The Micro User
1st January 1988
Author: Hac Man
Publisher: Top Ten
Machine: BBC Model B
Published in The Micro User 5.11
As the name implies, the Trilogy consists of three titles from the prolific arcade-adventure specialist Peter Scott. All three titles - Pandemonium, Network and Yoyo - were originally written a good few years ago, but never released. Superficially they show their age, but are quite good fun once you get into them.
All three are variations on the collect-and-jump theme, and are fairly similar in appearance. A word of warning for Master owners - Yoyo works perfectly with the CONVERT utility, but Pandemonium and Network both crash after the first game has ended.
Network looks very similar to another Scott offering, Hunkidory, even down to the same blob-like central character - Peter originally planned it to be Hunkidory II.
But it does have one major advantage over its predecessor
adversaries into oblivion with a single shot. Such a feature was rarely seen in Peter's early games, but the added firepower means that you can now go looking for trouble with little fear of retribution.
The game features 104 screens and the overall idea is to collect the parts of a central core, together with energy pills, lasers and anything else you find along the way. You will occasionally find phone boxes dotted around - these are teleporters to transport you around the maze.
Yoyo follows the same basic idea as Network, but you are now a strange creature looking something like a duck. The gun has gone, but you can now call on a protective shield in times of need.
This makes a world of difference as you can wander around freely, knowing you can actually defend yourself. You have to use it fairly often - without it your six lives would rapidly disappear. Yoyo features 75 screens from which you must collect over 600 valves.
Take the best bits from both games, mix them together and you've got Pandemonium. The plot is similar and includes the telephone kiosks, but Yoyo's duck is now armed with a Network-style gun. Another similarity is that you have a certain amount of energy - once that's gone, you're dead.
Eighty screens of simple fun make this one my favourite. While the games can hardly be called original, each one features nice touches. Network has a snatch of Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man after the title page has loaded, while a catchy rendering of the Airwolf theme accompanies you through Pandemonium. Yoyo even features its own version of the Can-Can.
The Peter Scott Trilogy is worth a look, if you like jump-and-collect games, or want to see what led to games like Omega Orb and Ransack.
If you aren't and don't, the collection really doesn't offer anything particularly remarkable. The extra pennies for a more recent Scott offering such as Thunderstruck II will be money well spent.
