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Soap opera uninspired
WELCOME to the Artic Computing loopy laundry. If you expect to do any washing, however, you had better forget it unless you are very fast on your feet. Mr Wong's Loopy Laundry, for the 48K Spectrum, is too much like the last Artic game, Bear Bovver, to be a great step forward in games software.

The idea is to rush round the platforms and up the ladders, gathering clothes and depositing them down the chute at the top of the screen. Unfortunately there are soap suds, a giant iron and a dirty bag of laundry waiting to pounce on you if you cannot avoid them. You can turn the wayward washing utensils stiff by blasting starch in their direction, although you must be careful not to exhaust your supply of powder.

The game is good clean fun but is unlikely to be a best-seller. The graphics flicker and the actions you have to perform are repetitive. It might appeal to children but even they might be washboard-stiff after a time.




MR WONG'S LOOPY LAUNDRY Memory: 16K/48K Price: £6.95 Joystick: Cursor, Kempston, ZX Interface Gilbert Factor: 5

Mr Wong is being chased by a clothes iron, a stack of dirty washing and even soap suds, as he tries to collect the laundry. So it's up to you to help him out by spraying his pursuers with starch to stun them.
Alex: The graphics aren't very impressive and the colour doesn't improve the situation. Being so slow makes the game far too easy to play, especially when you're using a joystick, so it's worth remembering to play this one via the keyboard. Collecting laundry is an original idea, but it doesn't prove to be exciting.

Alan H: Originality is low - it's similar to burgertime type games - but this doesn't make the game any less playable or addictive. It includes above average, well- drawn and fairly smooth graphics, with only the merest amount of flicker. But the colour could be better, as the whole display is rather dull. Another minus is the speed - it's quite slow for this type of game, but using the keyboard instead of a joystick solves the problem to some extent.

Alan H: There's a tendency to call this game boring, but that's only because the speed is so slow and perhaps because of the way colour is used; it's the same on every screen, which means everything looks the same. However, the graphics are well defined. It would be better to have total control of Mr Wong; for example if you press the key to go left he'll continue until another key is pressed.

Alex Miss
Alan G Hit
Alan H Hit

Alex Entwhistle, Alan Grier, Alan Hunter