PAPERBOY

 This game has been around a while in its arcade incarnation -- since 1984, in
fact, when Tengen first released it. Nevertheless, it's a joy to discover it in
a computer version. The graphics are smooth and amusing, the music soundtrack is
snappy and cheerful (a lot like the Charlie Brown cartoon music, but a little
funkier), and the sound effects are often hilarious and always right on target.
It's also nice to be able to find an arcade game these days that doesn't involve
blowing stuff up. (This review is based on the Amiga version; Atari ST version
notes follow.)

 You're a paperboy, and your job is to deliver the morning paper to all your
subscribers' households. Sounds like an easy task, but there are a number of
obstacles to deal with: Dogs, drunkards, workmen, skateboard fiends, lawn
mowers, joggers, and little remote-control electric cars all may appear suddenly
in front of your bicycle and cause an accident. There are curbsides to watch out
for, and if you're traveling in the street, sewer gratings will grab your front
wheel and send you flying over the handlebars. Every now and then, there's a
gate across the sidewalk; if you choose to ride there, you'll have to cut across
the lawn to avoid running into it.

 So you try your best to avoid the obstacles, but meanwhile, you're supposed to
be delivering papers, remember? Your subscribers' houses are mapped out for you
at the beginning of each round of play. You must aim carefully to throw your
initial ten papers into their respective mailboxes. If you miss a box -- or even
worse, break a window -- you lose that subscriber. If you break windows of
non-subscribers' houses, you score extra points. You can also break headstones
in the neighboring cemeteries...what an arm! (This nets extra points, as well.)
Along the way, you'll find piles of newspapers; you can pick these up for more
points. When you reach the end of your route for the day, there's a practice
screen. You have a limited time in which to net additional points by hitting the
targets along the practice course.

 PAPERBOY is simple but pleasurable fun. There's none of the mayhem and tension
inherent in some of the more violent arcade games, and you end each round with a
sense of having completed a job, even when you're just starting out. If you do
well, you're rewarded with an amusing little graphic of a local newspaper whose
headlines celebrate your abilities; if you do poorly, those headlines will
scream to the world that you're a flagrant dolt capable of working only at the
local fast-food shack. The game is not very difficult in the beginning, but it
increases in difficulty with each day (round) you manage to complete
successfully. There are seven rounds in all; as you progress, the number of
obstacles increases, as does the number of subscribers.

 The game requires one disk drive, 512K of RAM, and a joystick. The disk is not
copyable, but at least you may leave it write-protected, because nothing is
saved to disk. There are also no document checks or password systems to contend
with. You use the joystick to accelerate, decelerate, and move right and left;
you throw your paper by pressing the fire button.

 PAPERBOY breaks no ground in design or technical achievement, but if you
enjoyed the arcade game, or if you'd like something for your kids that's a bit
educational, certainly non-violent, and immensely entertaining, this is just the
thing. The music, sound, and animation will satisfy Amiga users who have even
the highest standards, and the reward screen at the end of each round will
motivate players to do better next time. All in all, a nice entry in the realm
of arcade conversions for home computers.

 ATARI ST VERSION NOTES

 PAPERBOY is a port of the popular arcade hit. Already available for most other
computers, the overpriced, color-only Atari ST version of this hokey and
pointless game offers fine graphics, okay gameplay, three difficulty levels,
joystick control, and copy protection. PAPERBOY can run on any ST (including the
Mega series), although why anybody would want to run it is so mysterious, so
unfathomable, that one's mind shuts down for repairs.

 The ST screen display consists of a vertically-scrolling neighborhood. You
guide the bicycle along either the street or the sidewalk, tossing rolled-up
morning editions into the mailboxes marked "Subscriber," or through the windows
of homes without mailboxes. You can also slam a paper into the face of a blind
homeowner; if you don't do this, or if you steer around him, he'll run into you
-- and when anything runs into you (or vice versa), both you and the bike
collapse. You'll have a box on your head (who knows where it came from?), and
after six times, the five-star final edition will insult you.

 A joystick controls play: Forward accelerates, backward brakes, left and right
steer, and the button throws a newspaper. The Spacebar pauses, "S" mercifully
toggles the music, and ESC aborts the game.

 The PAPERBOY program comes on one copy-protected disk. The game looks good and
plays okay, but it's ludicrous, and a waste of ST time. There are only two games
dumber than this one: DOUBLE DRAGON, and the action version of INDIANA JONES AND
THE LAST CRUSADE -- either of which should give you an idea of how horribly
bogus PAPERBOY is. Fortunately, you needn't use ESC to abort the game: Simply
refuse to blow your hard-earned cash on it.

 PAPERBOY is published by Tengen and distributed by Mindscape.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253