CLOWN-O-MANIA

 CLOWN-O-MANIA is an arcade game written and published by Starbyte Software (of
Germany) and distributed by Star Games (of Florida). Combining elements from
(and reminiscent now and then of) PAC-MAN, CRYSTAL CASTLES, NEVERMIND, MARBLE
MADNESS, DEVON AIRE, and BATTLEDROIDZ, CLOWN offers outstanding 3-D graphics,
excellent animation, 70 levels, simple joystick control, and copy protection.
The Atari ST version, which requires 512K and a color monitor, is the basis of
this review.

 CLOWN is in no way a novel idea; it has appeared behind many graphic masks, but
we have seen it before. Nonetheless, the labyrinths are wondrous
three-dimensional constructions, the joystick controls are simple, and the game
plays easily. I expect that youngsters (who are not so easily bored by mindless
stick-twiddling) will find it more appealing than the growing legions of us who
already know that GAUNTLET II is The Only Arcade Game Truly Worth Our Time and
Effort.

 CLOWN concerns Beppo the Clown who, says the Star Games press release, "has
spent his whole life exercising the laughmuscles of thousands of enraptured
audiences." I think this means that Beppo operated a massage parlor, which must
have been as big as a mall. (His hands, in order to massage an entire audience,
must have been really big, too.) After Beppo finds a map showing the way to a
mysterious, new world, he gives up massage and clownhood in order to devote his
life to collecting priceless crystals.

 The ST graphics display consists of the current labyrinth, which is a series of
three-dimensional platforms and walkways built of squares. Ladders, funnels,
trampolines, and volcanos lead to other levels. The object of the game is to
collect all the crystals -- some are worth one point, others ten points -- on
each level before moving on to the next maze.

 There are many obstacles, although only one is mentioned in the manual. They
include spinning gem-like shards, rolling balls, spiders, acid holes, and
ghosts, all of which move sometimes in discernible patterns, sometimes in random
patterns. Beamers transport Beppo to other parts of the maze. If your energy is
high, you can collect pyramids and then drop them, as barriers, in strategic
locations. "Jumps" are moving molecular structures that, when collected, let you
leap to other, unconnected platforms of the maze. Collect the razor blades and
they can be used as weapons.

 CLOWN is controlled with a joystick. The stick moves Beppo in the cardinal --
that is, the cardinal-diagonal -- directions; the button collects and drops
pyramids, uses a jump, and shoots razor blades. To adjust to the diagonal
placement of the maze on the screen, the manual suggests that you turn your
joystick from a 12 o'clock to a 1 o'clock position, which may or may not help.

 The CLOWN-O-MANIA package comes with one copy-protected disk and an instruction
manual. There is no save option.

 CLOWN looks great on the ST: The excellent 3-D mazes hang suspended in a dark
void and are exceptionally clear and colorful. If you run Beppo over a patterned
square, the entire construction turns upside-down, a nifty trick that's all the
more mind-boggling because Beppo then hangs by his feet. Beppo and the obstacles
are nicely animated, and all is bright and understandable.

 Screen scrolls leave something to be desired. An entire maze isn't visible on
any one screen, so when Beppo reaches a certain square, the maze shifts so that
another part of it comes into view. This works abruptly and in a disorienting
way, because Beppo appears on a square that's completely removed -- at least it
seems removed at first glance -- from the one he was on before the scroll.

 The joystick worked well, but the relationship between the diagonal appearance
of the maze and the corresponding joystick movements does require a mental
adjustment, just as it did in DEVON AIRE and NEVERMIND (whose three-dimensional
rooms/mazes were also placed diagonally on the screen).

 CLOWN-O-MANIA is a fine package, neither too easy nor too hard, that's
eminently suitable for kids. Since this is an all-out arcade game, if you're not
a youngster or a parent, you might want to playtest the game to predetermine
your quotient for pointless joystick twiddling.

 CLOWN-O-MANIA is published by Starbyte Software and distributed by Star Games.

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