Your Sinclair


Molecule Man

Author: Rick Robson
Publisher: Mastertronic
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Your Sinclair #9

Molecule Man

He's rough, he's tough and bad guys yell "Enough!" - yes, folks it's Molecule Man. Mastertronic, though, will be hoping that you can't get enough of its latest hero from its mega-cheapo stable. Despite the name, knowledge of nuclear physics is not a pre-requisite of this quasi-3D maze game. But the game will help your architectural skills as there's the built-in bonus of a maze designer program added to the original game. You can use this to edit the existing maze or design yourself a whole new mess for Molecule Man to get himself into.

Essentially Molecule Man is lost in the middle of a 256 location maze, reasonably detailed in 3D style. Radiation is killing him, time running out. To reach freedom he must find 16 circuits in order to activate the tele-porter. However, time is at a premium, so he must also pick up coins along the way and then make life crucial decisions - does he use the money to buy pills or bombs. The pills (presumably iodine tablets) increase his lifespan, while the bombs will blast him through to otherwise inaccessible parts of the maze, where those elusive circuits no doubt lurk.

On screen displays tell you how many bombs you have, radiation pills left, time elapsed and money and circuits collected. Molecule Man himself looks like a 3D Smiley badge and makes a suitably radioactive crackle as he wanders about. You have to be quite zippy to get anywhere and finding the cash is crucial to any success. But then if you find the original set-up too hard there's always the editing program to save your bacon, if not your molecules. Not a game to change the universe, but still a bargain little package.

Rick Robson

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