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You find yourself in Nightmare Park on your motorbike. The park is split into a number of levels (not like my local park I must admit, but there you are) and roaming them are vicious creatures like hedgehogs who would sooner kill you than look at you. You must speed through the park, avoiding the animals and leaping over obstacles such as buses (again, not in my park). Be ready on the brakes though or you might find yourself crashing into a dead-end. If you reach the far side of the park, you will meet the Ghost Rider who will race you all the way back to the other side. A real favourite at the time and still very playable.

Ghost rider rules in duel of death
FIND the ghost rider and race to death in Wheelie, a motor-cycle game for the 48K Spectrum. Before you can take part in this death race you will have to hunt through the many strange roads in the cavern scenario for the mysterious figure on a motor-cycle who will be your opponent.

In the caverns you will find hazards such as buses and cars to jump over, ice and gas to avoid, and ramps to pass over to reach the various parts of the cave system.

Your machine has all the latest equipment and will accelerate to phenomenal speeds. You should be careful, however, as many of the roads in the ghost rider's world are dead ends.

When you crash your rider will fly from his machine and skid to a halt on the road. While the animation is excellent, during those effects the crash sequence is a little too graphic and some people might find it tasteless.

Wheelie can be obtained from Microsphere Computer Services Ltd, London.




WHEELIE Memory: 48K Price: £5.95 Joystick: Most joysticks - key program option Gilbert Factor: 7

Microsphere followed up their previous release (The Train Game) and released Wheelie for the ZX Spectrum in 1983 and let's say it was something a little different (in the arcade game genre) when it hit the high street stores.

In Wheelie you had just taken delivery of the ultimate in two-wheeled machines - the powerful four cylinder fuel-injected and turbo charged Zedexaki 500.

ZX Spectrum Games Wheelie
While you were out on the road trying this beast of a bike out, you came across a sign saying ‘Private road — no speed limit to brave riders’. Getting yourself far too excited you entered the driveway and the gates slammed shut behind you. You were now trapped inside Nightmare Park! (Cue scary music)

Your only way out now was to find the ghostrider (how did you know he was there?), who was dozing somewhere off to the right of the park, wake him up and then race against him. The park was full of wildlife, (humorously experts in karate although they never performed any 'moves'), so bumping into any animal was not good for your health (you lost a life).

The scrolling levels were displayed in the form of four ‘roads’ stacked one on top of another like a cross section through underground caverns. The four were not always visible to you, and any road travelled on could run steeply uphill or downhill to another cavern roadway. There were thin ‘uphill/downhill’ lines across some roadway sections, and you could make the bike travel down a level if the down key was pressed, and uphill by pressing the up key.

Apart from the park wildlife (which included jumping kangaroos and giant hedgehogs) there were plenty of other obstacles to overcome.

Humps in the road could only be got over by accelerating rapidly and performing a ‘wheelie’ which allowed the front wheel to ride up and over the hump. Sometimes, in true Eddie Kidd or Evil Knievel style, you had to jump over a double decker bus! Getting the timing right took a fair bit of skill and practice: going too slow meant you hurtled into the roof of the bus. Too fast and your rider was sent flying through the air.

On top of all of this some sections of the caverns were iced over which had to be ridden over slowly or your poor biker would be sent sprawling.

Running into a dead end killed you if you did not hit the brakes in time, and even going downhill too fast could be rather fatal as your rider went flying over the handlebars.

Gas stations (represented by the word 'GAS') were dotted around the caves and running into them topped your fuel level up to maximum. Each gas station could only be used once though - and if you ran out of gas then once again it was the loss of a life.

Riding through the caves in Wheelie ZX SpectrumTo be promoted to the next level required completing the one you were currently on. You would then be given a code to enter the next stage.

As the game was scrolling you could ride the bike in either direction and sometimes you needed to do this, working out your route by moving up and down through the roads and avoiding the dead-ends. Once you made it to the right hand side of the level you were free to race against the 'ghostrider'.

On Release:
Well Wheelie was certainly something different when it was released on the ZX Spectrum and Microsphere had another hit on their hands. Riding the bike, timing the jumps over parked buses and cars, performing wheelies over humps, searching for fuel and avoiding the nasties made for an exciting arcade game. A biking game like this had never been seen on the Speccy before (bike games were usually in the racing genre) and it established Microsphere in the gaming sector.

The test of time:
Well here in the land of ZX Spectrum Games we do have a soft spot for Wheelie. It was one of the first games I ever played on the Sinclair Spectrum (I borrowed a friends copy) and loved it. You know, it's still not bad and riding around the caves jumping over buses is still good for a laugh. The sound effects are a bit grating and the scrolling does show it's age. This is made even funnier by the fact that Microsphere stated that Wheelie would contain 'some of the best graphics you're ever likely to see on a Spectrum' :-)

It's really retro now, more so than many other games in my opinion, but stick with it and you'll see there is a good little game in there - a good example of a really early classic arcade game for the ZX Spectrum.

We recommend getting hold of the real Sinclair hardware but if not then download Wheelie for a ZX Spectrum emulator. Alternatively you could try and play it online.

Give Wheelie a go. It's 'wheelie' good. I 'wheelie' mean it etc etc....

Please see our other ZX Spectrum game reviews - all links are listed in alphabetical order. Cheers guys.

GENRE: Arcade game
RELEASE DATE: 1983
RELEASED BY: Microsphere
DEVELOPER(S): Microsphere
PRICE: £5.95 - UK

Producer: Microsphere
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £5.95
Language: machine code

Microsphere seem to have done it again, following up their excellent Train Game with another wholly original, beautifully put together game in Wheelie. You have just taken delivery of the ultimate two-wheeled machine — the four cylinder fuel-injected turbo-charged Zedexaki 500. While you’re out on the road trying it out, you see this sign saying ‘Private road — no speed limit to brave riders’. All excited, you enter the driveway, the gates slam shut behind you, and you are trapped in Nightmare Park. Your only way out now is to find the ghostrider, who’s dozing somewhere off to the right, wake him up and then race him back. The park is full of wildlife, all trained in karate, so bumping into any is not so good for the health.



Become Eddie Kidd for the day — Microsphere’s wonderful Wheelie.

The screen display takes the form of four ‘roads’ stacked one on another almost like a cross section through caves. There are not always four visible, and any road travelled may well go steeply up or downhill to another level. There are thin ‘up/downhill’ lines across some, and the bike will travel down a level if the down key is pressed, and the same for uphill.

Apart from the vicious wildlife (includes leaping kangaroos and giant hedgehogs getting their own back for truckers) there are other problems to be encountered. Humps in the road can only be got over by accelerating rapidly at the last second and doing a ‘wheelie’ — front wheel riding up and over. Sometimes you have to jump over a bus! There’s also ice on some roads, which must be taken with caution. Running into a dead end will kill you off if you don’t brake in time, and going downhill too fast can also be rather fatal! Gas stations are few and far between, so it’s worth backtracking for them. To be promoted to a new level requires completing the one you’re on, when you’ll be given a code to let you enter the next one up. Good riding!

CRITICISM
‘When I first saw another reviewer playing ‘Wheelie’, I thought that it was totally different and looked good. Then I got round to reviewing it and my impression that it was a sort of ‘Scramble’ game faded! It’s much, much more! Revs are important when jumping cars and buses — too fast and the bike cartwheels, flinging the rider off, too slow and you won’t make it. Once you get to the end of the complex you meet the ghost rider, a tune is played, and the race back begins. You must beat him but he has a distinct advantage — he can travel in a straight line across the screen, but only at about a third of your top speed. All that I can say is that I spent about three hours playing before I remembered I was supposed to write something about it! A dangerously addictive game. Great, Brill, Fantastic — super words fail. Just buy it!’

‘The makers boast that Wheelie has some of the best graphics you’re ever likely to see on a Spectrum. I’d like to think that there’s still room for improvement as time goes by, but certainly these are exceptionally good. Smooth, very detailed with loads of animation. The spills the biker takes are all quite varied, depending on the type of mischance he hits. It’s all quite realistic. At first you might assume that you can memorise the layout of the caverns, but I’m afraid not, each game they change. All in all, this is one of the most enjoyable games I have played for a long while, and I’m sure it’s going to keep players entertained for hours.’

‘If you’re playing with the keyboard, it has a very sensible layout, but there’s a menu for selecting Kempston or cursor type joystick as well as a routine for setting up other joysticks via user-defined keys. Very good. As for the game, well it is pretty good. Lovely graphics, very, very difficult and challenging. Excellent value.’

COMMENTS
Control keys: left = bottom row left, right = bottom row right (these act as accelerate and brake), second row = down, third row = up and top row = freeze
Joystick: Kempston, AGF, Protek and user-definable keys
Keyboard play: very responsive
Colour: good
Graphics: excellent
Sound: good (excellent on bike effects)
Skill levels: several
Lives: 4
Screens: new regenerated, and scrolling
General rating: addictive, generally excellent, good value.

Use of computer 89%
Graphics 86%
Playability 90%
Getting started 95%
Addictive qualities 99%
Value for money 99%
Overall 93%