Hover Bovver

Starting a Game

Gameplay

You manoeuvre Gordon and his Air-Mo using the joystick. Your task is simply to mow the green areas on the lawn displayed on the screen whilst avoiding the Neighbour, the Gardener, and upsetting Rover!

How to Play:

1. There are hedges on the screen. Gordon, Rover, the Neighbour and the Gardener cannot pass through hedges.

2. Mow the green areas on the lawn and avoid the flowers.

3. Make Rover chase away the neighbour when he gets too close by pressing the dog attack button on the joystick. Rover will run after the Neighbour, barking. The Neighbour and, if present, the Gardener, will both run from Rover. All the while you were setting Rover onto the Neighbour, your Dog Loyalty scale is counting down to zero.

4. Learn about your enemies and don’t get caught by them.

Game Interface

1. Dog Loyalty
2. Dog Tolerance
3. Mower Overload
4. Score (Scoring)
5. Lives

Enemy Types and Hazards

The Neighbour

• At the start of each lawn, the Neighbour begins his pursuit from the upper left, he will try to get close to you to take the mower back.
• The Neighbour has a healthy respect for Rover and will try not to get too close to him.

The Gardener

• Should you mow over any flowers, the Gardener will appear at top of screen and start to chase you, aiming to relieve you of your mower before you do any more damage.
• The Gardener has a healthy respect for your flowers. The Neighbour couldn’t care less.
• The Gardener is not afraid of Rover unless Rover is barking.

The Lawnmower

• As you mow, the mower heats up. The faster you mow, the hotter it gets.

• Should Rover hit the mower, you will be forced to do an emergency stop and as a result your mower will overheat. You will be immobilised and must wait until the Mower Overload scale goes down. All Dog Tolerance is also lost.

• If you let the Mower Overload scale reach maximum, you will be immobilised until the Mower Overload scale goes down.

• You may let your mower cool either by standing still, or by passing over terrain already mown.

Rover

• Rover is your companion, but if you upset him, Dog Tolerance will drain and he can become a threat.
• His tolerance to your mowing is indicated by the Dog Tolerance scale at the bottom of the screen.
• Rover is annoyed by the sound of your mowing.
• When the Dog Tolerance scale reaches zero, Rover will run after you and will try to attack the mower.
• When you run out of Dog Loyalty the dog will no longer respond to your commands.
• Rover is a well-trained dog. He will never run over a flower bed unless you have mown a path through with the mower.

TIP - Keep an eye on your Dog Loyalty, Dog Tolerance and Mower Overload scales.

Lives

Should the Neighbour or the Gardener catch you, they will make off with your mower.

You can borrow mowers from Jim, Tom and Alf. Once you lose Alf’s mower, the game is over.

Scoring

1 x Lawn number - for each square mown.

Constant increase in score whilst the dog is actually biting the Neighbour. Canine Fidelity Bonus at the end of wave for any remaining Dog Loyalty. (This is calculated on the remaining Dog Loyalty and the Lawn Number achieved).

Story

Summertime in England…..and all across the land lawns are growing and men’s thoughts turn to mowing. So it was with Gordon Bennet. But when he want to investigate, he found to his dismay that his cylinder mower had rusted into a heap of junk.

‘No problem’, he thought. I’ll pop round and borrow Jim’s ‘Air-Mo’. (For of course, borrowing the Neighbour’s mower is a traditional aspect of English suburban life).

So Gordon popped round to Jim’s house, abstracted Jim’s mower and began mowing his lawn. Unfortunately, Jim has decided he wants his Air-Mo back and no sooner has Gordon begun his task than Jim sets out in hot pursuit intent on retrieving his mower.

Your task is to guide Gordon Bennet on his mowing mission, trying your best not to annoy your dog Rover or the Gardener, and avoiding your neighbour’s unwelcome attention.