| 128 Software |  |
TED HAS BEEN given a much easier job than the one in the 48K version of this game, but there's much more work to be done.
The game is twice the size of the original, with 100 rooms in the factory and 30 tasks to perform. Unlike the original game, in which you had to guess which tasks to perform, each of the jobs is numbered.
That does not make their performance any easier, though. Some, like the one waiting in Ted's Den, are split into two and you have to find out which part should be performed first. Others are hidden behind objects, such as rampant C5s over which you must jump at the right time.
Some of the new screens have been created with current affairs - well almost - taken into account. There's the C5 production line which never breaks down but constantly runs over its hapless work force, and the Sinclair Research factory.
The cloth-capped hero also has to put up with the brothers on the picket line who have the help of an Arthur Scargill lookalike. Scargill's face pops up in nearly every screen blocking the way for Ted. He will have to jump over him and sometimes sneak under him.
The interactive graphics are slightly better than those in the original game. You do not lose a life unless you score a direct hit on an obstacle.
Hewson has put the cutest sound track and effects in the package and those can be played throughout the game. Effects and music are controlled separately on the main menu before the game begins and you can have one set on without the other.
The music at the beginning of the game, Tchaikovsky at his raunchiest, uses only two of the three 128 voices but, nonetheless, adds a carnival atmosphere to the game. The tunes may be slightly off key but I have a feeling that the notes were made to droop to make the game more amusing.
The Mega-Mix is not just another 128 revamped con job. The authors, Steve Marsden and David Cooke, have made the game more playable for beginners and a viable buy for those people who have the 48K version. It's not a total rewrite but gameplay is different and the new locations make you forget that you are playing a game which has been around for over a year.
| John Gilbert |