PONDERING ABOUT MAX's¢---------------------¢¢reviewed by Richard Gore¢¢I first heard about this game in issue¢56 of New Atari User. There was one and¢half pages of material outlining the¢game but revealing very little about¢the game's content. This article is¢therefore (hopefully!) going to provide¢a further insight into the game as well¢as detailing my experiences in trying¢to buy the game.¢¢ The stated price was $12.95 (for the¢version without fancy packaging, with¢fancy packaging it was $10 more¢expensive) which at that time (four¢months ago) worked out too about seven¢pounds. This seemed to be very¢reasonable after all the disk is double¢sided and was said to contain three¢games and a demo. However the company,¢Change In Heat wanted payment in US¢dollars or via an IMO (International¢Money Order) or a similar Bank Draft.¢This is where the problems began. The¢next day I paid a visit to my bank¢('NAT WEST') expecting to be charged¢two or three pounds for the IMO, boy¢was I mistaken, they wanted seven¢pounds fifty (I believe it is now ten¢pounds). I made my excuses and left. I¢next visited the post office only to be¢told they charge seventeen pounds for a similar IMO.¢ Feeling most unhappy I decided to give¢it one more try and went into another¢bank (the Midlands). They charge about¢the same as the Nat West, however the¢man in there was very helpful and¢suggested I buy some US dollars and¢send them in a registered envelope (I¢remembered this was acceptable to¢Change in Heat, so this was the course¢I followed). I didn't even bank with¢them but he said the fee would be two¢pounds, free if I had my account with¢them. Thanking him I left to see if my¢bank could do any better. No chance,¢three fifty was the fee whether I¢banked there or not. So I returned to¢the Midlands (where I was charged only¢one pound!) and bought my dollars. Then¢onto the post office, total cost of¢posting was two pounds fourty. By this¢time my wallet was feeling rather thin¢so I returned home and waited for my¢parcel to arrive.¢ About three weeks later a hefty¢'Jiffy Bag' with an American postmark¢thuded onto my door mat. After finding¢my way into the bag I found one black¢disk (without even a label on it) in a¢rather novel jacket, an interesting¢instruction booklet and a short letter¢giving additional hints on how to play¢the game. Even this 'cheap' version had¢better produced instructions than most¢of the games here in England.¢¢ The three games on the disk are:-¢P.A.M, The Dream & Bar Room Brawl. The¢first two are very similar platform¢games (on side 1 of the disk) while the¢other, Bar Room Brawl is what the title¢suggests a beat em up type game set in¢a bar. The story line which is¢explained brilliantly in the¢instructions book is original and well¢thought out. Things are supposed to¢link together and to some extent they¢do, for example the demo (which can be¢loaded at any time) is meant to be the¢end game sequence and quite good it is¢too.¢ P.A.M. and The Dream are both very¢similar platform games. Both have good¢quality, colourful intro screens, but¢no title music. You start each game¢with three lives and each level has a¢time limit. The character you control¢is a rather hefty bloke with a very¢large head. His animation is superb¢throughout the entire game(s). If he is¢left standing about he will stomp his¢foot.¢The usual running and jumping options¢are used via a joystick [in port 1].¢The object of each level is to guide¢your character to the animated Max¢symbol, collisions with fire balls,¢buggles and other nasties must be¢avoided or you will lose one of your¢lives. Once your game is over (and it¢will be quite quickly) you will hear a¢musical ditty, either Twinkle, Twinkle¢Little star or what sounds like a short¢segment from the Twilight Zone¢depending on which game you are¢playing. Overall they are two very good¢platform games, sounds are a little¢thin on the ground but the graphics are¢good. The only problem is the games are¢VERY VERY hard to play.¢You need plenty of practice just to get¢past the first screen.¢ Bar Room Brawl (BRB) is a completely¢different game and is quite unique. You¢simply have to fight and clear the room¢of brawlers. They are in fact bearded¢stunt men, so don't worry about hurting¢them when you smash a chair or a glass¢bottle on them! Punches, dodging etc¢can all be controlled from the¢joystick, however these controls take a¢little getting used to. The graphics¢are again very good and the sound is¢only average but the controls are a¢little slow at responding. BRB is a¢unique game and with a bit of practice¢turns out to be a challenging piece of¢software.¢¢ Overall this 'game' has to be worth¢buying, it is original, has good¢graphics and an amusing story line as¢well as being good value for money,¢however be warned it is very¢challenging and will take many months¢to complete (which is what the designer¢Mark Peters aimed for).¢ The best way is to buy $13 US dollars¢and send them in a registered envelope.¢Change in Heat's address is:-¢¢ Change In Heat¢ 12 BELLA VISTA PLACE¢ IOWA CITY¢ IOWA 52245¢ USA¢¢ Postage and packing are included in¢the price.¢¢N.B. The name Change in Heat may seem¢rather strange, however they use the¢delta symbol (a triangle) followed by a¢capital letter H as their logo, delta¢H, which all chemists should know¢stands for change in heat when refered¢to thermodynamics of reactions,¢actually it stands for change in¢enthalpy (at constant pressure) which¢for most purposes is heat, but now I'm¢getting too scientific so here ends the review of P.A.M. I hope you like it!¢
