Producer: Statesoft
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £7.95
Language: Machine code
Author: R Huddy

Bristles is not a hard game to describe exactly, but it is somewhat hard to describe in detail, as there are rather a lot of ingredients. Basically, what we have here is a 1985 'Painter' type game. It is set in a house, or series of houses, and each room must be painted before the time runs out. With each screen the set up gets more complicated. There is a basement with ladders leading up to the ground floor and from then on there are lifts to the other floors. These zip up and down at a furious pace and timing is required to enter and exit them safely. Traversing a room will result in its being painted. The houses can have as many as five lifts.

Inevitably, these buildings are filled with awkward nasties which are described in the commendably detailed instruction booklet. Some of these chase you ferociously, effectively gives you more paint. Each screen is controlled by a timer- when it runs out your points are calculated and you may progress to the next screen if sufficient points are obtained.

There are 48 skill levels consisting of six levels with eight houses in each. The differences between the skill levels is also complicated but well detailed in the booklet. Between levels a series of letters appears on screen which will result in a message after completing eight houses. Discovering all six messages is the ultimate challenge in the game.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q or ENTER/A or SPACE up/down, SYM SHIFT or CAPS/SPACE or Z left/right, or the cursor keys
Joystick: AGF, Protek, Kempston, Sinclair 1 & 2
Keyboard play: responsive and thoughtfully laid out for left or right handers and cursor freaks
Use of colour: good
Graphics: on the small side and simply drawn/animated, but fast and smooth
Sound: good between-play tune, otherwise a continuous buzzing with no on/off facility
Skill levels: 48
Lives: 1
Screens: eight houses

At first I was tempted to say, not another 'Painter' game, so long after the genre has had its day, but Bristles is rather a lot more than that. It turns out to be a game of furious speed, quick thinking and strategy. What gives the game its real quality is the inter-relation of the various skill levels. Each one presents a different strategy challenge, like painting a house without the lights on I Another novel - though no longer unique - feature, is the option for playing as a male or female painter, although this doesn't actually add anything to the game. Bristles is an original idea based on an old theme, and I found it addictive. But I think the £8 price tag is unfortunately too steep.

l thought the 'Painter' theme had died out months and months ago, but here it has been revived again by Statesoft. The idea is a considerable advancement on the original 'Painter' idea and requires much more skill. The graphics are nothing extra-special, but are adequate enough for you to enjoy the game. This must be among the most simple of games that I have ever played that yet still has highly addictive qualities. The sound tends to drive you up the wall after a while, as you frantically try to paint the house and get chased by the various creatures that roam the houses. The biggest drawback to this game is the price. It is extremely expensive for the type of game and only valid if something like seven months of programming have gone into it, and in all honesty no one can say that much has gone into it. It is a great pity as it would surely have sold really well at a lower price range, but at this price I cannot recommend it.

Bristles is one of those old 'Painter' type games but it's been altered in such a way that the game is very frantic and quite addictive to play. the graphics are reasonable but not out of this world, and as in most 'Painter' games, colour is used well. The sound isn't so good, however, just a continuous buzzing, although it does add to the game by making it even more frantic. I found Bristles very addictive and playable, if a bit costly. Overall, a nice, simple game which is enormous fun to play.

Roger: Toshing out the crumbling walls of the Willis ancestral pile with half a gallon of budget emulsion was never like this. Bristles is about painting and decorating, a subject which I sincerely doubt is close to anybody's heart, but manages an appeal to lovers of quick-fire arcade activity through a sort of covert complexity.

At first sight, simplistic graphics representing the eight houses to be attacked by brush - with a choicc of skill levels and the odd bit of trickery stirred in to give it gloss (sic, sic and sic) - are enough to make anybody fall asleep on the job. Its speed and scoring system just about save the day, however. Climbing up the skill levels introduces any aspirant tosher to the delights of working with clear varnish or doing it in the dark.

All sorts of graphical oddities get in your way, banishing you back to the start. There are also elevators that can transport you all over the shop. However, having this info lodged in-brain did little to help me on-screen!

Why, playing this game could be just like serving an apprenticeship without getting magnolia all over the carpet. 2/5 HIT

Ross: The graphics are pretty awful, but the game was certainly fast. It gets really frustrating round about the sixth and seventh levels! 2/5 MISS

Dave: Colourful, if crude, graphics shame about the tunes! The sort of game that gets you asking that all-important question. Why? 1/5 MISS

BRISTLES
Statesoft
Memory: 48K
Price: £7.95
Joystick: Sinclair, Kempston, Protek.

No prizes for guessing that Bristles is a painting game - yes, all right it could have been a shaving game, ho ho.

Right, grab the stick and guide the little housepainter round the house. Do it fast - there's a very tight time limit. Be careful because there are dumb buckets, flying half pints, steam pipes and sundry other aggravating hindrances. There's also Brenda the Brat who sticks her nasty little mitts on your nice new paint and loses your score.

The house is shown in cutaway on screen with time indicators below. You use ladders and lifts to reach the various floors and the various nuisances will knock you back to the basement or deprive you of a brush if you collide with them.

Although there is nothing new about the scenario, the game is certainly ultra-fast and demanding on your reflexes. There are eight buildings with six skill levels for each, making a total of 48 permutations.

If you're into this sort of thing then sit back, switch your brain off and get sploshing.