Zzap


Yes, Prime Minister
By Mastertronic Plus
Commodore 64/128

 
Published in Zzap #71

Yes, Prime Minister

A week in politics is a long time; about five days. That's how long you, Jim Hacker, have to survive as Prime Minister in this computerisation of the award-winning TV series.

The main screen is your office interior, equipped with several devices (accessed by moving a pointer over them), most of which supply you with useful information about current political events. A door leads to the outside world where you can meet with Sir Humphrey (your Cabinet Secretary), Bernard (your Private Secretary) and various guests. In conversation, you get to choose multiple choice replies, thus making political decisions.

Occasionally, you can give a more accurate response by using a Hackergram - a graph where you position a cursor to indicate exactly how you feel about a subject. Making the right decisions increases your poll rating - your aim is simply to survive through the five separately loaded days.

Yes, Prime Minister

Yes, Prime Minister is a real oldie, first reviewed in Issue 32, earning a mere 38%. Paul Sumner thought it was 'playable and extremely witty, but the problems don't change from game to game... the "script" is very similar to the original TV series, but unfortunately the jokes wear thin once they're been endured a couple of times'.

The original £15 price tag also brought harsh criticism.

At three quid, the repetitiveness is more acceptable and the satirical humour is very amusing - at least for the first few goes.