Thursday 15 March 2012

Automania - Sinclair Spectrum - 1984


Colour-clashtastic!  Automania is the first in the series of games to feature the Week family.  In this platform game you play Wally Week as he works in a car assembly plant.  You have to guide Wally as he picks up various parts of car bodywork from the stock room and carries them to the assembly room to place on the car chassis.  There is a time limit which resets when each component is fitted.  You start by assembling a 2CV and once complete you are promoted to the next car and gain a life.  For each car you complete, the stock room changes with the parts harder to reach.  There are various automotive related obstacles to avoid or jump over such as fans and crankshafts falling from the ceiling with wheels and something unidentifiable moving across the floor.

This is another game with that one more go vibe as you want to see what car comes next.  The sound has basic spot effects and an annoying tune which you’ll want to turn off after 30 seconds.  The sprites are big and colourful but clash horribly although none of these detract from the playability.

Attribute clash causes some issues with the colours.
With the Rolls complete the game cycles back to the 2CV.




2 comments:

  1. I played this one on C64. What was that thing that moved along the floor? I found it strangely horrifying as a child, and I suppose because of that memory, I still do.

    I could never really get into this game, though, mainly because the gameplay never really worked for me. I would always get as far as putting 2 or 3 parts on the first car, and then I'd be out of lives.

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  2. I've never played this on the C64 but from what I've seen it looks pretty much like the Spectrum version. I like the gameplay and don't start coming unstuck until about the fifth or sixth level.

    I could never work out what that thing on the floor is either!

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