1st March 1986
If you fancy a peaceful job like mowing a lawn, then this is the program designed to put you off. Mind you, the rewards are quite high, with more than a thousand pounds - in points - to be earned by the keen and careful operator.
Your garden is, presumably, right next to Taunton Cricket Ground with Ian Botham in full flow. Quite an amazing number of cricket balls join the elastic bands and other debris lying about. Any contact with these harmless looking bit and pieces means a new mower is required and you've only got three. A further problem is that your mower gets ruined if you venture on to grass that's already cut!
The biggest danger to life and limb is the rival mower. This little beast is hell-bent on colliding with you, or on making you bump into the garden walls or one of the nasty objects. You can do the same and try to trap the maniac mower for additional points.
To complete the misery a karate expert is practising in the garden and he is very keep to give you the chop.
This game ought to be fun to play but it is too slow for real arcade action. There is a lot of strategy involved in keeping your mower going and trapping your rival, and the game is enjoyable at that level. But one bad feature is that the chosen colours are awful, producing moving diagonal lines on black and white or colour TVs. Needless to say, all is well if you have a monitor.
As seems to be usual with Kansas games, the instructions are excellent and a model for other software houses to copy. A feature of the program which I like is that it is written in Basic and listable, which means you can modify it to your heart's content. I'd also recommend the game to BBC Micro owners where the speed of action is good.
Arcade addicts will unfortunately find this game a disappointment, but if you prefer a little slow action strategy problem and enjoy tinkering with programs then why not consider Maniac Mower?
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