Personal Compuer Games


Trouble In Store
By Orpheus
Oric 48K

 
Published in Personal Computer Games #15

Trouble In Store

This is the first Oric game I've seen that comes anywhere near providing the sort of challenge and fun given by arcade adventures on the Spectrum.

The game takes place in a department store called Harridges, a name which the Oric announces in its gruff tones when you begin play. You are the new store manager and your first day at work has been so hectic that it has left you with horrible nightmares: your attempts to empty the cash registers are constantly frustrated by hostile goods from the store's 32 departments.

On each screen you first have to collect the key before you can get to the till. This usually involves getting to the top of the screen for the key, back to the bottom for the till and then back up to the top to exit to the next department. All the time your 'promotion prospects' are diminishing and may even drop so low that you die.

Trouble In Store

Controlling the manager is very simple: left, right and jump. And here we must mention a rather curious feature of the game - you can take off from thin air! This certainly makes things a lot easier, but does seem to be bending the normal rules of such games.

Each of the 32 screens is a different department with the normally docile consumer durables on the rampage. At various times you will be squashed by an iron, blasted by a trumpet, savaged by a cheese and annihilated by the pets. Graphics and animation are excellent and the sound makes very good use of the Oric's loudspeaker.

While Trouble in Store might not give Jet Set Willy any trouble in a Game of The Year contest, it's certainly one of the best and most enjoyable games to have appeared on the Oric in recent months. Let's hope Orpheus can keep up the standard in future releases.

Samantha Hemens

Trouble In Store

The manager in this game (you) seems to have the uncanny knack of walking on thin air! However, once you get the hang of this, the game becomes bearable, perhaps even fun.

The characters, namely you and the fatal store items, are simple but colourful. As regards sound, you can either have some rather coarse effects or one of those tunes that begins to make you cringe after a while.

There are a large number of screens (32) awaiting your approval and the game is well presented with high score table and options.

Bob Wade

Trouble In Store

Despite the strange jumping control this is an extremely enjoyable game and with 32 screens, it's certainly no push over.

The assorted goods are well drawn and pleasingly flicker-free. I liked the tune and even the sound effect of grabbing the key or till has a nice metallic ring to it.

The attempt at speech is bold and it is actually understandable, if a little pointless.

Chris Anderson

Trouble In Store

Well, how about that. At last a corking platform game on the Oric.

There are enough screens to keep you leaping round Harridges for months. In fact, there are so many it's a pity you have to solve them all in sequence. This feature means that playing the game is bound to include plenty of frustration once you get stuck on later screens.

I enjoyed the variety of different monsters. Indeed, all the graphics are pleasant and the sound gives a sharp edge to the action. Definitely a winner.

Peter Connor