Sinclair User


The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole
By Virgin Games
Spectrum 48K/128K

 
Published in Sinclair User #60

The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole

MONDAY 23 FEBRUARY 1987

Week 9.54-311

9.35: Two packages come into the SU office. The editor gives me one of them. "Review this," he says editorially. The package is The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole. I try to look enthusiastic as an authentic jack-of-all trades journalist should, secretly I am depressed.

The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole

9.36: Barry Kent get the other package it is Screaming Diz-busters Attack. It looks dead good. I look at Adrian Mole. It is an adventure. I feel just like I did when I got socks for Christmas instead of a Sony walkman.

9.55: I have loaded the game. My eyes have gone funny from trying to read the text on our crummy television. I have also forgotten to stop the tape where it said.

9.57: I have read the first bit, it is just like the book, I have a feeling of what I now know to be Deja-Vu. I am impressed by the authentic accuracy of the game and yet miffed that I know many of the jokes already. I note that I am learning to be critically balanced already.

10.02: Barry Kent has scored ten million on Screaming Diz-busters, for relaxation he comes to look at Adrian Mole. "Even considering the Spectrum's attribute problems those pictures at the top of the screen are useless," he says. Although he is a barbarian I reluctantly agree with him. His Neanderthal brain is sometimes oddly perceptive.

10.03: I play the game some more, I never have to do more than choose one out of three options or tell the computer to show me some more text. I feel that although my rating is now 'middling schoolboy' I deserve little credit and worry that Pandora will be more impressed by Barry Kent's 13,000057 on Screaming Diz-busters than my pathetic 46% on Adrian Mole.

10.10: I am beginning to think there is almost no connection between what choice you make in the game and what score you get. This is a crucial investigative point and shows my growing maturity as a journalist. Pandora will surely be impressed.

10.12: It only takes about five minutes to work through each section of the game, then you have to keep loading up new segments. So far I have forgotten to stop the tape three times. Barry Kent has been through all the screens of Screaming Diz-busters twelve times and now has a score of twelve because of a bug in the program.

10.15: I have laughed or inwardly smirked whilst playing The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole 15.5 times (a good journalist must base his writings on hard facts according to the Editor so I kept a record). This is more than I laughed at Mugsy but less than I laughed at World Cup Carnival. I feel the phrase 'marginally humourous' hits the right note.

10.20: Although the temptation to write a damning indictment of the game which leaves the page smouldering in an authentic Bernard Levin manner is strong I feel one must be balanced. I must bear in mind that the program might be suitable for younger children who don't want more than three options at a time. Barry Kent says that even young children are better at computer games than me. I ignore him.

10.25: Enough is enough. I have broken the rewind on the tape machine and played through all the game once. I must now commit type to paper but Barry Kent has taken the mains lead.

Overall Summary

Marginally humorous second game based on the Adrian Mole books. It lacks much sense of involvement.

Graham Taylor

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