Mountains of Ketchup

By Rebelstar without a cause
 
Genre: Adventure sauce
 
Mountains of Ketchup (a pun on the ZX Spectrum adventure classic Mountains of Ket of course) marks Rebelstar’s 15^th entry to this year’s CGC.  First impressions suggest a rather simple poorly presented BASIC adventure (though is faithful to Ket’s layout) but don’t be fooled – still condiments run deep.

I like the use of action keys instead of typing commands, and the fact there is no limit on how much you can carry (though I’m not sure if I could carry a lawnmower and a mine detector at the same time in reality).
 
I’m not going to spoil the surprise but in addition to the simple text puzzles, there are some built in arcade style mini-games embedded in MOK which brought the biggest smile to my face.
 

Mountains of ketchup is tinged with tripe but is an excellent kernel of an idea that I’d love to see expanded upon.  I have to say I was disappointed it finished so quickly!
 
It’s crap, but play it, really – it’s great.

Thankyou Rebelstar!

<What the hell are the slippers for?>
 
Download here.
Download Game Map.

Lawnmower minicomp!

Due to the high quality of the recent and following lawnmower entries, there will be a prize for the 'best' lawnmowing/snowblowing/gardening entry.  Yet to be confirmed but it may be a free pass to the British Lawnmowing museum (train fare to Southport not included).  Get coding people!  (but don't forget the neglected Otter minicomp)

ALS: Tactics

By Jason Railton

Genre: Gardening: Strategy

Ok, I’m pleased to announce the third lawnmowing based entry to the CGC, and what an entry it is! (NB- ALS is a reference to Advanced Lawnmower Simulator for those not in the know).

The game takes a disconcerting 2 mins 30 secs to load (probably because it has not one, not two, but THREE banks of UDGs!), and leads into this rather professional looking screen with some rather erm…slightly less professional beeper noise (I would call it music but I kept flinching involuntarily on all the high notes). Then you press a key and have to wait 10 seconds for some data to configure, which doesn’t sound a lot but certainly feels it.

Before playing the game, in the finest tradition of Duncan MacDonald’s Advanced LawnMower Simulator, you get to choose your mower: now this is where the fun begins, because if it wasn’t exciting enough to mow a lawn strategically you get to choose the hardware to do it. I must confess, I’ve played the game at least 600 times now, and I’ve only noticed the most subtle differences between mowers – having said that I favour the QUALCURSED Badger s40.

As the intro screen suggests the aim of the game is to mow the lawn, but ALS is clever like. It is a puzzle based game in which you can circle the lawn around the beautiful white path, made of the finest Portland stone by the looks of it. Once you commit to mowing a line you can’t change direction unless something blocks your way, in which case you can choose a new direction or press restart if blocked.  The main crap factor here comes from the painfully slow trundle of the mower.

Once you’ve mown a bit of lawn you can’t walk on it again, and the reason for this is not clear – it could have been a radioactive mower (using liberal use of the FLASH attribute), alien infected grass or a dicky knee, however no explanation is offered and we’ll just have to suspend our disbelief. It does at least leave us with a rather nifty strategy game. One that I find pretty challenging, though after staring at it a while the solution usually becomes obvious. I’ve yet to complete this game ‘paniagua’but with cheats I notice it loops after 10 levels, which is about as much lawnmowing as a person can take anyway (and at least you have the option to go on should you want to). Every time you progress a level your abode (or the one you’re mowing anyway) becomes more majestic, from castle to mediterranean villa to spikey looking magenta death castle - it clear that lawnmower man is going somewhere!

ALS Tactics is a big mound of silage with some pound coins hidden in it.

Thankyou Jason!

Tipshack: don’t belive the WALKMO Turbo X+Alpha is as fast as it sounds and crank the speed up on your emulator (real hardware is available) to make this a really rather playable game.

HACK SACK: Level prance: Break into the game each level and type LET t=0:CONTINUE

Download here.

Grassman

By Rebelstar without a cause

Genre: Arcade: Grassgoodwallbad.

I’m very pleased to see the second instalment of the Lawnmower Chronicles: Grassman.  Just pause a moment and let the gravitas of that title to sink in.  Ok?  On with the game.

You are Grassman, and for some reason or other you have to mow the grass (though you look a bit like Action Biker in UDG form to my eye), until the exit appears.  While the obvious thing would be to have the player mow all the grass, Grassman is different: you must mow until you reach the score of 150 or so.  So Grassman can be pleased to have a gentle, if strange, boss who is content to have a lawn that looks like it has mange.  Sounds easy you say?  Well Mr cocksure, what if we throw in some LETHAL WALLS?! and when moving at 8 pixels per main loop, even on a lawnmower, any solid collision will be dangerous.

I find this game good fun, and quite rewarding if you mow each screen in its entirety.  If this game had 10 levels or so I would happily play them.  Don’t get me wrong though, it has a most welcome place in this crap games competition.

Hidden away in the code (well sort of) is another UDG designer, and after questioning it transpired that Rebelstar’s plan was to include this feature and more levels but got bored.  Perfect CGC material all round really!

Thankyou Rebelstar! 

Tipshack: Get so familiar with that damn mower you can turn it on a sixpence.

HACK SACK: Inwincibility: Change Line 5050 to LET SEDGE=1:GRASS=SEDGE

Download here.

And because Rebelstar hidden away a UDG designer, I couldn’t stop myself from changing a few bits and doing a cracked version: HayfeverHerbert.  Sorry!

Noah and the Mower

By Rebelstar without a cause

Genre: Arcade: Gardening

I should start off by saying that I received this game late on April 1^st, so apologies for not reviewing it on the day which would have been more appropriate.

 

Spot the difference: L-Advanced Lawnmower Simulator, R-Noah and the Mower.

Some of you may notice that Noah and the Mower bears a passing resemblance to Duncan MacDonald’s Advanced Lawnmower Simulator, an April Fools covertape from Your Sinclair 1988. I’m pleased that Noah uses the same control keys, sorry – key, as ALMS as it might be confusing otherwise.  What it lacks in lawnmower choice it makes up for with a message of encouragement as you near the end of the quest.  It also boasts a larger house and faster screen draw, so Mr Lawnmower has clearly gone up in the world.

The Lawnmower Chronicles….part 1?  Oh carp.

Spring is here, the grass is getting long, here is an ideal opportunity to get some practice in.  Shut those curtains tight and get mowing!

Thankyou Rebelstar!

Tipshack: Press key ‘m’ to mow.  The task at hand may seem insurmountable but do not lose your resolve.

HACK SACK: Increased Mowing Speed: Line 160 change to FOR Y=20 TO 21 STEP -1

Download here.