Hover Bovver

Scenario

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 attentions.

PLAYING THE GAME

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. However, certain things occur as you attempt to mow.

These are as follows:

1. There are hedges on the screen. Gordon, Rover, the Neighbour and the Gardener cannot pass through hedges.
2. At the start of each lawn, the Neighbour begins his pursuit from the upper left. Rover roams around in a random fashion, starting at upper right.
3. Rover is annoyed by the sound of your mowing. His tolerence to your mowing is indicated by the Dog Tolerance scale at the bottom of the screen. When the Dog Tolerance scale reaches zero, Rover will run after you, ampting to attack the mower.
4. 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.
5. As you mow, the mower heats up. The faster you mow, the hotter it gets. If you let the Mower Overload scale reach maximum, you will be immobilised until the Mower Overload scale goes down.
6. You may let your mower cool either by standing still, or by passing over terrain already mown.
7. Rover is a well-trained dog. He will never run over a flower bed unless you have mown a path through with the mower.
8. 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.
9. The Gardener has a healthy respect for your flowers. The Neighbour couldn’t care less.
10. The Gardener is not afraid of Rover unless Rover is barking.
11. Upon pressing your Joystick FIRE button. Rover will run after the Neighbour, barking. The Neighbour and, if present, the Gardener, will both run from Rover.
12. All the while you were setting Rover onto the Neighbour, your Dog Loyalty scale is counting down to zero. When you run out of Dog Loyalty the dog will no longer respond to your commands
13. The Neighbour has a healthy respect for the dog and will try not to get too close to him. Remember all these factors as you mow. Keep an eye on your Dog Loyalty, Dog Tolerance and Mower Overload scales.

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).

DANGERS

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.

PROGRESSIVE DIFFICULTY

Once a lawn is cleared, you receive any Canine Fidelity bonus due, and then progress to the next lawn. There are 18 in all. Neighbour and dog speeds increase. You must dodge the neighbour more nimbly, but as compensation, when you set Rover onto the Neighbour he goes like a canine rocket. Should you complete lawn 16, the speed is put at MAXIMUM and you start Lawn 1 again. To complete Lawns 9 - 16, it is necessary to mow through flower beds and thus incur the wrath of the Gardener.

SYSTEM CONTROLS

To play HOVER BOWER, use a joystick. Pressing the FIRE button during the introductory animations or whilst the Top 5 scores are on display will cause the Start/Setup screen to appear.

• On this screen you may use F1 or button A on THEC64 Joystick to set the initial Entry Lawn (1-8 are selectable; you must play Lawn 8 to see Lawns 9-16)
• Pressing F3 or button B on THEC64 Joystick sets Number of Players (1 or 2).
• Pressing F5 or button C on THEC64 Joystick sets Number of Joysticks. This is usually set to one, even for a two player game (Players pass the stick back and forth between plays). If two sticks are available, each player may to use his own stick.
• Pressing F7 or TL on THEC64 Joystick starts the game.

CONVENIENCE CONTROLS

Certain controls are provided for your convenience. These controls respond only during the time you have control of the mower.

• Pressing letter P will freeze the game action, allowing you to answer the phone, swat a fly, turn your bicycle around etc. Pressing ANY OTHER KEY will restart the game.
• Pressing M will mute the theme music, leaving only sound effects such as dog barks, mower noise etc. To regain the tune, simply type M once more.

HIGH SCORES

The top 5 scores are recorded and displayed on the Top 5 list. Should you achieve a position on the list you will be asked to enter your initials. Moving the Joystick left and right will select the initial, and pressing FIRE will enter it.

END OF GAME

At the end of the game, after any high scores have been entered, your score is shown under the heading PLAYER ONE at base of screen, in the same position as it was during game play. At the conclusion of a two-player game, both scores are alternatively displayed on the screen.

STRATEGIES

• Bear in mind the relationships and behaviour of the various HOVER BOVVER characters. Use hedges to hide behind and let your mower cool down. When the dog is after you, use a quick jab on the dog button to send him behind a hedge.

• In setting the dog onto the neighbour, ensure that a) the dog’s eager pursuit does not lead him to collide with your mower end b) neither the Neighbour or Gardener will, by evading the dog, run into you!

• Use the Neighbour’s reluctance to get near the dog. Placing the dog between you and the Neighbour can make him stop in his tracks. (Flower beds come in very useful here).

• Save up Dog Loyality. It can be useful for getting you out of tight spots. Don’t be tempted to savage the neighbour too much. The extra points are few in relation to a nice big Canine Fidelity bonus at the end of the wave.

• When you are immobilised due to overheating, use the dog to keep the Neighbour from getting his mower back.

Happy mowing!

CREDITS

Designed by: P.K. Minter and Jeff Minter
Programmed by: Jeff Minter
Music by: James Lisney