BINIAX 2 Words & screenshots by Duffman
N
anako (The Mojon Twins’ rather scantily clad heroine) is tired of the constant fighting over the surrounding land, so she decides to seek advice from the ever-knowing Oracle on what to do about the situation. The Oracle tells her that, rather than having the land around her suffer further bloodshed, she can resolve the problems by having the leaders take part in an ancient game created by the Gods themselves. The rulers of the surrounding land will therefore abide by the rules and the outcome of the game. Swiftly following up their Amstrad CPC conversion of Nanako in Classic Japanese Monster Castle, The Mojon Twins
With no blue elements available it looks like you lose an item of clothing. Oh dear
RETROACTION ISSUE THREE
have released their ZX Spectrum 128k interpretation on the classic game Biniax. The Twins haven’t just converted the classic game over as is though—they’ve forged it with an interesting plot and some eye candy visuals to produce Biniax 2. The play area is divided into five by seven squares, randomly filled by a pair of elements. These elements consist of two colours. Players take control of Nanako— who also starts off carrying a colour element—and have to match a similar colour element with their own. This is achieved by moving Nanako over the same colour element. For example, if Nanako is holding a red/blue element then
If you reach the target score on a level, then your opponent has to “lose” an item of clothing
AUTUMN 2009
It’s best to hover around the top of the screen and take out elements to either side
you can only move into a square that contains an element with either red or blue within its colours. When Nanako takes over an element, that same coloured element is then carried to use on the next move. This may sound all so easy, but the screen moves down every so often which makes you think strategically about which elements to take over—you don’t want to be stranded at the bottom of the screen when it is about to move. To win a level there are a certain amount of elements which need to be matched—this is shown at the bottom of the screen. If the player manages to achieve the target figure then it’s off to the next level. If the player fails then you lose an item of clothing. You see, Nanako doesn’t have lives. Instead she has to give up an item of clothing when she loses. If she hasn’t got any more clothes to
shed it’s game over. Let’s not beat about the bush; the first thing you will notice about the game are the images, which, had the game been produced in the 80s or 90s, wouldn’t look out of place in our regular “How to Cause A Complete Controversy” feature. Despite this rather risqué aspect of the game, the actual gameplay is of excellent quality and the addition of the plot doesn’t feel as out of place as it may suggest. So it’s another great game from The Mojon Twins to add to their ever-expanding catalogue.
DETAILS Developer: The Mojon Twins Platform:
ZX Spectrum 128k
Weblink:
Gamecard
Emulator:
ZX Spin
Genre:
Puzzle
RATINGS Graphics:
84%
Sound:
76%
Gameplay:
88%
Overall:
86%
An excellent puzzle / strip thingy 47