Producer: Alpha-Omega
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: R Morrison

Ah got de blues baby, yeh I got dam blues, yeh, yeh, ah got de dekorating blues...

Decorating is the most tedious of chores. First the paste is too thin and the paper won't stick to the wall and then the paint drips all over the carpet. And have you ever tried wall-papering a ceiling? Still if you fancy yourself as a painter and decorator, then here's an opportunity you can't refuse. What about using your talents to bring a bit of colour to an otherwise drab hotel? Start at the bottom and work your way up.

Each of the screens displays a bird's-eye-view of the hotel's network of rooms and corridors. These networks assume a variety of shapes. Some take the shape of inanimate objects - a joystick, for example. Other networks take the form of animals (the Mutant Ram, for example) or humans (the French Teacher), whilst others are merely abstract. The background to each of the floor networks is sumptuously ornate, indicating that this particular hotel is something of a classy joint.

The idea to work through each floor, roller in hand, as quickly as possible. As you move through each corridor, blue dots indicate the decorated areas, so it's easy to see where you've been. Nasties are determined to undo all the work you've done, and, if possible, put you out of action once and for all. Should you bump into any of them then you find yourself decorating that heavenly mansion in the sky in shades of subtle off-white.

The flashing red nasty and the caterpillar nasty both move very quickly and are simply out to knobble you. One of the other nasties wants to gobble up all your blue dots, so you may find yourself having to do the work twice over. Luckily, you have a steady supply of paste which can be dropped at convenient moments. Pretty strong stuff, the paste can be used to get you out of some rather sticky situations. For one thing, when dropped in the path of an approaching nasty it slows the little blighter down. It also enables you to walk all over them should you want to change direction.

The screen number is given in the bottom left corner, and directly beneath that, your score. Bottom centre indicates how many of your ten lives are left and above that, a clock ticks away the seconds. In the bottom right corner, the amount of paint, or number of dots you have to use is indicated and just below that, how many dollops of paste you have left.

There are plenty of screens to get through, so you'd better be a swift and nimble worker or you'll find yourself out of a job with a lot of time on your hands.

COMMENTS

Control keys: redefinable
Joystick: Kempston, Cursor, Interface 2
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: fair
Graphics: pretty, but, in the end, pretty boring
Sound: some nice effects
Skill levels: one
Screens: over 40

Mega fantastico! Or at least that's what I thought until I played the game. Argh! One character block graphics, terrible colour and appalling sound. The game is far too easy. With ten lives, it just isn't addictive and it takes you too long to get to the place where you finished the last game. At its price, it might be worth buying for the 'scratching' speech effects, and the other nice bits it has, but I wouldn't fork out for the game itself.

Dekorating Blues is a superbly presented game but is very basic and boring to play. The area in which the paint brush moves is very restricted and I felt that I didn't know what had to be filled in and what could be left. The screen gives you all the information you're likely to need during the game: score, level, time, paste left and so on, but this doesn't enhance the thing at all. The screens are all made up in pretty animal and castle patterns, but as a person who got quite far through the game I can safely say that nothing changes. A nicely presented program, but the game itself is very disappointing.

You may have guessed what sort of game this is by the title. I did find it strangely compelling and playable but these qualities faded out after a few goes. The programmers have obviously tried to tart this one up as there are lots of lovely effects on the title screen and at the end of each level. The game, however, isn't half as good as these, which is a shame. The graphics are generally poor, the characters are small and undetailed and the backgrounds are boring. The sound, on the other hand, is quite good - there are some nice effects during play and a couple of tunes on the title screens. On the whole, I wouldn't recommend Dekorating Blues as the game itself is very primitive.

Alpha-Omega
£1.99

Ever wondered why Dad takes the dog for a walk whenever Mum mentions decorating? It's 'cos people hate decorating with a passion beyond all bounds. But now, at last, Alpha Omega has come up with the perfect antidote to Dekorating Blues. If you want your room done out just threaten Dad with having to play this game and he'll move so quick Granny'll be pasted to the wall in the rush.

This mega-cheapo maze game is tackier than the tackiest wallpaper paste. Its main distinguishing feature, like The Hundred Years War, is that it's very long. In theory there are one hundred and one screens but not even your intrepid reporter could fight his way through that lot. Basically the scenario is that Walter Wall has to decorate a 101 storey house while Matt Gloss does his best to sabotage your efforts.

Disguised as a paint brush (!), you have to whizz round a load of corridors. Trouble is you've got the turning circle of a beached whale so don't get too excited. Murderous mutants will either mash you up or worse, lick up your paint (bleeurgh!). But at least you can spill paste in their path and bring them to a (momentary) sticky end. And luckily enough you don't have to paint a whole floor before you're zapped to the next screen.

On-screen info tells you your score, time (counting down from fifty seconds), lives (ten), and how much paint and paste you have left. The graphics are dismal - splodges chase round dots, attribute problems abound, it takes forever to load and has music and voice-overs of such clarity they make the British Rail tannoy sound like a Bang and Olufsen system.

If your idea of decorating is the interminable painting of the Firth of Forth Bridge then you'll be panting to get after this. Otherwise, forget it.

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Alpha-Omega
PRICE: £1.99

This is probably one of the best presented budget games out right now. It has lots of little frills like loads of different joystick/keyboard options a nice loading screen, built in speech and pretty "game over" sequence. But it still doesn't stop it being a bit like Pac-Man in reverse.

Instead of eating power pills your little paintbrush leaves little dots behind as it dashes around the different screen patterns - chased by numerous nasties. Walter Wall has to decorate a 101 storey building, however his arch rival, Matt Gloss is determined to disrupt work that Walter has done.

His devious plot includes, bribing the building's security guard to arrest you, dragging a skinhead off the street to deface Walter's work with his aerosol can and he even releases a venomous snake into the building's corridors. Walter has some wallpaper paste which can be dropped to temporarily stick his pursuers to the floor.

Graphics are a bit small and fiddly. My version had the habit of flipping me onto the next floor even before I'd finished filling up the screen pattern I was playing. Not one that will keep you busy for long.

Alpha-Omega
£1.99

This is a simple but effective game which is similar to the programs often published in magazines. It is, however, much faster and bigger than could be achieved using BASIC.

It is a type of maze/chase game, rarher like Pacman in reverse. For each of the many screens you have to fill in the passageways with dots which represent painted areas while avoiding spray cans and beasties until you have used up the amount of paint allocated to each floor.

Each of these screens has been carefully designed in the shape of an object, ie. a hammer, castle etc and part of the fun is getting to see what shape the next maze will be!

There is a nice selection of well designed and animated sprites to make your task that much harder and some will remove dots which you painted in earlier. This can be an advantage, but collision with any will result in your demise. Should you find a fast moving sprite catching up to you, you can drop a dollop of paste which will stop it for a short period of time. You only have a limited number of these dollops and that, plus your lives, score and remaining units of paint is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

The screen is nicely presented and is clear and easy to understand, though I found it strange that painted areas are represented by dots rather than a colour area.

What is there to say of a game such as this? It is simple in concept yet enjoyable to play, the element of challenge is enough to keep you trying for a high enough score to get a higher position in the hall of fame. The level is set so that I got into the lowest position at the second attempt.

A good solid program.