Personal Computer News


Jasper
By Micromega
Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Personal Computer News #086

JASPER

If you've mastered the jungle and platform-type game, you'll feel at home with this one.

Jasper is a jungle rat who goes on a wild adventure through the swamps avoiding all the beasts of the land, in a bid to find his way back home.

In this cartoon adventure you have 22 screens to plough through - each with its own dangers and problems. The scenery of the first screen is quite good. Bees flutter, spiders bob up and down and a killer rabbit bounces towards Jasper ready to pounce on him. At the top of the screen is the number of lives you have (you start with three) and there's also a timer.

Jasper

Controlling Jasper needs clever planning, quick thinking and good keyboard control. There's no single way of getting through the dangers as some screens need to be visited more than once.

To save Jasper from the manic rabbit I pressed S to go right, and then Y to jump over the rabbit. But then I ran into trouble: my friendly rat collided with a deadly spider and a wasp, and lost his three precious lives.

I tried another strategy - this time Jasper went left on to the next screen - jumped over a leopard and skilfully grabbed an apple and traversed towards the riverbank. With the leopard pacing up and down I didn't have a lot of time to get Jasper across.

So I adopted some long-jump tactics. Going quickly up to the riverbank, I pressed Y for jump then grabbed a rope dangling above the river and pressed B for hold. Then H to climb down the rope, A and S to swing it and when the time was right, I pressed Y to let go and land.

Along Jasper's journey he picks up objects which he can use later. But he can carry only five objects at once. I never got further than the third screen - but there's certainly plenty to keep you going.

Sandra Grandison

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