1st November 1985
We've all heard about a manic character who has been very popular on other micros and many people have wondered whether such a game was available for the Electron. The search is now over because Durell have come up with Mineshaft.
Your job is to collect the coal that has been left scattered about in each of twenty different rooms and then make your way to the next room. The controls are simple - just left, right and jump - which makes the game easy to learn.
Like all good games though, it's a tough one to master. There are many problems to overcome. These range from water drops to furnaces and from mutant matches to mine trucks. To make matters worse, you're running out of air and some of the jumps you have to perform are, to say the least, near suicidal.
As you learn the game you'll probably need the three lives you are given for each level but with practice some screens become possible without losing any of them. Having said that, "The Impossible Screen" still beats me but my son, aged eight, says it's easy. All the rooms have interesting names such as "The Pink Grotto" or "Ghosties' Revenge".
Should you manage to complete all twenty screens, you start again but due to your state of exhaustion you use your air more quickly. Technically the game is excellent, with smooth flicker-free graphics which make good use of Mode 5 colour but are also quite clear in monochrome.
A very pleasant rendition of Greensleeves is available as an option but there is no other sound. A particular plus with Mineshaft is that by pressing ESCAPE you move on to the next screen with a full set of lives again.
Just occasionally though, the program is seized by a little devil who covers the screen with blobs. Pressing ESCAPE seems to sort out this problem however.
In short, Mineshaft is a quality game which is simple in concept but absolutely addictive. Strongly recommended.
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