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NO FUN AT THE CARNIVAL

THE IDEA of presenting a carnival shooting gallery as a computer game would be interesting and the software would sell in great numbers so long as it was programmed in a moderately competent manner.

Carnival, for the 48K Spectrum, succeeds on the first point but fails miserably on the second. The game involves shooting ducks, owls and rabbits as they move across the shooting rank. You must be wary of the ducks which can swoop and take some of your limited number of bullets.

The bullets can be replaced by shooting a square card which moves with the animals and contains the bonus number of bullets.

The letters b-o-n-u-s also travel round the range and you should shoot them to obtain extra points. If you hit the pipes which spin round at the top of the screen like a windmill you will also get more points.

Points may win prizes but not so far as Carnival is concerned. The graphics are only just presentable and they flicker during animation. The game could have been written as easily in 16K with Basic - it certainly looks as if it has been.

The idea of Carnival is good but more time could have been spent programming it.

If a better version is produced, by all means buy it but we do not recommend Carnival even for children. It can be obtained from Eclipse Software, 4 Oxford Road, London N9 0NA.

Memory: 48K Price: £6.45 Joystick: Kempston ZX Interface