Amstrad Action


The Krypton Factor
By TV Games
Amstrad CPC464

 
Published in Amstrad Action #31

Krypton Factor

The Krypton Factor is another in Domark's TV Games series. It's based on the gruelling six round quiz to test physical and mental skills to the full.

One to four people can play. The single player game is pointless, because you'll automatically win as there are no opponents. Before play begins, you also select which digitised picture represents you. There are four male and four female pictures.

The six events are mental agility, observation response, physical ability, intelligence and general knowledge. In the mental agility round, a series of numbers are flashed up onto the screen. You then have to sort the numbers into ascending numerical order and type them back in again. Next is the observation round, in which a picture and an associated story are displayed. Two versions are shown and you have to spot the text and picture differences.

The Krypton Factor

Round three is the response round where you have to propel an "ergobuggy" along a short course. You have to alternately press keys, but they must be pressed at different rates to keep the buggy moving. In the second part of the round the screen is divided into four sections and you have to say which corner has most TV's of the same colour.

Physical ability is similar to the ergobuggy round; only this time the four keys are treated individually. You have to race along an assault course controlling your strength, stamina, arms and legs. Next is the intelligence round. Here you have to re-assemble a logo within a time limit. Finally there's the general knowledge round where each player tries to answer the questions first.

There are some nice digitised pictures and the rest of the graphics are well done. Colour is used effectively too. The tunes are average in quality and sound effects are of a similar standard.

The Krypton Factor

This is better than Domark's last TV Game, Blockbusters, but they do still have a way to go. You could probably pass a few nights playing this with friends, but as a solo game it's useless.

Second Opinion

Not my sort of game at all You spend most of the time sitting around waiting for the computer to load When you do get to do something it's terribly simple and unlikely to get the Adrenalin going. It has got some merit as a multi-player game, but even then the interminable pauses are guaranteed to dampen the competitive edge.

Green Screen View

The second part of the response round is trickier because it's based on colour differences.

The Verdict

The Krypton Factor

Graphics 65%
P. Nice digitised pictures.
P. Generally detailed graphics in the rest of the game.

Sonics 47%
P. Pleasant title tune.

Grab Factor 63%
P. Fun as a two to four player game.
N. Useless as a one player game

Staying Power 58%
P. Manual dexterity rounds will take some practice before you do them well.
N. It won't take long before you know all the answers

Overall 59%
P. Better than Blockbusters, but still not great.

GBH

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