Oric owners may have been gazing enviously at their neighbours' Spectrums and longing to have a go at this game... Now they can. The bad news is that Scuba Dive on the Oric isn't as impressive as the Sinclair version.
Three frogmen take it in turn, under your command, to dive from a dinghy and brave the perils of the deep in search of pearls, gold, and diamonds.
On the way down to the bottom of the screen they must evade all manner of marine hazards. Having collected whatever they can get their hands on, they must return it to the boat safely in order to add it to their score.
The game falls into three stages. In the first, you collect pearls from oysters. In the second, you must swim along underground
caverns dodging octopuses and a strange starry-looking thing that patrols the caves. Valuable minerals may be found here, and these too must be returned to the boat. The final stage tempts you with gold bars and diamonds.
Throughout the game, your supplies of oxygen are replenished according to how much treasure you collect.
Putting Scuba Dive on the Oric within 16K is a tremendous feat of programming but the graphics are not as good as the Spectrum version. Occasionally your diver disappears from the screen altogether, and many of the hazards are harmless unless hit head-on.
Notwithstanding these faults, Scuba Dive is a game to splash out on.