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Piman wanders from the straight and narrow
HOW ARE the mighty fallen! The self-righteous Piman has returned from Hollywood where he clearly picked up some terrible habits from chain-smoking Groucho and has now become a skid row problem drinker. The new Automata release, Pi-Eyed, for 48K Spectrum, is an arcade-style descent into the unsavoury depths of Pi-Land pubs.

Using the cursor keys or a Kempston joystick, you must steer the tipsy Pi-Man along the road, avoiding irate motorists, and get him into various noisy and messy hostelries like The Merry Corpse or The Gay Dog. You may also enter some of the other buildings on the Pi-Land main street, where you will receive encouraging or abusive messages.

Once inside a pub the Pi-Man must drink all the pints of beer on the bar before he can weave his unsteady way out to find another watering hole. You do not increase your score in this game - you start with a high score which is reduced progressively the more you drink. Points are also deducted if you annoy motorists, tread on packets of Rhino crisps or even more unpleasant substances, or disturb other pub patrons.

When the Pi-Man finally reaches rock bottom zero, his beer intake for the game is displayed; if the hangover is not too bad you can then totter back and start all over again. It is always opening time in Pi-Land.

Pi-Eyed continues the Automata tradition of bizarre, inventive games design and combines the usual garish graphics with a loopy setting and maddening music. The loading logo of two awful bloodshot eyes is disturbing. The game is reasonably entertaining though the format is repetitive after a time.




PI-EYED Memory: 48K Price: £6.00 Joystick: Kempston Gilbert Factor: 6

PI-EYED
Automata / £6.00
Automata's Pi-man is on the great slippery slope and sees life through a drunken haze. The player's job is to help him negotiate his way across a busy main road and into the nearest pub.
John This is definitely one of the most amusing new games, in concept at least, to come on to the market. Sometimes the action seemed a little too fast, especially as the Pi-man became even more inebriated. 8/10
Mark Colour was used well throughout, but not spectacularly; the pub scenes were the best in terms of graphical excellence. But the game opens a little slowly, with the keys not responding too well to the player's directions. 7/10
Tony Ten out of ten for novelty value, but as is so often the case, the novelty soon wears off. There's also an amusing little song on the reverse of the tape. 8/10