Brian Bloodaxe

THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE



BRIAN BLOODAXE



PUBLISHER

The Edge



AUTHOR

Charles Bystram



YEAR OF RELEASE

March 1985



DESCRIPTION

Huge platform game very much in the mould of Jet Set Willy.



INSTRUCTIONS

Brian Bloodaxe has landed on the shores of Britain in his viking

longboat. His first quest is to become ruler of the land by

finding the crown jewels and sitting on the throne while wearing

them. After that, God will send further instructions.





CONTROLS

Keyboard

LEFT-CAPS SHIFT

RIGHT-Z

JUMP-C

PICK UP/DROP-V/SPACE BAR

FIRE/USE-X

TUNE ON/OFF-T

RESTART GAME-enter + H



Joystick

LEFT-left

RIGHT-right

JUMP-push forward

FIRE/USE-pull back

PICK UP/DROP press fire button



Control type selection

Press ENTER to start the game if you are using the keyboard,

cursor joystick, or Kempston joystick. These are detected

automatically. If you are using Sinclair Interface II then press

"S" to start the game. Pressing one of the above keys will take

you out of the initial screen mode or out of the demo mode into

the game itself. For a demo just let the game run when it starts

up.





TIPS/CHEATS



The map of the game is huge - over 104 rooms, and horizontal

levels of rooms loop back on themselves left to right across the

room with the shark. The exit from the shark room (on the left

or right) leads to whichever room you accessed that exit from

last. This, used judiciously, can be used to cross large areas

of the map quickly.



Pints of beer can be used to refresh yourself and restore energy.

Money has no use other than as an object to stand on. The

revolver can be used to kill creatures, but has limited shots.

You can also kill creatures by head-butting them from below with

your horned helmet, but this carries a risk of injury to

yourself. You can ascend great heights by standing on an object,

and jumping up as you simultaneously pick it up. Of course, if

you get it wrong, falling more than a certain distance will kill

you. Bombs are extremely useful, and a lot of fun, but you need

a detonator to use them. Drop the bomb, select the detonator and

press DOWN to trigger it. And stand well clear..... Spades are

also seriously useful things to have.



The vast underground area (mines) is fun to explore, but not

particularly relevant to the game: none of the key objects will

be found there, but it is a useful source of bombs, detonators

and spades. If you descend to the deepest levels, you can find

yourself in Hell. Abandon all hope - Hell is very hard to leave.



You can use bombs to blow holes in any wall in the game. This

also means you can put a hole in a ceiling or floor and move

between rooms with no connecting door. This can lead to some

interesting places.....



One thing NOT to do no matter what, is to blow up "The hand of

God". Placing a bomb next to it and then detonating it can and

usually does result in the game resetting.





SEQUELS/PREQUELS/RELATED GAMES:



Although there was no follow-up to Brian Bloodaxe, C.Bystram, the

author went on to program a 3D isometric game called "Wulfan".

This was released on the 1.99 Bulldog label back in 1987. It

wasn't very good.





INLAY CARD TEXT



The game will start automatically once loading is complete.



PLease note that this game features our turbo loading technique.

This means that the game will load approximately twice as fast

as is usual on the Spectrum. However, to ensure reliable loading

do please check that your tape player's heads are clean and

regularly demagnetised, and that it is either running from mains

or from well charged batteries. If these simple precautions are

taken then you should enjoy trouble-free loading of this game.



WARNING. Do not play this game. This game features "Primary

Imbalance" and may be injurious to mental health.



Well you seem to have ignored my warning, so I'd better tell you

something about this silly game.



THE GAME

"It was a Thursday afternoon at around 3 o'clock when the signal

to go was beamed across the known universe. Boarding your

supa-interspatial mega-galactic craft you set off knowing full

well that you are Mankind's last hope, but not at all sure that

you remembered to lock the front door..."



Sorry, wrong game, lets try again.



"Wow are you hungry, and as you guide your snapping form around

the maze you find fruit to devour, but look out! Those nasty

ghosts are..."



Hum, No, that's wrong too. I'm sure I had it here somewhere...Ah

yes here it is.



BRIAN BLOODAXE, Conqueror of the Brits



It was pretty late in the week, probably Thursday I should think,

when Brian got bored. Well, you'd get bored too, I can tell you,

if you'd been stuck in a flaming great ice-cube floating about

in the North Atlantic for a few centuries. Brian had reached a

decision, not before time you might say as it had taken him

around 500 years to formulate. But then Brian was never much of

a quick thinker. "I'll invade the Brits ..." spluttered forth his

excuse for grey matter.



So he did. Trouble is he chose a certain Tuesday in 1983AD when

the entire population were either "out to lunch", "in a meeting",

or on the edge of their seats about to be informed who exactly

had shot J.R.



Not being put off, Brian set forth to conquer.



Being an exceptionally sly creature Brian decided to choose one

of three major invasion points around Britain, non of which were

Hastings.



Oh yes, due to an old war-wound (and, some say, an inherent

laziness) Brian can only carry three things at a time.



"Uh that's about it really.

"You sure?

"Well, yeah. I think so.

"Haven't told them much hve you?

"No. S'pose not really. But they'll soon get the hang of it.

"What do you think those bird brains out there are going to be

able to make their little ways around all 104 screens, each of

which present a unique and mind boggling mental puzzle?

"Yea.

"And discover all the weapons, tools and goodies as well as how

to use them?

"Hope so.

"And discover the point of the game?!!

"Well, no. S'pose not really.

"Well aren't you going to tell them about how Brain's task is

to get hold of the Crown Jewels and sit on the Throne with them?

"Yea, all right. But I'm not telling them the rest.

"What not even the penguins?

"Nope.



THE COMPETITION

If you're the fist person to get the Crown Jewels and to sit on

the Throne then bully for you, but we're not giving prizes for

that. No, acheive that petty task first and then you'll be asked

to do something else. None of your simple problem solving here,

no, the final task is a real humdinger (the dinger's humming is

full animated).



At the end of Brian's final quest he can be carrying up to three

things - it's the war wound you see - and the first person so

solve the game WILL WIN THEIR CHOICE OF ONE OF THE THINGS BRIAN

IS CARRYING WHEN THE GAME ENDS. But a word of advice to this

lucky winner, 'play in the spirit of this game and you'll win in

the spirit of this game, and be amply rewarded.



SCORES/REVIEWS: Crash, March 1985, 86%, page 114





SNAPSHOTS/URL:



ftp.dcc.uchile.club/OS/sinclair/snapshots/b/brianaxe.zip





FACTS ABOUT THE GAME:



The original loading screen (lost from the snapshot) featured a

large stone title of "Brian Bloodaxe", done as for the "Life of

Brian" title. After the game finishes loading, Brian walks down

the title and walks off screen. The Spectrum now resets! The

screen goes black, then white, and starts to print "(C) 1982

Sincl". Just as you are cursing your ill-fortune and getting

ready to rewind the tape, the message stops and the screen prints

out:



"WARNING! THIS GAME FEATURES A HEAVY DOSAGE OF PRIMARY IMBALANCE,

WHICH MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO MENTAL HEALTH, should you still wish

to play then blow gently on the keyboard... Don't say I didn't

warn you!"



Once this has appeared, the game starts properly.



This nasty trick has been sadly(?) lost from the snapshot.



After the third and final quest, Brian is crowned king in the

start room, and the game saves the winning screen to tape. This

was for the competition when the game was released, and the first

person to send their winning screen to the EDGE got the prize.





NOTES

The game is heavily influenced by Manic Miner, and JSW (toilet

seats, giant pairs of scissors, clockwork oranges) and also by

Monty Python (Knights, the Holy Grail, the Hand of God) but has

its own unique flavour (Daleks, Loch Ness Monster, cruise

missiles etc). It is also much larger and more complex than

either, with a strong game objective. The music, which rapidly

becomes irritating, is, of course, the John Philip Souza march

now irredeemably associated with Monty Pythons Flying Circus and

actually sounds to many people like it's being played on a set

of teeth!