Demanding musical teasers

Previous Next

In the January 1987 issue of The Micro User I reviewed the original Chart Challenge program and hailed it as being a must for the music buff. A year has passed since then, and Steve Close has not been idle. Spurred on by his original success, he has written the new, improved, Chart Challenge '88.

The original program consisted of a group of four quiz- orientated games that could be played in any order. They loaded their data from a total of eight 40 track data discs which spanned the years 1952 to 1985.

The 40 track version of Chart Challenge '88 is supplied on a single, reversible floppy disc. This reduction in database size has been achieved by axeing the album titles and song lyrics featured in the original game.

The new Challenge is eminently more playable that its predecessor. Under the new format, your musical knowledge is pushed to the limit in seven rounds. Your score is kept as a running total and is stored on disc when you complete the final section.

Options is a multiple choice, question and answer game. A question - relating to your chosen decade - is displayed on the screen with two answers below it. Select correctly and you move on to the next question.

This continues, with an increasing number of possible answers, until you answer incorrectly or the time limit expires. A much improved Hangman program constitutes round two, and here you have to guess both the single and the artist before the time limit expires and you get another go.

Link Lines begins with a 3 x 3 grid of coloured squares, with each colour representing a different era. Your task is to answer three questions in a line, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Success is rewarded with a new grid of increased dimensions.

Matching song titles to their artists, years released or highest chart position is the objective of Connections. As with all of the other games, the round ends with the first incorrect answer.

A ladder is used to chart your progress in round five - True or False. By giving the correct response to a displayed statement, you are moved one rung up the ladder while the first wrong answer moves you down by one rung, a second failure by two rungs, and so on.

As its name suggests, Gold Run bears more than a passing resemblance to a popular TV quiz game. The screen is filled with 20 hexagonal tiles each containing the initial letters of a song title. When you select a hexagon you are given the title, but with one word omitted - enter this to win the tile. To complete the round you must cross the screen from left to right before the time limit expires.

Options returns in round seven, but this time you can specify the number of answers that you want displayed.

The original Chart Challenge was good, and the 1988 version is magnificent. I guess I'll run out of superlatives in 1989.

Carol Barrow