Your Sinclair


Geoff Capes Strong Man

Author: Rachael Smith
Publisher: Martech
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Your Sinclair #2

Geoff Capes Strongman

When Castle Rathbone's very own Charles Atlas, the Ed, said that in just seven days he could make a strong woman out of me I guessed he'd bought me a chest expander! Instead it turned out to be Martech's muscle bound micro-game. Now I must confess that ever since a certain Daley Thompson was responsible for the demise of my second joystick in a weekend I've had an aversio to Sinclair sports, but they say that a healthy body makes a healthy mind, so here goes...

Unlike the Track and Field mob, Geoff Capes concerns himself with displays of awesome strength. He pulls trucks, chops logs, rolls cars, loads barrels and rings the fairground bell... then he relaxes with a bit of Sumo wrestling! Or rather, you do and, sigh of relief, it's not all joystick bashing.

Obviously before you can even punch your way out of a paper bag you'll need to build some muscle, which you can do either energetically, with ten seconds of wrist action or the lazy way, by pressing fire and accepting what God gives you. You then allocate the strength between eight muscle areas, from ankles to shoulders.

Achieving each of the stunts calls for different skills. The ones involving vehicles consist of chasing the illuminating muscle icon with a pointer and pressing fire as an animated Mr Capes (be very polite here - he's bigger than me) flexes centre screen. Barrel loading sees the addition of joystick pumping and bell ringing could kill yet another Quickshot, but chopping and wrestling call more for timing. In each case you can apply more effort to the activity to speed it up though this uses muscles more quickly. As any remainder is added to muscle replenished it's worth aiming for efficiency.

It's not perfect, but it should keep a lot of people happy with its variety and difficulty. And here's a playing tip - if you really want to build muscles like Geoff's... do some press ups while the game's loading!

Rachael Smith

Other Spectrum 48K Game Reviews By Rachael Smith


  • International Match Day Front Cover
    International Match Day
  • How to be a Hero Front Cover
    How to be a Hero
  • W.A.R. Front Cover
    W.A.R.
  • Knight Tyme Front Cover
    Knight Tyme
  • Ghosts 'N Goblins Front Cover
    Ghosts 'N Goblins
  • Blockbusters Front Cover
    Blockbusters
  • Paperboy Front Cover
    Paperboy
  • William Wobbler Front Cover
    William Wobbler
  • Hypa Raid Front Cover
    Hypa Raid
  • Falklands 82 Front Cover
    Falklands 82