Personal Computer News


A Day In The Life

Author: Mike Gerrard
Publisher: Micromega
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Personal Computer News #105

A DAY IN THE LIFE

A day in the life of... who else but the man who made British home computing what it is, Sir Clive himself. But what a let-down. We've come to expect high quality from the company that produced Death Chase, Full Throttle and Codename Mat, but now the quality's taken a nosedive.

The goal is to steer the balding and bearded head of Mr. Computer through some 20-odd screens to knighthood at Buck House. The inlay makes reference to Sir Clive's becoming Dame Commander, an irreverent and irrelevant throwaway line culled from Private Eye. Definitely not cricket, and not particularly funny.

First task of the day is to get dressed - dodge the manic television, down the stairs, past the lethal feline and to the cupboard. With clothes donned (not that you notice because all you see is a blue head) a key appears in the attic, so it's back upstairs to collect the key before you can exit screen right.

A Day In The Life

Each location has tasks which have to be completed in a certain order. For example, to catch the 8.15 you must reach the station cashpoint, then a brolly appears which must be picked up before you can board the train.

All screens use a white background, and the sprites are large, colourful and smooth. There's some clever over-and-under sprite handling, and each screen is tricky to master - though not, I suspect, for a hardened games player.

Moving Sir C about is difficult - there are channels to move through which require precise positioning.

Micromega may want to move away from 'Black Leather' into bright and breezy games, but A Day In The Life is a dodo.

Mike Gerrard

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  • The Girl Who Was Death Front Cover
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  • Haunted Hedges Front Cover
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  • Airline Front Cover
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