The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library

WAREHOUSE

Professional, Originally Released On Cassette Only

Game Type          : Arcade; Overhead Maze Game

Authors            : Philip Watts & Tim Bateman

Standalone Release(s)   : 1988: WAREHOUSE, MIL Top Ten, £2.99

Compilation Release(s) : None

Stated compatibility    : Electron/BBC Dual Version

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

Supplier            : MIL, 12 Chiltern Enterprise Centre, Station Road, Theale,

                    BERKS RG7 4AA

Disc compatibility     : Unknown

Instructions

"400 screens of arcade adventure and mindless zapping! Search the rooms of the warehouse, full of Aliens and booby traps - like blowing fans, sucking vacuums, crushers, spikes, locked doors and laser. Zap Aliens as they emerge from their Portals; use objects that you find to open doors or disable booby traps. Your job - soft out the backlog of orders and eliminate a notorious intergalactic villain!

"'EXCELLENT VALUE' A & Computing."

THE STORY - Big Alf, the Interstellar Trader, has moved his stock into an abandoned warehouse on the planet Tymorg. But because of delays caused by the move, there are now six irate customers waiting for the goods they ordered. You, the hapless Fred, are his stores' keeper, and you have been sent out there to sort things out. All you know is that each customer ordered two items, and the items were things that they needed for their particular jobs.

Unknown to you and Alf, the warehouse used to be the headquarters of Zorg, the most wanted man in the universe! Zorg protected the warehouse by leaving behind a horde of nasty aliens. These emerge from Portals whenever anyone approaches. The place is also littered with booby traps such as fans, that blow you in a certain direction; vacuums, that suck you in; locked doors; crushers that fly out of the wall and deadly lasers and spikes.

YOUR JOB - is to fulfil each customer's order in turn. Searching the 400 rooms of the warehouse, you must find each item, take it back to the Office and place it onto the conveyor belt. When you have delivered both items, the Customer will, as a gesture of thanks, give you an Object which may prove useful to you! Your secondary task to eliminate Zorg!

OBJECTS - There are various types of Objects lying around the place. Apart from the goods for the customers, there's extra ammunition for your laser; scrolls containing messages; keys; Objects left behind by Zorg for disabling booby traps; teleport pads; etc.

PICK UP / DROP OBJECTS - You can carry only three Objects at a time, indicated by the display near the top of the screen (displaying ? NOTHING three times at start of play). At the left of this display is a Pointer by which you can point to whichever Object you want to Swap (or Use). In order to pick up an Object, you must stand near it and press the S key. This will pick up the new Object and drop whichever one the Pointer was next to.

USE / EXAMINE OBJECTS - In order to Use an Object, such as a key to open a door, point to it with the Pointer and press RETURN. Scrolls can be examined in the same way - press SPACE to continue afterwards.

CONTROLS - Use the following keyboard controls...

Z  -  Left   X  -  Right   :  -   Up   /  -  Down   SPACE  -  Fire

CURSOR DOWN  -  Move Object Pointer   S  -  Swap

RETURN  -  Use/Examine   T  -  Sound Toggle   ESCAPE  -  Abort Life

PLAYING - Mapping the warehouse will be essential - the 400 rooms are arranged in a 20 x 20 matrix. The first thing to do is find The Office as this will be your base of operations. Blast or avoid all aliens, and blast the Portals to stop more aliens emerging. If you manage to get as far as completing the final order, finish by exiting out of the room at the top right.

SCORING - Shooting Alien: 1 point, Shooting Portal: 100 points, Completing Order: 1,000 points, Shooting Zorg: 2,500 points, Finishing Game: 5,000 points.

Instructions' Source   : WAREHOUSE (Top Ten) Back And Inner Inlay

Review (Electron User) - "Trouble In Store"

Arcade adventures show no signs of losing their popularity and I have managed to sneak a look at a pre-production version of WAREHOUSE, a new game by Pillar Graphics.

You are Fred the storekeeper to Alf, an interstellar trader. The stores have recently been moved to Tymorg, but this has left a backlog of irate customers.

Keeping alive the belief that the customer is always right - whoever said that did not work in the retail trade - your task is hampered by the fact that the warehouse is crawling with lots of nasties and littered with tricks and traps. Added to this, you don't know what you are looking for.

Like other games of this ilk you have to search a maze for certain items. The screen doesn't scroll, but instead flicks quickly from one part to the next.

Controls are left, right, up, down and fire - yes, your thoughtful employers haven't left you completely defenceless. You can carry three items at once, and apart from the goods there are other items you will need to complete your task.

Your first challenge, sorry, customer, is a writer, and for him you must find a notebook and ink. When you find them, take them to the office and put them on the conveyor belt.

Monsters appear on every screen from a portal but a quick blast will close it for good if you can't get to it. Help is provided by portal blasters, extra ammo, transporter keys, alien freeze devices and other handy bits and pieces you collect on your travels.

You get five lives, which is considerably better than two verbal warnings and one written one. But when you're reincarnated - Oh, no! Not another warehouse assistant - you're in a different part of the warehouse too.

There are four different starting points, which gives you a better picture of the maze than if you were plonked back at the start each time.

The sprites are big and chunky and the movement is smooth, though you do seem to get zapped by the baddies before they actually touch you, which I resented.

Also, it was rather frustrating to find that you can't move and fire at the same time. So to attack a portal with all guns blazing to knock out emerging aliens requires some dextrous key manipulation.

Your other customers include a priest, a lockmaker, a mechanic and an assassin. A word of warning - the warehouse is also the headquarters of Zorg, the most wanted man in the universe.

Warehouse is not going to do the reputation of the MSC, YTS or JTS any good at all. You don't even get any money, just a place in the hall of fame - when you're dead. But it's fun while you're alive.

Sound ........................... 4

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

Playability ..................... 8

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

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

Ian Waugh, ELECTRON USER 5. 3 (Jan 1988)