Frenzy  (1984 - MicroPower)
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
_________________________

There is a frenzy in a scientific research center. Darting leptons, deadly sub-atomic particles, are running free in laboratory rooms, and it is your job to capture them using a robot craft with gameplay similar to Qix. Ion trails left behind by your craft while it is in a free area are used to enclose the area to capture the lepton or render the area safe from leptons. The area can be enclosed when you reach the edge of the room or safety area. Until then, while your craft is in free area, both the trail and the craft are vulnerable from a lepton hit. Later laboratory rooms developed dangerous charged omega particles which move along the ion trails and should be avoided as well.

The craft can surf along the edge of the room or safety area using the navigational keys. It is moved into the free area with the spacebar at half speed. Pressing the spacebar again produces full speed movement. Points are scored for the areas made safe with slow-drawn areas worth double the point of the fast-drawn ones. Each room has a base score which is doubled if a lepton is captured and this multiplies the area scores. There is a time bonus if the room can be cleared quickly.

The laboratory room is declared safe when all the free leptons are captured or 95% of the free area has been safely enclosed. An extra craft is available after the 3rd, 6th, and 9th rooms. The top ten scores are stored in a high score table.

---

Although the gameplay is similar to Qix, the backstory for Frenzy involves the player controlling a robot craft, attempting to capture deadly sub-atomic Leptons from inside a scientific research centre.

In Frenzy, a Lepton is captured if it is trapped in an area enclosed by the player's robot craft or if 95% of the screen area has been filled. The robot craft has two speeds and the score for filling in an area using only the slower speed is subject to a 2x multiplier. Chasers appear in higher levels which can collide with the player's robot craft, causing a life to be lost. The number of Leptons and Chasers increase as the levels progress, up to a maximum of five of each on the most difficult screens—except for Levels 12 and 14, which have a smaller number of Leptons (and no Chasers) but the Leptons move much faster. The player obtains an extra craft on completing the third, sixth and ninth screens. It has been found that after level 14, the last two screens repeat indefinitely.

It is stated in the instructions that a good strategy is to build narrow filled blocks using the faster speed across the centre of an unfilled area, and then finally seal the area off by using only the slower mode. This maximises the score while reducing the risk of using "slow mode" to a minimum. It can be seen that players of the game tend to stick to this strategy.

Some players remark that Frenzy is not an exact Qix clone. Although the game is clearly derived from Qix, there are crucial differences. In Qix, completing a line fills in the area not containing the Qix regardless of size, whereas in Frenzy, the smaller area is always coloured, allowing Leptons to be trapped (which kills them). In Qix, filling a set percentage is the only way to complete levels; in Frenzy it is more common to complete levels by killing all the Leptons. Also, in Frenzy, the Leptons move in a regular, completely deterministic pattern, and the player's robot craft is permitted to hesitate, making Frenzy a different playing experience to Qix.

Critical reception

Generally, the game has received a positive response from both players and reviewers.

Frenzy was reviewed in the August 1984 edition of Acorn User (Issue 25)  and also in issue 2.06 of Electron User. Adam Young in his review entitled "Simplicity Makes a Winner" described the game as "one of the most amusing and compulsive games on the market" and "excellent".

Oliver Robinson stated "I always enjoyed playing Frenzy by Micropower". Comparing the game to another similar game called Kix he wrote, "Although, Kix arguably had better music, Frenzy had better gameplay". (The music to Kix is Scarborough Fair and House of the Rising Sun; Frenzy actually has no music at all.)

Other players have described the game as "a great family favourite", a "favourite game" and "Simple, but Addictive".


http://www.mobygames.com/game/frenzy__
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frenzy_(1984_video_game)
