The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library

Back to Electron Games

AROUND THE WORLD IN 40 SCREENS

Professional, Released On Cassette Only And DFS E00 Disc

Game Alias : REPTON AROUND THE WORLD

Game Type : Arcade; Overhead Maze Game

Authors : Tim Tyler & Matthew Atkinson

Standalone Release(s) : 1985: AROUND THE WORLD IN 40 SCREENS, Superior, £9.95

1990: REPTON AROUND THE WORLD, Superior/Blue Ribbon, £2.99

Compilation Release(s) : 1989: PLAY IT AGAIN SAM 8, Superior/Acornsoft, £9.95

Stated compatibility : Electron

Actual compatibility : Electron, BBC B, B+ and Master 128

Supplier : SUPERIOR/ACORNSOFT

Disc compatibility : CDFS E00, DFS E00

Instructions

"REPTON returns...to conquer the world.

After the success of REPTON 3, we were overwhelmed with requests for us to publish another set of screens for the game. We have now produced another 40 new screens which, although enticingly amusing, are even trickier to complete than the original 24 screens of REPTON 3.

These new screens feature Repton voyaging around the world. In America, Repton is a sheriff with a penchant for hamburgers and whisky; his job is to jail all the bandits and avenge the Red Indians. The Arctic sees Repton as an eskimo being "hotly" pursued home to his igloo by polar bears and penguins. Across to the Orient, and Repton is a kung-fu master amongst the pagodas, rickshaws and Chinese dragons. Repton becomes a deep-sea diver in the Oceans; he searches for pearls around the rotting shipwrecks which are inhabited by dangerous octopuses and squids. Finally, in Africa, Repton reaps his rewards by defeating the tribesmen, caging the parrots, and collecting the apples, bananas and pineapples - whilst watching out for falling coconuts!"

AROUND THE WORLD IN 40 SCREENS has, as the name suggests, a total of 40 screens. These are provided as five cassette files with eight game screens in each:

File 1: AMERICA

File 2: ARCTIC

File 3: ORIENT

File 4: OCEANS

File 5: AFRICA

The AMERICA file is loaded automatically when the game is first loaded.

The AMERICA, ARCTIC, ORIENT, OCEANS and AFRICA are on side 2 of the cassette. To load any of these files, simply select the "L" option on the main game screen, and enter the appropriate filename.

Objective Of The Game

In order to succeed in your journey Around the World you must complete each of the 40 screens without using any passwords. Each new set of characters is based upon the original REPTON 3 characters.

For the AMERICA screens, you will notice that the rock and the diamond have been replaced with a wagon-wheel and a hamburger respectively. Therefore, on the AMERICA

screens, Repton pushes the wagon-wheels (as if they were rocks) and collects the hamburgers (as if they were diamonds).

Similarly, on the OCEANS screens, the monster and the spirit have been replaced with an octopus and a squid respectively. So Repton is chased by octopuses (instead of monsters) and squids (instead of spirits).

To avoid confusion, the following game instructions refer exclusively to the original REPTON 3 characters.

To complete the game, you must carefully determine your routes through each screen in turn, with the aim of defusing the time-bomb by passing over it. However, before the time-bomb can be defused, you must first:-

(a) collect all the diamonds (including those concealed in safes or cages),

(b) collect the golden crown, and

Each screen has a time-limit and, if you do not complete the screen within this time-limit, the time-bomb will explode and you will lose a life. Repton can, however, travel backwards in time because whenever a time-capsule is collected, the time-bomb's clock is reset.

Each screen comprises a series of puzzles. Many of these are interlinked and you may have to solve a number of small puzzles to enable you to tackle a large one. The puzzles may, in some cases, seem impossible - but we assure you that Around the World can be completed.

Rocks will fall if unsupported and should one land on you it will kill you. You must also avoid the monsters, spirits, skulls and fungus - contact with these is fatal.

When an egg falls, it cracks upon landing and a monster hatches out. The monsters are killed by pushing or dropping rocks onto them.

There may be up to eight spirits on each screen. They always follow the walls to their left until they reach a cage. When a spirit enters a cage, it changes into a diamond. A spirit may become dazed if you drop a rock onto it or collect all the diamonds immediately surrounding it. This is to be avoided as the spirit will then move endlessly in a small circle.

Watch out for the poisonous fungus which grows incessantly sealing your fate. Trap it in by surrounding it with rocks if you can, or you may never live to collect the golden crown.

Your route may be blocked by a safe. If so, you must locate a key which will open all of the safes on the screen revealing a diamond within.

Each screen may have a maximum of four transporters. They cause you to be rematerialised at some other location on the screen, but each transporter can be used once only.

Game Controls

Z - Left, X - Right, * - Up, ? - Down, M - View Map (Screens A-E only)

<ESCAPE> - Kill Yourself (Useful if you become trapped), <SHIFT>-R - Restart Game

P - Enter Password, L - Load Data File, S/Q - Sound On/Off

K - Select Keyboard Control, J - Select Joystick Control (Plus 1 Interface)

F - Select Joystick Control (First Byte Interface)

Scoring

5 points ............. for collecting a diamond

20 points ............... for killing a monster

50 points .............. for collecting a crown

The REPTON 3 Series Editor

Full instructions for the editor package supplied with this game are detailed under REPTON 3.

Instructions' Source : AROUND THE WORLD (Superior/Acornsoft) Back and Inner Inlay

Review (Electron User) - "All Abroad With Repton"

Since the successful launch of REPTON 3, Superior has been inundated with letters asking when it would release a new set of screens.

Well it is my great pleasure to announce that it's here, entitled AROUND THE WORLD IN 40 SCREENS. The package consists of five files, each containing eight mind blowing screens.

The cassette represents excellent value for money since not only do you get forty new screens, there is also a copy the REPTON 3 screen editor. So, if you didn't buy it first time round, here's your chance to see what you've been missing.

As the title suggests, each of the five files is based around a different country or environment. The characters all retain their original characteristics, so boulders fall, eggs hatch and monsters chase, but

every last one of them has been redefined to match their new surroundings.

Repton's voyage begins in the Wild West where 'Clint' Repton has to clear the town of hamburgers inside a strict time limit.

The boulders have been replaced by wagon wheels, the monsters are now Red Indians and the spirits have changed into bandits who must be jailed.

The remaining four files are set in the snows of the Arctic, the mysterious Orient, the ocean depths and Africa. A great deal of time and effort has gone into creating a graphical treat, and a series of puzzles that as just as testing as the first collection.

In the original REPTON 3 you had the chance to load a new series of screens if you grew bored with the first set, but you were still playing with the same old characters.

By using a brand new character set with each group of screens your attention is held much longer - it's now far easier to keep the eyelids open at three in the morning.

Unfortunately, the vastly different character sets cause a few problems when loading a new file. You don't know which are safe to touch and invariably lose a few lives.

The best course is to use your first venture into a new landscape as a suicide exercise, walking blindly into the different characters and noting what happens.

The inherent expandability of REPTON 3 has been exploited to the full by Superior. If it continues to release extensions such as this, our little green skinned buddy could be around for many a year.

Sound ........................... 6

Graphics ........................ 8

Playability .................... 10

Value for money ................ 10

Overall ......................... 9

Jon Revis, ELECTRON USER 4.11