| Manic Miner |
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| Written by The Librarian |
| Monday, 09 February 2009 14:27 |
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Manic Miner is one of the first games ever to receive legendary status. It was first released for the ZX Spectrum in the early 1980's and gamers everywhere clambered to complete the 20 levels and rescue Miner Willy from the caverns. It has very simple graphics and looks very dated today even against mobile phone games. However as many true gamers know, it isn't graphics that make a game, but gameplay. Manic Miner has that in bucketfuls. It had that 'just one more go' feel to it, that pulled gamers back in time and time again. It was written by the legendary Matthew Smith. This game and the follow up Jet Set Willy were the top games on home computers in the early 80's. However Jet Set Willy was unfinishable due to a bug in the code that made you die when entering a room. There are many versions of the game around, including all the original games. However an online flash version can be played here |
"if a child can read, they can think,
if a child can think they are free"
Siobhan Dowd (1960-2007)
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It would be much easier to tell this story if it were all about a chaste and perfect love between Two Children Against the World at an Extreme Time in History. But let's face it, that would be crap. Daisy is sent from New York to England to spend a summer with cousins she has never met. They are Isaac, Edmond, Osbert and Piper. And two dogs and a goat. She's never met anyone quite like them before - and, as a dreamy English summer progresses, Daisy finds herself caught in a timeless bubble. It seems like the perfect summer. But their lives are about to explode. Falling in love is just the start of it. War breaks out - a war none of them understands, or really cares about, until it lands on their doorstep. The family is separated. The perfect summer is blown apart. Daisy's life is changed forever - and the world is too.
