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====== DISTRACTIONS ======

{{:juegos:presentacion:Distractions_p1.JPG?170|}} {{:juegos:presentacion:Distractions_p2.JPG?170|}} {{:juegos:presentacion:Distractions_p3.JPG?170|}} {{:juegos:presentacion:Distractions_p4.JPG?170|}}
^ Company | [[..:companias:design_design|Design Design]]       |
^ Distributor | [[..:companias:design_design|Design Design]] |
^ Production team | Programming: Graham Stafford - Graphics: Stuart Ruecroft, David Fish|
^ Year | 1987                               |
^ Packaging | Transparent methacrylate box 10,80 × 14,00 × 1,60   |
^ Compatibility | PCW 8256 - PCW 8512 - PCW 9512                              |
^ Peripherals | Keyboard - Joystick |
^ Loading | Autostart |
^ Gender | Arcadian|
^ Language | English |
^ Price | Spain: 4,200 Ptas - England: £ 19.95                             |
^ State | [[en: preserved | Preserved]] |

===== Screenshots =====

| {{ :juegos:capturas:Distractions_Screenshot01.png?200 }} | {{ :juegos:capturas:Distractions_Screenshot02.png?200 }} | {{ :juegos:capturas:Distractions_Screenshot03.png?200 }} | {{ :juegos:capturas:Distractions_Screenshot04.png?200 }} |
| {{ :juegos:capturas:Distractions_Screenshot05.png?200 }} | {{ :juegos:capturas:Distractions_Screenshot06.png?200 }} | {{ :juegos:capturas:Distractions_Screenshot07.png?200 }} | {{ :juegos:capturas:Distractions_Screenshot08.png?200 }} |

===== Description =====

In the 80s the packs for PCW users were becoming fashionable. Hewson had already launched two of his simulators (Twin Disk Simulation!) And very soon another would appear that would contain at least two billiard games of different styles. Steve Davis Snooker.
 
DISTRACTIONS is a pack that contains three great Design-Design games that in their time achieved relative success with the CPC versions. The big three programs are: ON THE RUN, NEXOR and 2112 AD. In favor of all three, the first thing that occurs to us to argue is the quality of their graphics and of all the programs in general. Each of them has a varied and interesting argument. Let's look at them one by one.

  * ** __ N.E.X.O.R .__ **.

Nexor stands for Nemesis Center for Experimental and Operational Research. But what exactly is all this?
 
I am the only earthling survivor from Andromeda. I do not give up, if I can rebuild Nemesis I will disintegrate everything. When we get to play we assume the role of the protagonist.

During the post-Andromedan war, the Earth's Armed Forces, once they drove the Invaders from almost the entirety of their galaxy, found themselves face to face with a group of andromedans occupying defensive systems. This last stronghold of Andromeda, the fortress of Orion, was impregnable. The only way to reduce it was to cut off the supply that was made through a hyperspace link. This was the reason that led to the creation of Nemesis. After the project, a conference was held where the military and technical personnel of N.E.X.O.R. to decide how and when to deploy Nemesis. While this was happening the andromeda began the attack against this planet reducing it almost completely.

Nemesis consisted of ten modules and only two of each type had been finished. Our difficult mission will be to prevent the ten Nemesis modules and the magnetic tapes that contain the plans from falling into the hands of the enemy, this is the main objective. But even if this happens, you still have the opportunity to destroy it, you will have to do it before the time you have for it runs out.

It is necessary to recover the ten modules of Nemesis, a weapon capable of finishing the enemy and moving them through the material transfer beam. Although it seems an easy goal, it is not, because within NEXOR there are Andromedans and infernal machines built by them that can end our lives at any time we neglect ourselves, that is if we have eight survival phases; At the eighth time we die, we will have lost without remission the power to save the earth. We also have another factor against us: time, which is limited, because the Andromedans also look for modules with perverse intentions, so we should not take any respite, it is urgent to find them and rebuild Nemesis.

You also have the M.T.B (material transfer bundle), which must be started. If you want to use it you will have to find an additional control panel for said M.B.T., locate the plans and send them by beam to a safe place. If you succeed, you only have to recover the ten modules of the Nemesis, requiring at least one of each type to rebuild the weapon and begin the attack. If a module falls into the power of the andromeda it can be destroyed but we have a time limit for it.

The NEXOR complex is an intricate place to explore, you will have to use tricks to access the doors that are located near the ceiling; Anything works, a bucket, a chair, a bubble, etc., and be careful not to fall through the courtyard of the enclosure, you will get sweaty going up to the upper floors.

The graphics are three-dimensional, with good character mobility; poor in color, always two or three tones predominant. The action takes place on almost the entire screen, except for two triangles at the bottom, in one of which it informs you of the lives you have left and in the other it shows you the triumphs. It quite likes that when you play them again, the different rooms are not always occupied by the same traps.

And this is generally all you need to know to start playing and have a good time.

  * **__ON THE RUN__**.

You are Rick Swift, often a mercenary for the Defense Department on dangerous missions. In your last adventure you must enter a deadly area that has been affected by an unfortunate accident during the experiments for chemical warfare. Strange animals and mutations in plants are a given, and now they cannot be touched because they are deadly dangerous. You only have one mouth to go in and collect six flasks of the chemical offensive before they go super-active!

Here the mission also puts us in search of something, in reality we will have to locate six Flasks that contain dangerous chemical mixtures, if you do not achieve it within an hour you can say goodbye. For the mission you have been equipped with a special protective suit that requires energy, and this will be depleted in contact with one of the mutants, a propellant equipment that will allow you to overcome all kinds of obstacles and of course a laser gun to defend yourself from all the mutants that you will meet along the way.

Every time you make contact with any of them your energy will drop alarmingly. However, also,
there are various objects scattered around, some of which may be of some use; These can be collected by passing through them, some will give you energy again. Others will have the opposite effect, so don't trust them.

Explore the maze, avoiding or shooting the mutant life forms. If your energy runs out, then you will die. The window on the screen shows you your immediate surroundings, while the lines above show you your score, flasks collected, time remaining, and energy remaining as a bar graph.

  * **__2112 AD__**.

Peace and tranquility reigned among the inhabitants of our planet for centuries. It was a time when man had achieved a complete rapport with computers and an almost perpetual balance had been established between human will and the essence of the machine.

Men constantly used computers in their daily lives, reaching almost a point where it could be said that one without the other had no reason to exist, since both were urgently needed to carry out their activities.

The man created the computer and gave it orders for its operation, and it more than returned the effort expended by executing one by one the calculations that were required of him. In this society there was no room for error. Every measure, every detail, every operation was verified and verified by computers, and men came to put so much trust in them that they even allowed themselves to be governed by one of these powerful electronic brains, which had explicit orders to guarantee the good and the prosperity of each of the inhabitants of the planet.

However, history shows us that whenever the world lives a period of development and well-being, some crazy character appears on the scene whose intentions come to break all the achievements acquired to take advantage of them for their own benefit: Napoleon, Hitler ...

And this is what has happened recently, once again, on our beloved planet Earth. A paranoid has managed to enter the room where the Grand Computer is located and with his extensive programming knowledge he has managed to completely modify the "way of thinking" of our electronic ruler, making him a true dictator in the old way.

However, there is still a small silver lining. This saboteur hacker made the mistake of creating a security key with which the computer can return to its previous state. This key has been fragmented into several pieces and is found scattered around the tangled metallic streets of the city of London.

A computer has been revealed and has come to take over nothing more and nothing less than the United Kingdom. As is logical our friends the English have caught a "mosqueo" of panic. Your mission will be to find the codes that will make
let's regain control over the computer and put ourselves in the right places. In total there are ten codes that are scattered throughout the computerized complex. You start playing roughly in the center of the computer complex.
 
The program is controlled by icons from the beginning. It is very important that you do not forget your mechanical dog Poddy having to be aware of supplying him with food and energy, because if you do not, our faithful Poddy will refuse to walk and "goodbye."

It is a video adventure so you can deduce that we will have to go through the streets in search of objects that are useful to us in order to continue with the mission and to gradually approach the collection of each of the pieces of the code. However, contrary to what has been common in most games of this type, we will not be alone, since we have the company and invaluable collaboration of Poody, our friendly and well-trained mechanical dog. He will allow us to be able to carry out a series of actions that we alone could not carry out, such as helping us carry a greater number of objects, heal ourselves with the first aid kit when we need it or any other type of activity that a good insurance will be essential. For this reason, we must be careful not to lose sight of him for a single moment, since if this were the case it would be almost impossible for us to successfully complete our mission.

This fun and addictive video adventure is carried out with somewhat strange drawings in terms of the shape of its characters and settings in which it takes place, however, although they do not present excessive beauty, it is seen that they are made with a more than acceptable level of quality, which is expanded much more if we think that the icon system by which the movements and actions of the characters are controlled, give us the option of developing more than 20 different actions, of which more than Half belong to the actual development of the game, such as picking up, dropping, examining the state of health, handing objects to Poody, etc.

//__Our mission__//

The mission is to restore sanity to the computer and since he does not seem very willing to collaborate, the usual persuasion systems will not be effective. Fortunately, those who designed the computer left an open path to regain control of the System on occasions like this, and implanted at the deepest level of the computer a program with the highest priority over any other. To access it, you have to compose a code made up of ten numbered ROM cards. But don't worry, you will not have to determine it, it will be enough for you to go in search of the cards that are scattered around the Complex, take them to the Code Saña (where you start from) and leave them on the ground. If it is the code that the computer expects, it will appear on one of the panels, if it is not, it will reject it and drop it to the ground, as it would happen with any other object.

To help you in the mission you have the faithful Poddy and to prevent you from finishing it, the guardian robots. All of them are equipped with paralyzing substances that will immobilize you at the slightest contact.

Unfortunately for you, Poddy is immune to these substances, because although it is an important factor to finish the game (although not essential), very often it becomes exasperating. It has a special facility to cross your path when you least need it, and dedicate itself to exploring unexplored areas when it is essential near you. Fortunately that only happens at the beginning, with practice you will end up handling it quite well and that is when it starts to be really useful.

You may have trouble moving Poddy from room to room. The solution is simple. to continue with you you have to take him to the door and when he is really by your side it is to exit to command mode by pressing fire and wait until the message PODDY IS READY (Poddy is ready) appears. This little trick is equally useful for those occasions when an exchange of objects between you and him is necessary.

In addition to Poddy and the robots, as you travel through the Complex you will find something that cannot be missing in an adventure.

__//Things//__

As you have skilfully deduced, these things are not the result of a failure in the garbage collection system. Each and every one of the objects has a utility, although this is sometimes not too obvious.

As usual in this type of game, both you and Poddy can carry objects up to a limit (three in your case and ten in Poddy's). This limitation largely determines the number of laps to be made, as you will see when you play.

Next, you have the objects that appear and a description of their utilities.

CAN and CAN OPENER (Can and can opener). You will need to have both to be able to replenish the energies that you will spend going through the rooms of the Complex.

FUSE (Fuse). It serves to repair Poddy when he is overloaded. To recharge Poddy you have to take him to one of the connectors next to the doors in certain rooms and use the Charge command. Overcharging it will short-circuit and re-discharge. Repair it with the fuse and reload it, but more carefully this time, there are only five fuses.

LIGHT BULB (Bulb). Use it to be able to see in rooms where lighting has been suppressed. You have to carry it yourself (it doesn't work if Poddy carries it), although it doesn't have to be the selected item.

BOMB (Pump). Destroy the robots as long as you manage to collide with it. The pump does not affect you or the dog.

CALCULATOR AND BATTERY (Calculator and battery). They will allow you to place a code card even if it is not the next in the sequence. To achieve this, make sure you have both and leave the card in the departure room, this
it will appear in the place that corresponds to it, regardless of the code that the computer requests at that time.

FIRST AID KIT (First aid kit). This, along with the First Aid command, allows you to break the paralyzing effect produced by contact with the robots. You can use it as many times as you want.

KEYS AND CARDS. They have the mission of opening the security doors that exist in the Complex. To open a door, approach it, check that you have the key that opens it and use the Open command. The doors only need to be opened once.

THE CODE-CARDS, numbered from zero to nine, complete the list of objects. To pick them up, approach them (they are always on the back wall) and use the Pick command.

**Conclusion**

NEXOR, graphically speaking, is a mixture of Batman and Knigh Lore, if we ignore this we have great graphics. The overall impression is good, however, the sound as usual non-existent. NEXOR can be an original program.

On The Run: It is a much more hectic game than the previous one and with as good or better graphics. The impression we have had of this game is very good. The level of addiction is high and the quality is sufficiently reflected.

From 2112 AD we can say that it is an excellent program that will guarantee us hours and hours of fun.

We can see that the package is worth it, or at least it seems. If you like to play once in a while, these three programs are not exactly boring.

===== Packing =====

In the following images you can check the original packaging.

|{{:juegos:cajas:Distractions_box_1.JPG?198|}}|{{:juegos:cajas:Distractions_box_2.JPG?198|}}|{{:juegos:cajas:Distractions_box_3.JPG?640}}| 

===== Cover =====

  * Original cover.

Here you have the original cover.

{{:juegos:caratulas:Distractions_cover.jpg?1000|}} 

  * Retouched cover

Its measurements are: Height 13.20 x Length 31.60 cm.

{{:juegos:caratulas:Distractions_inlay.jpg?1000|}} 

===== Manual =====

The manual is printed on the back of the cover on glossy black and white paper. Its measurements are: Height 13.20 x Width 31.60 cm.

{{:juegos:manuales:Distractions_manual.jpg?1000|}}

===== Disks =====

Original disc supplied with Distractions.

{{:juegos:discos:Distractions_disk_front.JPG?200|}} {{:juegos:discos:Distractions_disk_back.JPG?200|}}
{{:juegos:discos:Distractions_disk_bottom.JPG?200|}} 

===== Labels =====

Custom labels to print. Over the years, due to their use, the labels are damaged and lose their color and quality. Now we try to adapt the most similar in the measure of our possibilities, the labels so that they can be printed and replaced or for those who work with a copy of the program and preserve the original disc. Measurement in 3 "height: 7.00 cm - width: 7.10 cm. The first image corresponds to the original label of the game, the second is the same modified label to be able to replace the broken one and the third image is for 3.5 "discs.

|{{:juegos:etiquetas:Distractions_etiq_ori_1.JPG?200|}} | {{:juegos:etiquetas:Distractions_etiq_new_1.JPG?200|}} | {{:juegos:etiquetas:Distractions_eti_3.5a.JPG?200|}} |

===== Extras =====

Below is a sheet printed on cardboard that contains the errors in the instructions for the game printed in black and white and whose measurements are; Height: 7.40 cm x Width 7.00 cm.

{{:juegos:extras:Distractions_extra_01.JPG?200|}}

** Tricks **

__Solution 2112 AD__

With the information that we have provided previously and the map, you have more than enough to finish the adventure without major problems, bearing in mind, of course, that there are two ways to end it: good and bad.

As you already know, to finish it well, you only need to form the code (it will be a different one for each game). Ending it badly is, for some strange and unfathomable reason, much easier.

In principle, the game is ended (bad) when both you and Poddy are immobilized, but if you cannot move and Poddy is not in the room, the best you can do is start a new game or unplug the computer. It is, therefore, recommended that you test the state of both from time to time, to replenish it when it is low (WEAK) eating or charging the dog's batteries.

{{:juegos:extras:Distractions_extra_02.JPG?400|}} {{:juegos:extras:Distractions_extra_03.JPG?400|}}

===== Download =====

__**Game**__

The disc images, obtained from the original version of Distractions, have been recorded and verified.

  * {{:juegos:descargas:Distractions.zip|Distractions }} (Compressed .DSK file in ZIP format)

__**Manual**__

Below you can download the Distractions game manual or view it online.

  * {{:juegos:descargas:Distractions_manual.pdf|Distractions Manual}} (PDF file)

===== Videos =====

  * **On the run**

{{ youtube>GFhKIYNmSgs?large }}

  * **2112 AD**

{{ youtube>3KHYK_wHaYQ?large }}

  * **N.E.X.O.R**

{{ youtube>NibaM2aJSn4?large }}