The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library

LEMMING SYNDROME

Professional, Originally Released On Cassette Only

Game Type          : Arcade

Author             : Unknown  

Standalone Release(s)   : 1983: LEMMING SYNDROME, Dynabyte, £7.95

Compilation Release(s) : 1986: SUPERSELLERS: THE DYNABYTE COLLECTION, Dynabyte, £9.95

Stated compatibility    : Electron

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

Supplier            : DYNABYTE, Unit F3 Railway Triangle, Farlington, HANTS

                    PO6 1TG

Disc compatibility     : ADFS 1D00, CDFS 1D00, DFS 1D00

Instructions

Mad Marco is on the rampage and has blown the bridge to the mainland. The only escape for the fleeing population is to jump into the shark-infested waters. As Lifeboat Lennie you must try to bounce the panicking people to safety across the water whilst avoiding the marauding sharks and the desperate attempts of Mad Marco to blow up your liferaft with dynamite.

LEMMING SYNDROME is a fast and furious game full of special effects and options designed to make your task harder as you get better. The options page allows you to select the speed and the type of control for your raft. You have only one liferaft and the game ends if more than fifty people are left to drown.

Instructions' Source   : SUPERSELLERS: THE DYNABYTE COLLECTION Inner Inlay

Review (Electron User)

A GAME for those with fast reactions and a burning desire to save people from drowning, LEMMING SYNDROME is one of those compulsive games that always has you wanting one more go.

The idea is simple. Mad Marco, the world famous arsonist, has set light to a city between the flames and a deep, dangerous river. As is the way in computer games, none of the people can swim (remember the drowning frog in CROAKER?) Having said that, they would rather chance their arm in the water than in the flames, so, singly or in groups, they hurl themselves over the edge. This is where you come in, you and your little rubber raft.

If you place your raft beneath the plummeting population they bounce. The trouble is that they only bounce as far as the centre of the river. The result is that you have to catch them again and bounce them twice more before they reach dry land at the other side of the river. And you've got to watch out because while you're waiting for the third bounce you notice another group hurling themselves off the edge. Can you get back in time?

To make matters worse, Mad Marco keeps throwing sticks of dynamite (which you avoid) and there's a hungry shark (which you try to avoid). The game ends when you've been blasted, bitten or lost fifty people. You get points for each person you save, the various classes having different scores. For some obscure reason, politicians score more than anybody!

The graphics are excellent, the colours well thought out and the controls simple to use. You have a choice of sound on or off, various levels of skill and different ways of moving your rubber raft. Calling for quick reactions and a sense of humour it's a game that will have you laughing as you press for another go. Great fun.

Trevor Roberts, ELECTRON USER 1.12