Computer Gamer
1st December 1985Gyroscope
This latest incredible arcade game from Melbourne House will literally have you in a spin.
In a game obviously inspired by the arcade classic Marble Madness, you must attempt to guide a spinning gyroscope around five courses, each consisting of four screens. Unfortunately, the gyroscope doesn't want to co-operate and is determined to leap off the slopes and ledges in spite of your efforts.
Each screen of the course consists of a series of raised ramps and ledges that are surrounded by a disturbing number of holes - and that's just the first course! In later screens you will also have to cope with magnets to push you off course and even the odd destructive alien.
You control your gyro with either the keyboard or joystick in any of four directions. Combining two keys will send you spinning diagonally. Unfortunately, the courses are mainly diagonal making it an almost impossible game to play.
Indeed you will find that your scores in your early games are decidedly low. This is because you don't actually get any points at all until you complete a screen. After four screens you earn, and I mean earn, a bonus based on the time remaining from your allocated sixty seconds.
There are an incredible number of ways of losing one of your five gyroscopes ranging from falling off a ledge, crashing into a wall or running out of time. When this happens, it slows down losing its momentum and falls down to explode with a silent "Oof!"
Finishing a course with a score over a thousand should be considered an achievement but there's no time for celebrations as you're straight on with the next one.
Unfortunately the screens of a course don't scroll into each other; instead you have to charge off the end of one wthout knowing what you are going to face next. This often results in an undignified plummet and the need for "just one more game".
Having said that, the game's 3D graphics are excellent and should you get a high score your triumph is accompanied by a respectable tune from a Spectrum that usually specialises in beeps.
Soon the Spectrum version will be joined by gyroscopes for BBC, Amstrad and c64s but for £1 more.
Another excellent game from Melbourne House.