REVIEW

AT 7,15; "SH*TE CYCLES"

Reviewer: Bobo
Developer: Ed Raven
Genre: Avoid-em-up
Platform: Spectrum 48K
Language: BASIC

Apparently this entry was supposed to be knocked up in a night and started off life as "1-D Lightcycles," however, author "Ed" (or Nick from work as I know him) wasn't happy that the two UDGs just collided with each other in the middle of the screen thus delivering "the joke" and ending the game.

Luckily for me - because that would have been a short review - all that remains of "1-D Lightcycles" is the SCREEN$ as Ed decided to re-work the game (and the title/loader) into something a little more playable instead. The subtly named; "Sh*te Cycles" was conceived.

We start off well enough with a simple but effective title screen and even a custom font! Ed has cleverly rolled said font and in-game graphics into an alternate character-set but, as I read through the fascinating back-story of "Luke Starknaked" on the proceeding 3 pages of instructions, it did make my eyes go a bit funny.

Speaking of painful - just wait until you get to Page 3 (Phwooar? - Ed) where the in-game (and non-redefinable) keys are revealed... Yikerama!

On to the game and what we've got here is a passable, if a bit sluggish, single-player Lightcycles/Tron-type affair.

You control the yellow Sh*te Cycle (on the left) across three levels of increasingly (different coloured? - Ed) enemies.

The enemy AI is, by Ed's own admission, "good enough" which means that it makes a competent job of avoiding your trails and the screen borders but occasionally makes bone-headed decisions (getting itself into an unwinnable loop) or even just randomly turning and killing itself.

As a result the challenge in Sh*te Cycles frequently comes from the cramp-inducing slow-to-respond keyboard controls and trying to avoid crashing long enough for the enemy rider to dispatch themselves!

Regardless, if you can manage it, setting up the classic 'tunnel of death' trap is still the most satisfying way to complete each level.

I'd have liked to have seen an explosion effect (maybe using Flash or Draw?) and it's crying out for some low-frequency BEEP explosions.

As it is the game is completely silent and the levels end rather abruptly!

Ed/Nick gleefully revealed that his spriraling feature-creep laden project also took one other form - using PLOT and so featuring actual color-clash™ - but that it was "surprisingly slow" and so didn't make the cut.

Personally I'm looking forward to some kind of Special Edition featuring all the iterations in one package and a new 'licensed' version of "1-D Lightcycles" featuring boy-band sensation One Direction!

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