Game Review: Quick Thinking (Commodore 64, Mastertronic)

Quick Thinking was first released by Mirrorsoft back in 1983 across several systems including the ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro / Acorn Electron, as well as the Commodore 64.  The two educational games provided were the same in all releases.  Mastertronic then re-released the Commodore 64 version on disk, with the IE prefix maybe being for educational releases at the time, although the prefix was later used for the Electron only game, Walk the Plank (IE 0097).  There are two games provided.  On the original cassette release, these were one each side, but you can choose which one from the disk by loading the relevant game.

Sum Vaders

The first of the two games is Sum Vaders, where you can choose addition or subtraction as your theme.  Once selected, you can then select N for the instructions, 1 or 2 for number of players or 0 to stop.  Once you select the number of players, the difficulty levels show, either having totals up to 9, and three different levels for sums up to 99, with the last one being for adults only with the pace ramped up even more.

The instructions mention what you need to do.  A space ship will come across the screen which displays a number.  The alien robot that comes out of the space ship and starts falling towards the ground also has a number on it.  In addition, you need to add the two together and enter your answer on the keyboard as quickly as possible.  For subtraction, you take the number of the alien robot away from the number on the space ship, and again answer on the keyboard as quick as you can. If the alien robot lands on the ground because you did not answer in time, then you lose a life.  If this happens five times and five alien robots land, the game will end and you will be awarded a score based on how you did, with the more difficult lower descending aliens from the ships scoring more points.

If you do get a correct answer, the alien robot is zapped and a quick explosion shows along with the correct total score on screen.  This is quite a nice reward and although it does not stay on screen too long, at least gives you an indication you got it right.  If you do get it wrong, the alien robot will sail down to the ground and a life is lost.  When all lives are lost, the alien robots print themselves across the screen with some sound effects and an explosion noise at the end.   For two players, the second player will play by choosing 1 to continue when player one has lost their lives, with the bottom of the screen indicating which player it is.

Overall, this game plays as intended, with the varying difficulty levels meaning that you do have to think quicker to get the mathematics right, and entering the correct answer quickly to score points.  Whilst it may not necessarily be one to play for hours, for a quick blast of some revision and knowledge it is aimed well at the target audience.  The key presses are responsive, even just getting an alien robot when millimetres from the ground, and the fact you can choose addition or subtraction does give different options for revision too.

Robot Tables

Time for you to learn your times tables and load up Robot Tables.  When the title screen appears, a small rendition of Beethoven’s An die Freude plays, and gives you a little introduction.   The block will appear at the top of the robot machine with a number, and you must decide whether that number is the next in the sequence of the times table. If it is, you press 1 to accept, or if it is incorrect, you will need to press the space bar to reject.  A rolling demonstration shows you what happens when the correct acceptance is made, with the robot being made from the mould via the machine and scrolling at the bottom.

You can choose the slow or fast modes with S or F.  Going in the slow mode allows for learning and getting used to the time to react, with accepting or rejecting.  You can choose various groups of times tables, from 2 only, all the way to 9, 6, 8, 7 and 12, and the game mode displaying one of the tables in selection so that you can learn each sequence as you play.  In the slow mode as you correctly get each sum in the times table correct, the number appears at the bottom the sequence, and in the fast mode, you only see those at the end once all ten numbers have been put through the machine.

If you accept the block, and if the times table sequence is correct (for example 3 x 12 = 36, and the block has 36) then the machine will whirr around and a black alien robot, like those in Sum Vaders, is produced.  If you accept and the answer is incorrect, the machine whirrs and a light red alien robot is produced with the head at an angle.  Whilst there is not a penalty for rejecting a correct answer, you may then need to wait for that to come around to put through the machine, and you do have limited reaction time to accept or reject the block before it hits the end of the conveyor belt next to the machine.

The machine itself displays the times table you are learning with the score to the bottom right.  This increases if you correctly accept or reject, and adds accordingly.  Once all ten of the times table sequence has been completed with ten accepted robots, provided you have enough, the machine whirrs into life again with the animated cogs, and puffs of blue smoke comes out of the funnel at the top right indicating that the game is completed.  There is a high score to aim at if you do well, although in practice this tended to be between 60 and 72 points depending on how quick the correct answers in the sequence came down.   The controls once more are responsive and seeing the alien robots being produced for your success is a nice touch, along with An die Freude again when you complete your game.   It works well and certainly does the job as a useful revision aid.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Quick Thinking are functional but do the job reasonably well.  For Sum Vaders, there is a mountainous backdrop and the space ship and alien robots are recognisable with little explosions for the answers, and straightforward animation.  In Robot Tables, the machine itself has nice animation on the whirring cogs and the alien robots move smoothly along the conveyor belts too.  There are mainly sound effects in both games that are again straightforward but are present and correct, and a nice touch to have a small rendition of An die Freude in Robot Tales.  For its age and having a custom character set in game that is not the standard Commodore one, that does deserve credits, which makes the instruction screens feel more of a letdown.

Final Thoughts

Quick Thinking does what it says on the tin, with two educational mathematics programs teaching you addition, subtraction, and multiplication, all with the themes of alien robots throughout.  It may not look and sound the best, but what matters is that the responsiveness when keying in the answers meaning that if you do have the correct answer, the game will reward you accordingly.  There may be limited longevity in both games, but ultimately as a revision aid and a way of sharpening up your mental arithmetic skills, this serves its purpose well and I am sure would have been one for the adults to try out for themselves, teaching their children how it is done.

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