C&VG
1st June 1988
Publisher: Mastertronic
Machine: Spectrum 48K/128K/+2
Published in Computer & Video Games #80
Super Trolley
A bit of an oddity this. If I've got the story right, this game is the result of a letter to Jim'll Fix It. Apparently, some little lad wanted to see his game design turned into real code, and silver-haired good fairy Jimmy Savile roped in the amiable Mastertronic guys to do the business. The result, as you'd expect, is pretty naff.
Super Trolley, it transpires, is a game of strategy and memory. You start off as a supermarket dogsbody, and your aim is to win prokotion by completing tasks in the alloted time. Your first task, for instance, is to stock up bread, and you have 47 game minutes to do it.
Before setting off you must stick price labels on a pile of packets, which takes a couple of game minutes; then it's on to the game proper, as your miserable-looking flunky pushes a trolley full of bread around the supermarket in search of the right counter.
Despite the fact that the playing area seems to be only something like 8x8 screens, it's probably a good idea to make a map of the shop, since most of the 3D perspective scenes have at least three exist. Displays below the screen show the objects you are carrying, the food type on the counter ahead of you, the day, week, time and score.
The graphics are cleverly designed to avoid colour clashes, though there's not much variation since they're always shown in white. I especially liked the shuffling assistant, the pinch-faced till girls and the crabby old ladies pushing the trolleys into your foot.
Unfortunately, there isn't much excitement in the process of "searching for the right shelves, dumping the goods and making your way back to the tills for another trolley and another assignment". You have to avoid bumping into customers and objects, otherwise you'll get the sack. Knocking piles of tins all over the floor is a particularly bad move too.
Overall then, Super Trolley is a nice-looking game with just not enough gameplay involved. I'm sure Jim could've fixed something better if he'd made the effort.
Scores
Amstrad/Spectrum VersionGraphics | 60% |
Sound | 40% |
Value For Money | 60% |
Playability | 50% |
Overall | 53% |
Scores
Spectrum 48K/128K/+2 VersionGraphics | 60% |
Sound | 40% |
Value For Money | 60% |
Playability | 50% |
Overall | 53% |