Super Candy Cruncher
                   Another Gamehouse game
   Demo available from www.gamehouse.com or on a SynTax CD

                      Reviewed by Sue

This issue's Gamehouse game is another 'line 'em up' game where
you have to complete rows or columns of similar items. In this
case, it's different sweets, or candies because this is an
American game.

Different candies are worth different numbers of points. Purple
jellies are 10 per level, striped sweets are 15 and ones that
looks like Smarties are 20. There is one empty square on the
screen and to complete a row or column you have to slide the
sweets about. You can do this by clicking the mouse or by dragging
it. And of course it's all against the clock.

On the first level you only have to clear two lines. On level two
it's three lines and on level three five. However this level has
an added complication - black jelly beans which can't be moved.
On level six, we're introduced to watermelon slices which are
worth 30 points per level. We're up to eight lines by now. The
temptation is to aim for these, but I found this to be a mistake
as I could often find myself flailing about trying to move the
last piece, thus losing the level, when I could have more quickly
made a line using a lesser candy.

The more different candy shapes, the harder it is to make a line
because there are fewer of each type about.

There's a pause button but this also blanks the screen so you
can't use it for cheating (as if we would, eh?). But it's worth
having a quick look at the screen layout at the start of a level
then pausing to consider the best way to approach it.

I liked the way a voice shouts "One more to go!" when you're only
one line short of completing a level. Not so nice is the siren
which blares out when you're almost out of time. You'll can tell
how much time remains on each level by watching a fuse burn down
along the bottom of the screen.

The demo finishes at the end of level six and you go back to level
1.  A shame but understandable. They want you to buy the full
game, of course, which has more candies, more levels and the
option to start at any level. It costs $19.95 but there are
special offers if you order more than one game.












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