Sinclair User


The Secret Of Levitation

Author: Jerry Muir
Publisher: Americana
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Sinclair User #52

The Secret Of Levitation

You want weird? We got weird! A computer program that evaluates your levitation potential!

Americana is the label but it sounds more specifically like California, home of cults and kooks.

To be a successful levitator you'll need a perfect balance of mind and body - plus the ability to sit in the all important aerodynamic lotus position. The nine games here test your hand and eye - you're left to your own devices when it comes to the contortions.

The Secret Of Levitation

Test Number 1 is Rapid Reactions. Four figures sit side by side. Immediately one vanishes you transfer your finger from the Z key to the number of the absent aviator. Next up is Vibrant Visions because every levitator needs a highly developed nervous system. This time you have to say which of two lines is longer, the problem being that you only see them for fractions of a second.

Hand-Eye Harmony is a handy test of how well your body responds to your brain. A small target blips round the screen while you try to keep a similarly small character as close as possible to it. Peak Perception is simple, matching one object with its identical twin in a row of five, aiming for lightning recognition.

Ten mazes provide a test of Mind-Body Mastery as you race to complete their tangled paths. You'll also need Agile Alertness if you're indulging in man-powered flight. This a variation on speedy shape recognition so be alert - the aviation world needs more lerts! Of course inner integration can't be omitted and it's tested by tracing out a simple shape hidden in a web of lines.

And so the tests keep on coming.

After each one you see your master, Sidha, sitting cross legged and as your score clocks up he starts to float. At 700 he's looking good, radiating the energy of the Unified Field.

At 800 and it's off with the physical and into his ethereal togs in preparation for scores of 900 plus when he zooms off the top of the screen for a little heavenly cruising.

You also get a Levigram graph of your total scores to give you a unified picture of your potential for flying with the Red Arrows without a plane.

There's no great overall reward - though I suppose anybody scoring top marks will be walking on air.

A totally bizzare collection of abstract games, all presented in a tongue in karma fashion (at least I hope it's not meant to be educational).

Not perhaps the most addictive release ever but it's a highly playable, silly way to test your basic mental and physical skills.

Label: Americana Price: £2.99 Memory: 48K Joystick: Interface II, Kempston, cursor Reviewer: Jerry Muir

****

Overall Summary

A weird one, this. Fun if you like tests and the levitation angle gives the the whole thing a neat lift.

Jerry Muir

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