Future looks bright

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Even the Supreme Being gets weary at times when it comes to the job of creation. It was on one such occasion that he decided to sub-contract the job to a bunch of cowboys from the Galactic Corporation.

Following a night on the town they awoke to discover that they had lost the scroll of evolution - the blueprint for the human race.

You play the role of Glob the blob, a large squat ball with big eyes and a mouth. He has been chosen to locate the 16 pieces of the scroll and reassemble them.

Future Shock uses a novel screen design. At the top are the eyes of the all-seeing supreme being and below is a large graphic window in which the action takes place. At the sides are a score board and a large candle.

A slowly burning candle is used to depict Glob's life expectancy but the rate of burn increases dramatically if Glob comes into contact with any alien beings.

Glob's lifespan can be increased by collecting the power pills to be found on several of the screens. It wasn't until I'd played the game for some time that I realised these pills were also the segments of scroll for which I was searching.

You can examine the pieces of scroll you collect by using a pull down menu. Key number one displays a menu which lets you manipulate the puzzle pieces.

Controls are limited to left and right movement, but you can travel up or down by using the lifts found on most of the screens, or by falling off a ledge.

An anti-gravity shaft runs through the centre of the maze and, while floating up through the shaft, you can drift to the left of right.

Future Shock is an excellent program, a game which overflows with character and humour.

Carol Barrow