E-MOTION

US Gold/Code Monkeys £9.99 cass

US Gold claim this is the beginning of a ‘New Age’ of stress free programs designed for easy living. With that in mind E-Motion was loaded after a hard day’s blasting — and caused widespread consternation! Games don’t come much more frustrating than this! Wow..!

In a sub-atomic universe filled with atoms, protons, neutrons and other particles smarty-pants egg-heads rave on about, you control a sphere which you use as a vehicle to nudge other spheres into one another. But be careful, bounce only like atoms together: judge them by their markings. If you accidentally knock unlike, smaller spheres are created. And if left to their own devices they grow and cause even more of a headache.

Time is of the essence too: if the atoms are left too long before collision, they explode and knock a large chunk off your energy. So bang those balls together and pray you don’t tear all your hair out. The vehicle is so anarchic that many expletives unprintable in a family mag were heard ringing round the CRASH offices. But after calming down, I tried again and slowly gaining more control began to enjoy playing this frustrating but ultimately rewarding game. One piece of advice: don’t panic. Many times I’ve been knocked out because the wildly erratic ball shot round the screen at Mach speeds. E-Motion won’t do anything for your nerves, but may just push up the sales of strait jackets.

MARK — 92%

E-Motion is a strange game, and definitely not one you can play without any instructions. The basic idea is to push the icons with the same signs on them together before they explode. This is not as easy as you may think: they’re linked by elastic band type connectors that stretch and pull them all over the place. If icons of a different sign hit each other they make a new one (ooo, icon reproduction, oo-er), and you then have the trouble of getting rid of this too. Leave them too long and they explode, taking all your energy. Simple, but totally addictive: You control your little ship thingy in an asteroids way by turning it around and using a thrust to move forward. This makes moving about the screen quite a skill in itself. To make things worse you get confused when you go off one side and come back on the other, bouncing off the other icons. Graphic detail is just right, with a surprising amount of colour on screen, and tunes and effects are good too. E-Motion is surprisingly addictive, once you start playing you won’t be able to pull yourself away!

NICK — 90%

Screenshot

RATING

Physics lessons in school are never as fun or as frustrating as this exercise in motion
Presentation82%
Graphics84%
Sound83%
Playability87%
Addictivity90%
Overall91%