bottom you could find yourself in deep trouble, and run out of road.

Inanimate hazards on the course complicate matters further, and include glass slopes (which send you spinning in all directions), knobbly floors (which makes control of your gyro next to impossible), red discs (which send you completely out of control) and directional floors (which act like slopes only they're flat).

The landscapes are very deviously created; starting from relatively easy the y get more tricky very rapidly. Some of the difficult courses contain thin catwalks, horrendous slopes with tight corners, holes in the floor and combinations of all these with the aforementioned hazards - being a gyroscope isn't all just spinning around.

Producer: Melbourne House
Price: £7.95
Language: Machine Code
Author: Steve Lamb and Tony Mack



CRITICISM
'Although I'm not supposed to say it Gyroscope obviously owes a lot to the arcade classic Marble Madness. It's graphically very similar and some of the gameplay elements are identical to the coin-op machine. That aside it's a brilliant game in itself, difficult and frustrating at times, but well worth persevering with. The graphics are excel lent, with fabulous use of normal/bright. The sound is pretty good too, with a nice atmospheric tune and sound effects. In my eyes this is one of the most addictive games I've played on the Spectrum and is one that any games player just can't afford to miss.'

'Gyroscope is the nearest thing we've had to Marble Madness on the Speccy. The graphics are a bit mixed in quality - I noticed rather a lot of flicker apparently due to the sound - but the 3D playing area is excellent. Controlling your gyroscope takes a lot of practice, and the inertia takes a bit of in used to. The first couple of games are bound to lead to most of your lives being lost very swiftly. Care

If you get your kicks from those fairground rides that have you reaching for the nearest brown paper bag, then Melbourne House has got a treat for you. Cos, with Gyroscope, those nauseous thrills have been transported to your Speccy.
It all sounds very easy - guide a giddy gyrating gyroscope across 20 screens - just five courses of four screens.
But don't be fooled! The gyro's got a will of its own and you'll need to be quick witted if you're to stop it falling off an edge or hitting an alien, while manoeuvring steep slopes, slippery glass or directional magnets. Gulp! Pass that paper bag...
In fact, I really thought I had it cracked after belting through the first course, but it's all downhill - literally! - after that. Shame you can't pick a course at random to get a bit of practice on those stickier screens.
Melbourne House says a surprise awaits at the end of the game - getting to the end of the game would be surprise enough for me!
Gyroscope, with its stunning 3D graphics will have you hooked - especially if you're a devotee of Marbles Madness, its arcade twin. But remember to keep a bottle of aspirin by your side...

Graphics: 9
Playability: 6
Value for Money: 7
Addictiveness: 9
OVERALL: 8

Alison Hjul