What game will we handle in this Grid Trap Review? Firstly it is a one screen level game. Secondly it is this traditional gridthinking including the collecting phase and as always against time.
When you get the flow of the game, it really goes highly over expectations. My first word of advice is scan the grid and expect tactics between every move you do. Your task is to get around the grid without getting stranded. Collect the bombs in time and add some flags to gain some important points.
I suggest you to collect the flags as long as they are close to the bomb to be picked and try to get as many as possible in the last move when collecting the final bomb. This game exists on more platforms than the VIC 20 and from a graphics perspective I would rather choose the C64 version to play..
But as always one of the major enchantments with reviewing these old games is to try them on this variety of platforms. And for me it is most charming to play them on machines I did not manage when the time was in the beginning.
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Our Rating
Find it in the Magazine
In this fast-moving all-action arcade game your job is to defuse bombs which appear somewhere on the grid of traps hence name Grid Trap. You can control your man by keyboard or joystick, as you move the traps disappear, and you get 10 points for each trap you walk on, which gives good high scores.
Each bomb has a 60-second fuse and if you don’t reach it in time you loose a life. But the game is not as simple as that: there are mines scattered all over the grid which explode if you step on them, and also there’s the boot which stomps around the grid – if it happens to kick you you lose a life ..
For extra points you can collect flags which lay about the grid. Once you have defused five bombs you go on to the next screen which has one more boot. The graphics and the sound are good, with well-defined 3D-box traps and skull and crossbones representing the mines. The sound is good, too, with a little tune being played as you go about your dangerous job. An enjoyable game that anyone can play, not a patch on Gridrunner , though.
from Commodore User Issue 10 July 1984 by BJ
The Front Cover
A really nice game cover – Live Wire has a proven record of making interesting covers. This though is before introducing their main character that you can find on many of the covers. I’m talking about the well dressed Sir with his hat and well handled mustache. As you all know Live Wire is a more classy label than the Sumlock one that was previous and that holds it.
GAME DESCRIPTION
GRIDTRAP is a game written entirely in fast 6502 Machine Code and runs in the 3.5K unexpanded VIC 20. Full Hi-res Double Density Colour Graphics and novel sound effects are used to provide a game of outstanding quality and presentataion. The player must control his man, using the keyboard or a joystick, around a grid of traps and defuse time bombs in succession by landing on them. It is a race against lime as they explode after 60 seconds and a ‘life’ is lost. If the bomb is successfully defused another one will appear which will need defusing also. A stage is completed when five successive bombs have been defused. If the first or previous bomb is not defused within 30 seconds another 60 second bomb appears. If three lives are lost then the game is over. Further hazards are presented by a Boot moving around the grid at random which will crush the man if he is in the way and the Land Mines which will explode when walked on. After each successfull stage the game difficulty will increase by the addition of an extra boot up to a maximum of four boots. Bonus points are aquired by walking on the flags around the grid. As the man walks over the grid, the trapdoors are opened preventing him from walking back the same way. However using a unique feature of the game the player may scroll the grid by rows allowing him to continue.
LOADING INSTRUCTIONS
Ensure tape is rewound. Depress SHIFT and RUN STOP together and follow screen instructions. The VIC will automatically load and run the program. During the loading process the screen content will change several times. This is a normal for this program. Operating instructions will appear when loading is complete. DO NOT STOP THE CASSETTE UNIT OR TOUCH THE KEYBOARD UNTIL THE PROGRAM IS FULLY LOADED. NOTE: A T.V. SET CREATES INTERFERENCE WHICH WILL PREVENT CORRECT LOADING OF PROGRAMS. ENSURE THAT THE CASSETTE UNIT IS AS FAR AWAY FROM THE T.V. AS POSSIBLE.
