Publisher: Software Farm
Price: £6.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston, Cursor, Sinclair

Ever wanted to be a crazy inventor, building amazing contraptions to boil eggs or toss pancakes?

It's been a well-loved theme for centuries, culminating in those wonderful illustrations by Heath Robinson for the Professor Branestawm books. Now Software Farm, previously associated with hi-res ZX-81 games, has transferred the whole idea to the Spectrum.

Potty Professor isn't really a game at all, in the conventional sense. You are given six problems to solve, and a variety of objects to build a machine which will do the job. By way of example, the first problem is to flush a toilet, using a dog, cat, bucket, watering-can, one ton weight, see-saw, balloon, blowtorch and tongs.

A cursor selects objects and moves them around the screen. When you think you have a workable machine, you press a button to set it going and watch the results. If you are not successful the contraption falls apart.

Objects can be used two or three times in a machine, and some won't be needed at all - they are there to confuse you. You should experiment by seeing what small combinations of objects do to each other.

The animations are well-done within fairly crude cartoon limits. Outstanding is the steam engine used in the egg-frying problem, which puffs and shudders most convincingly. There are a few problems with the way some objects connect, graphically speaking, but that is inevitable.

It's a super idea for a program, marred only by the fact that once you have solved the six problems there is not much else you can do. Although the problems are extremely difficult, the program has a limited playing life. Mind you, you'll probably want to show the inventions to your friends anyway.

Had the game included an option to design your own machines, which would have given it unlimited playability, it might have achieved a higher star rating. As it is, Potty Professor is still well worth buying for it's originality and sheer good humour. It's certainly a fine omen for future Software Farm productions.

Software Farm
£6.95

Software Farm, a leader in ZX81 games, turn their hand to the Spectrum market and, as could be expected from a company who established and pioneered Hi-resolution graphics on a machine never designed for them, it is different.

The programmer must be a fan of Heath Robinson. For those who don't know, Robinson was the inventor of the trivia machine, a whole room of complicated machinery linked together to perform some simple act such as lighting a match, and this is the aim of the game. You are presented with a task (the first is to flush the toilet), and a graphic representation of a set of objects. These may be selected and positioned in various places to create a machine to perform the desired task.

Not all of the objects may be required, and some may be needed more than once. The actual task can only be successfully performed when you duplicate the machine that the programmer intended you to use. My moan is that I created several devices which I'm sure would have worked, only to see them collapse when set in operation. Another quibble is the accuracy that is needed in positioning the objects, there appears to be very little room for error.

This is an unusual program which will appeal to the lateral thinkers among you and to those of you who enjoy tinkering around with mechanical things. You'll need a lot of patience though.