A&B Computing


Carousel

Publisher: Acornsoft
Machine: BBC Model B

 
Published in A&B Computing 1.09

Carousel is a screenful of action: owls, rabbits, letters and ducks march across the screen in both directions; the carousel arms whirl round in the background; bonus scores come and go and your supply of bullets steadily decreases.

The game is simple to play, employing only the favourite Z, X, Return combination, and the idea is to high-score by shooting as many objects as possible and hitting as many bonuses as you can, before your supply of bullets is finally used up.

Extra points can be gained by hitting the BONUS letters in the correct order. Positive and negative results can result from hitting the two boxes in the top left and right hand corners of the screen. They also make extra bullets available from time to time.

Carousel

Watch out for the ducks. More often than one would choose, the yellow ducks change their appearance (they actually look quite friendly as they cross the screen) and fly down to deprive you of your bullets. They dodge about pretty effectively but if you latch onto them quickly, no more duck. It certainly gets the adrenalin going dodging about after two or three ducks at a time, especially as only one bullet is allowed on screen at one time and you know that a wasted shot could be fatal.

If by this stage the carousel music accompaniment is disturbing the concentration, then you can make use of one of the nice features of Carousel. By shooting out a switch which is graphically displayed on the left hand side of the screen, the sound is toggled on and off. When the animal characters have been shot away, with or wiithout the help of extra boxes of bullets, further points are scored by hitting caged ducks (revenge) and a Polar Bear which scuttles backwards and forwards across the screen for as long as you can keep up with it.

There is nothing stunningly original in this game but so much is going on, there are so many options and combinations, that it remains addictive and enjoyable, as far as I know, forever. Good colour, excellent sound, great fun.