SPOT: THE COMPUTER GAME

 P.T. Barnum was right, you know. And he probably would have loved the way
corporations are managing to license their respective little "mascots," getting
people to actually pay for ads (and making a few extra million bucks in the
process). In the wake of the California Raisins, Spud MacKenzie, the Energizer
Bunny, and countless others, many businesses are playing belated catch-up,
inventing little creatures simply so that they, too, can profit from this craze.

 The 7-UP company might seem an unlikely candidate to join the crowd. After all,
their logo is just a "7," followed by a red dot, followed by an "UP." Never
underestimate the creativity of Madison Avenue, though, because now that red dot
is a cartoon character named "Spot."

 Of course, some products are less harmful than others, and I don't get as
worried about kids wearing a logo for soft drinks on their chest as I do about a
certain company using a cutesy-pie dog to introduce children to beer at an early
age. You may feel differently, in which case you might not want your kids
playing a game that opens with the logo for 7-UP soda, and which (in some ways)
could be said to serve as a constant advertisement for that drink.

 However, if you're not troubled by this, you're probably going to buy SPOT: THE
COMPUTER GAME, because it's a winner in almost every other way. (This review is
based on the IBM-PC version.)

 SPOT is a board game played on your computer screen; essentially, it's an
easier version of the classic game OTHELLO. The board resembles a checkerboard,
7x7 square (that's 49 squares in all, if you're counting). Each player starts
out with four pieces, two in each diagonally opposite corner (in the one- and
two-player versions of the game).

 For each turn, you may move a single piece just once. Moving that piece to an
adjacent square (in any direction) will "clone" your piece, giving you an extra
piece. Or, you can jump over a square, again in any direction -- a strategic
move, at times, but one that does not result in a clone.

 Each time you land, all of your opponent's pieces in adjacent squares
(horizontally, vertically, _and_ diagonally) change to your color. The game
continues until all of the squares are filled, or neither player can make a
move. Whoever has the most squares wins.

 The game board can be edited, so that some squares will be "missing" and out of
play. The 512 "pre-programmed playfields" mentioned on the back of the box are
various set-ups of squares and "holes." You can also edit the board yourself,
removing squares at random.

 You can set time limits for each player's moves (from five to 40 seconds), or
disable the timer altogether; you can also set a time limit for the entire game
(from one to nine minutes), or again, disable the timer altogether.

 Now, if that's all there were to SPOT: THE COMPUTER GAME, I'd be addicted
already. But there's more. The game is played with some of the most delightful,
state-of-the-art animation I've seen in a computer game. Two "Spots" dance
underneath your score, snapping their fingers and tapping their toes. When you
move a piece, that piece "becomes" Spot, and dances to the play you select,
sometimes doing a tuck 'n' roll, sometimes a Michael Jackson-style Moonwalk.
(For the curmudgeons among us, Spot can be "turned off," and the game then
resembles a more traditional board game.) Naturally, with all this dancing going
on, there's a constant, ever-changing musical soundtrack.

 If you've selected the "Secret Spot Square" option and happen to land on one of
those spots, you'll find yourself in a bonus round, played on a computer slot
machine. Here you can win an extra turn, a free move, or the chance to swap any
of your pieces with your opponent's.

 The IBM-PC version of SPOT: THE COMPUTER GAME comes on two 5-1/4" diskettes
(3-1/2" diskettes are available separately). A setup program will install the
game on your hard drive, after which there is (huzzah!) absolutely no copy
protection. 640K of RAM is required. SPOT can be played from the keyboard, or
with a joystick or mouse. The game plays equally well with each of these
controllers.

 SPOT supports EGA, Tandy, and VGA (in MCGA mode) graphics. It will not play in
mono or CGA. It's not the most colorful game in the world -- mostly greens,
reds, and blues -- but, as I previously mentioned, the animation is first rate.
Audio support is provided for the AdLib, CMS, Covox, and Roland MT-32 boards,
and Tandy 3-Voice mode.

 One cautionary note: The first shipment of IBM disks does not contain all of
the features mentioned in the manual. What's missing is the ability to disable a
lot of the features described above. In other words, you're stuck with SPOT,
love him or not. It certainly didn't affect the play of the game.

 In all truth, I didn't want to like SPOT: THE COMPUTER GAME. I'd prepared all
these "spot the computer game" jokes, but I had to throw them all away. SPOT is
not only fun and addictive, it's a non-violent game that requires you to
_think_. Buy this for your kids, ignore the advertising, and then try to ignore
your kids, because you'll probably be pushing them out of the way to play this
game constantly yourself.

 SPOT: THE COMPUTER GAME is published and distributed by Virgin Mastertronic.

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