| ★ AMSTRAD CPC ★ GAMESLIST ★ EVERY SECOND COUNTS (c) TV GAMES/DOMARK ★ |
THE GAME MACHINE |
Here is the next in what promises to be a long line of Domark TV Games. Domark purchased many titles last year from Macsen when that company collapsed. Every Second Counts is only the second TV Game which Domark have sourced themselves - the first, not produced by Macsen. was the disappointing Krypton Factor. Both these original games have been programmed by Consult Computing. The structure of the game follows that of the popular BBC TV programme fairly closely, but for the absence of Paul Daniels. You are asked to select which of six question blocks to load in. then how many couples are playing, finally six characters appear onscreen whom players can choose to represent themselves, if someone hasn't got a partner the player must take a fictional one and key in their answers. Should only one couple be playing. there's no computer opponent and they get all the questions to themselves -at»g advantage since each point adds a second to the time available for the crucial final round. The first round shows the selected players sitting at their desks, if couples are playing the person whose picture appears at the top of the screen should answer the question. Answering is done by pressing a true or false key and there isn't a time limit. If a player answers correctly the team gets two points, if the answer is wrong then the team is eliminated from the round. There are only nine questions in a round so the sooner other teams go out the better. Round 2 is exactly the same, except it is now the second member of the couple who gets to answer. Following that is a bonus level which begins with the lowest-scoring team getting to select one of three categories of questions. The team is then given the appropriate question which they have ten chances to answer correctly. If the first answer is correct ten points are awarded, nine on the next attempt, then eight and so on. The next lowest-scoring team gets to select one of the two remaining categories leaving the least popular one to the highest-scoring team. ALBANIA Rounds 3 and 4 are identical to the first and second but with twice the points for a correct answer. Round 5 is another bonus round. After it the team with the highest score then goes into the final round. Since there are only two players involved, a second set of keys are provided, on the left- side of the keyboard, for player two. Control of selecting the right answer is then alternated between the two sets of keys - which can be rather confusing for one player with the accumulated score now counting down as a time limit. On the couple's shared desk there are seven lights. After selecting which of two categories to play four lights go up and to finish the round all lights must be extinguished by selecting the right answer out of three possible choices. The next section then adds another light and offers another choice of categories. This process goes on until either all seven lights have been lit and extinguished or time runs out. Should you be successful, there's a special Every Second Counts trophy screen, which probably isn't too much worse than a typical BBC holiday in Albania. While generally well-executed, with effective use of the multiload on tape versions. Every Second Counts is limited by the shortness of each game so that if three couples of similar abilities are playing it's unlikely the winning couple will be able to amass enough time to be successful on the final round. If you have only one couple in the game then it's substantially easier, but playing alone can soon become boring as the reward of a trophy screen is meagre and diminishes substantially after being seen once. The amount of questions included in one load is impressive, especially on the final round, but bonus round questions in particular are exceptionally limited and soon loop round. AMSTRAD The Amstrad game has some nice, well-defined graphics with characters smiling when they get a question right. Tunes are similarly professional and present the game in a consistently attractive fashion. OVERALL 61% TGM #7
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