THE MAZE
   A 3D Construction Kit Game for the ST by David Sambrook
                 on SynTax P.D. Disk 461

        Reviewed by JAMES JILLIANS on an Atari ST.

If you have ever watched the Channel 4 game show, 'The Crystal
Maze', you'll know what to expect from 'The Maze'. Now you can
experience the thrills for yourself and take over from the
bunglers that call themselves contestants!

You are an adventurer searching for the famed 'Prize' which is
hidden in the depths of the deadly 'Maze'. You must solve many
puzzles and pass a variety of tests to get the keys which open up
new parts of the dungeon. Sounds good? It is!

The game has been created using the 3D Construction Kit. It is set
in a landscape constructed entirely from cuboids, pyramids, prisms
and cylinders. You can move around the landscape, adopt millions
of positions and view the landscape, through the eyes of your
adventurer, from millions of different angles - just like real
life! And you can change the viewing angle (i.e. move your hero's
eyes) giving even more variety.

The game is composed of 'lobbies' (like levels) each of which has
five rooms containing a puzzle or a challenge, and a key. The keys
unlock the door to the next lobby. To get the keys you must solve
puzzles and meet many challenges.

You can manipulate objects near you but not pick them up or keep
them. For this reason the puzzles have no connection with each
other. You can solve each lobby's five puzzles in any order. You
also have a gun.

The puzzles and challenges are similar to those from 'The Crystal
Maze'. There are sliding block puzzles, mathematical puzzles,
logic puzzles, puzzles that involve pressing buttons in the
correct order and intelligence games that you play against the
computer. The other challenges have your adventurer balancing on
narrow ledges, shooting baddies, negotiating complex labyrinths
and guiding remote-controlled vehicles through mazes. There is a
great variety - no two puzzles are the same. There is a time limit
for each task so you must be a quick thinker!

The difficulty level of the game is pitched just right. You only
need to complete four out of every five tasks so if you can't
solve a certain puzzle you aren't completely stuck. You have
several lives which are used up if you fail to complete a task
within the time-limit. Fortunately there is a save game option so
you don't have to go back to the beginning every time you die.
You can easily put all the relevant data onto disk so you can
re-start where you left off if you stop playing.

The Maze's graphics aren't particularly good. As with all 3D
Construction Kit games they are made up of shapes put together in
various ways so they are not very realistic. The shapes have been
put together well leaving no annoying gaps where shapes aren't
quite on top of one another - unlike some 3DCK games I could
mention!  The full range of colours offered by the ST is not used.

A typical screen has only four colours displayed at once. There
is, of course, no animation.

The sound?  I'm afraid it is complete rubbish consisting of a
totally un-gun-like gun-firing sound and a wailing/siren noise for
the enemies. You may as well have your speakers unplugged.  But,
as the saying goes, sound ain't everything!

I thoroughly recommend this game. The programmer has stretched the
kit's abilities to the limit. Apart from the sound and a couple of
spelling mistakes 'The Maze' leaves nothing to be desired. The
game should provide quite a challenge - I've been playing it for a
fortnight on and off and I still haven't completed it! I've always
wanted to have a crack at the puzzles in 'The Crystal Maze' and
with this I can. If you enjoy puzzle solving with a few tests of
skill thrown in then you will like this. You can't go wrong at the
price of œ2.50 (from the SynTax PD Library) anyway!

The game runs on half megabyte STs. A mouse is required but not a
joystick. 3D Construction Kit is not needed to play the game.

J.J. RATINGS:

   GRAPHICS   : 5 out of 10
   SOUND      : 1 out of 10
   EASE OF USE: 7 out of 10
   VALUE      : 9 out of 10
   DIFFICULTY : 6 out of 10
   FUN FACTOR : 9 out of 10