Space Invaders began it all and the more sophisticated Galaxian and Phoenix games continued it. Some of the games listed under this heading are among the oldest available for the Spectrum. Consequently some versions have not stood the test of time as well as others. In Invaders seried ranks of varied aliens jiggle across the screen getting lower and lower. Galaxians attack in lesser numbers but make up for it by swooping all over the place in an unsportsmanlike manner. Phoenix games are similar, but the aliens are bird-like, there are eggs to hit, often meteors as well, and finally a mothership to destroy. In the main most versions are very alike and it comes down to a matter of personal choice.
ARCADIA
Producer: Imagine, 16K £5.50
Generally considered to be the best shoot ’em up game around. Aliens come in
droves from the right, each wave more suicidal than the last. Continuous fire
and thrust (to half the screen height only) with good keyboard positions.
Excellent hi-res smooth graphics. Joystick: Kempston (and softlink II) or
Fuller. Addictive and difficult to master.
ASTRO BLASTER
Producer: Quicksilva, 16K £4.95
Author: John Edwards
Quicksilva’s go at galaxian/phoenix is creditably fast and difficult to master,
featuring five attack waves in three phases — Cybird, Meteor and Plasma, each
of which have their own characteristics. Oddly enough the first wave is the
most difficult. You’re given five shields. Graphics and sound are neat.
Joystick: Kempston.
THE BIRDS
Producer: Rabbit, 16K £5.99 (2)
This is a straightforward shoot em up with a left/right moving laser base and
three types of birds which hover, flap and sweep down on you. Points scored
relate to the type of bird hit and for hitting the bombs which all three types
drop on you. Additionally, a duck flies across the top of the screen from time
to time. The birds have a nasty habit of turning into bombs when hit, which
makes it necessary to have a good ‘getaway’ technique. Reasonable graphics if a
bit jerky and plenty of sound. General feeling was that there’s not enough in
this game to make it very addictive or a better buy than most established shoot
em ups. Simple control keys, joystick: Sinclair 2, overall CRASH rating 49%
m/c.
COSMIC GUERILLA
Producer: Crystal, 16K £5.50
This game is a copy of an arcade shoot ’em up and almost makes a category of
its own. Aliens stand in several vertical columns on either side of the screen.
The centre block is a stack of humans and your three space ships (and lives).
Your ship is at the base, firing up. Aliens zip across to the centre, grab a
human and abduct him to the side. Eventually they can get at the three ships
and steal those. For each one they get to the side you lose a life. Too rapid
fire shortens the range so it’s better to be accurate than fast. Features fast
motherships that zip along the base just above your head and fire at you, rapid
mutants and six difficulty levels. Joystick: Kempston. Recommended.
FIREBIRDS
Producer: Softek, 16K £5.95
Author: Graeme Devine
A classic phoenix. Fire rate and left/right movement are the best we’ve seen.
Beautiful graphics featuring red Firebirds, blue Bombers, and white Weavers in
an intricate dance of death. 100 percent machine code. Very difficult to get to
see the mothership, but worth it! Highly recommended.
FIREHAWKS
Producer: Pastern, 16K £6.95 (1)
Author: D Hoskins & C Davies
Firehawks is literally a Phoenix game but practically it’s an invader mutation.
Your mission is to defend your planet from the deadly Firehawks of the title.
They come in search of energy, and should one be allowed to land it turns into
a giant Phoenix and flaps away — end of game. The birds line up at the top of
the screen and you fire up with your laser beam. In the way are plasma screens
which resemble decorative breeze blocks. The birds have to get round them and
you must shoot them away to get at the birds. Graphics are quite large but
there’s no animation, and despite the 15 skill levels and 15 speeds it doesn’t
add up to much and is overpriced. No joystick option, poor control key
response, good sound, generally fair. Overall CRASH rating 51%. BASIC + some
code.
GALACTIC ABDUCTORS
Producer: Anirog, 16K £5.95
This version features large animated graphics. The aliens weave fanciful
patterns when attacking and have the cute habit of eating your population when
you’re not looking, only throwing back their skulls. 100 percent machine code.
Hi-score. Joystick option.
GALACTIC TROOPER
Producer: Romik, 16K £5.99
Author: Ian Morrison
Halfway between an invader and galaxian type, this three skill level game
offers reasonably attractive graphics and plenty of them. You’re at the base
firing up at ten bomb racks containing five aliens per rack. Above them a
mothership floats lazily from left to right and back again. To hit it you must
blast out all five aliens from a rack so you can fire through the gap. Aliens
reproduce fast! For more points there are a few saucers that venture out, but
they’re easy to hit. The aliens drop bombs on you but the screen is so full
that the dropping distance is small and they are hard to dodge. Skill doesn’t
appear to be a factor, rather luck. Hi-score. Joystick: Kempston or Sinclair,
machine code, only average value for money.
GALAKZIONS
Producer: Mikrogen, 16K £5.95
One of the weaker games with three skill levels and attackers more resembling
invader aliens than anything else. The rate of continuous fire is wrong for the
slow attack patterns, robbing the game of any excitement. Works with Mikrogen
II joystick. Machine code. One or two player games.
GALAXIANS
Producer: Artic, 16K £4.95
A good copy and a classic version with nine levels of play, hi-score,
personalised scoring, one or two player games. Features swooping Galaxians and
hi-res explosions. Joystick: Kempston. Machine code. Very good value for
money.
HAWKS
Producer: Lotus-Soft, 16K £5.50 (1)
Author: Derek Jones
This is a pretty hefty shoot em up where you’re pitted against waves of hawks
which drop eggs. These eggs hatch out in the ground and become mutant hawks
which form up for later attacks. You are in control of an old Asteroid Mining
Vehicle which can fire missiles at the birds and falling eggs, a laser and also
lay mines over the downed eggs. These also blow up the vehicle if they go off
under it. There are a large number of control keys so speed and reflexes are of
the essence. Good colours and graphics, plenty to do and exciting to play. Good
control key positions and reasonable sound, multiple skill levels. Joystick:
Kempston/Datel, Sinclair 2, Protek or AGF. General rating, good &
addictive, overall CRASH rating 75%. 100% M/C.
HEADBANGER
Producer: Llamasoft, 48K £4.95
Llamasoft is one of those companies that got famous fast, though looking at
this game one wonders why. The sky is raining hammers (makes a change from
ravening aliens I suppose) and Chico must carry bags of money from one side of
the screen to the other under the partial shelter of four blocks which are
being eroded by the falling hammers. In between the shelters Chico can nut the
hammers for points, but after ten he gets a headache and must then nut a red
aspirin hammer. Hammers hitting his body instead of his head lose a life.
Getting a money bag across safely restores one shelter. Badly put together and
rather pointless.
I’M IN SHOCK
Producer: Artic, 16K £4.95
The inlay, uncharacteristically for Artic, is way over the top in description!
This is a grid/shoot em up. Alien craft inhabit the top squares between the
fine grid and you have a laser base at the bottom, moving left and right.
Between you and the aliens are reflecting mirrors at 45°. These are sometimes in
singles, sometimes in ranks, and they deflect your shots off at right angles.
The trick is to use several ranks of these reflectors to shoot up, across then
up again to hit the aliens. There is a command ship which crosses the screen
every now and again for bonus points. The aliens move from square to square
horizontally, also descending slowly. Small graphics and over-responsive
control on the laser base which makes it difficult to line up shots accurately.
An original idea, reasonably playable, perhaps not terribly addictive though.
Simple control keys, no joystick option — fair to average, overall CRASH rating
55% m/c.
INVADERS
Producer: Artic, 16K £4.95
Although this is a standard and close copy of the original, the hi-res graphics
stand up quite well to the test of time. Nine levels of play and four
variations of alien.
INVASION FORCE
Producer: Artic, 16K £4.95
Artic’s engaging and addictive phoenix game has the mothership protected by a
force field hovering above your base. Should your missiles hit it they are
returned back as three! The mothership is only vulnerable in its control
centre. There are loads of bomb-dropping aliens flapping around. Three lives,
two skill levels and harder screens. Neat touch — if your base is hit the
Artic lorry rushes out to repair it between lives. Generally recommended.
KAMIKAZE
Producer: A&F, 16K £5.75
Basically a galaxian game. Pit your wits against wave after wave of suicidal
fighter aircraft which swoop down on you dropping bombs. Clear two screens and
you get a bonus screen against easy-to-hit helicopters before returning to the
main feature. Graphics are attractive if a bit flickery and the mushroom shaped
explosions are good. Continuous sound of attacking aircraft unless you drown
them out with the sound of your continuous fire. Hall of fame, no joystick
option.
LASER WARP
Producer: Mikrogen, 48K £5.95 (2)
Author: C Hinsley
This is a very simple but effective shoot em up ‘Galaxian’ type game. Your
laser base is assaulted by loads and loads of different alien types which fill
the screen with weaponry — the red ‘heat seeking’ missiles are particularly
mean. If you can survive 10 attack waves you are left facing ‘The Master’. It
works well as a shoot em up and keeps you very busy. In general the graphics
are very good with plenty of colour and there is reasonable sound. The inlay
claims user-definable keys but there aren’t any and you don’t need them anyway.
No joystick option, 5 skill levels (speeds), 3 lives and progressively
difficult if you get through the 11 screens. Overall CRASH rating 77% m/c.
PARATROOPERS
Producer: Rabbit, 16K £5.99 (2)
Author: J F Cain
In this game you are manning an anti-aircraft gun, while overhead clouds of
helicopters are dropping paratroopers on you. The gun only traverses left and
right, but because of the clever cheat on perspective it gives a field of fire
across the top two thirds of the screen. You must hit helicopters and
paratroopers. These fall from their choppers sometimes with chute opening
instantly, others delaying till the last second, and others never opening at
all, to die splat on the ground. You will lose a life if a para lands on top of
you, or when three have landed successfully and gone off to fetch a giant tank
against which there is no defence. The graphics are good, amusing and smooth
(gun works very well) and it’s all fairly fast, but the general feeling was
that there weren’t enough objectives in the game to make it totally compelling
and addictive. User-defined keys, only 1 skill level, overall CRASH rating 62%
m/c.
PHEENIX
Producer: Megadodo, 16K £5.50
We’ve been very remiss in leaving this game out of the Guide. Megadodo’s
Pheenix is a very close copy of the arcade original and has, for sometime, been
one of the most popular versions around. It features a laser base with force
field for protection (no shooting when it’s in its timed operation), eggs,
various flapping birds and a very large Mothership, the underside of which must
be worn away in traditional style before making it vulnerable to your fire.
There are 5 screens and 5 skill levels (speeds). The graphics are very smooth
and quite large, sound is inventive and continuous. The game can actually be
easier to play at the higher speeds. If you like shoot em ups, this is a must
for your collection and very good value at the price. 100% machine code,
sensible keys and Kempston joystick.
SPACE INTRUDERS
Producer: Quicksilva, 16K £4.95
A close copy of Invaders with rather small graphics that work in character
blocks. Fast but out of date.
SPACE RAIDERS
Producer: Psion, 16K £4.95
Another close Invaders copy with better graphics than Space Intruders, but
slower and not particularly addictive to play.
SPACE ZOMBIES
Producer: Mikrogen, 16K £5.95
One critic thought this was pathetic, another liked it. Certainly a ‘quaint’
game. You’re at the screen base firing up at a bunch of highly coloured alien
zombies which chug about the screen like a train, getting longer with each
screen. The graphics are big, there’s continuous fire, a nice moving star
background, and the main feature is the erratic and highly unpredictable
movement of the aliens. Three speeds, one or two player games, plenty of levels
(at least six before I got killed off). Joystick: Mikrogen II, good value but
not terribly addictive.
STARCLASH
Producer: Micromega, 16K £6.95 (2)
Author: Derek Brewster
Not, perhaps, Derek’s best effort, but still a worthy addition to this section
of games. Fight your way through 4 waves of enemy fighter craft to reach the
Mothership and then place a bolt of laser power in whichever of her two power
cores is active. The large graphics work very well, the ships peeping coyly
into the screen from the top as the serried ranks make their jiggly way
downward. Additional hazards are thrown at you in the form of flaming meteors
which come down from between the attacking enemy ships, and the fact that the
enemy fire power homes in your laser base so you can’t sit still for a second.
General rating was above usual galaxian/invader game standard, a good version
of ‘Altair’. Simple keys, joystick: Kempston, progressive difficulty, CRASH
overall rating 69% m/c.
TERROR DAKTIL 3D
Producer: Melbourne House, 48K £5.95
Not, you might think by the title, a galaxian/invader type game, but it is
really. There’s a 3D landscape and 2D massed Daktils in the distance moving
just like space invaders. To hit them you must get the dimensional trajectory
of your ‘battered’ cannon correct. Frequently one will swoop down on you in
very good animated line drawing. You get more points for hitting the swooping
ones, but it’s safer to dodge them. Not up to Melbourne House’s usual standard
and the sound — what happened to it?
THE DETECTIVE
Producer: Arcade, 48K £5.50
Another game which sounds unlikely as a galaxian type contender, but then, we
couldn’t quite figure what the title had to do with the game. But it is a good
game anyway. Nice packaging as usual from Arcade and reflected in the graphics.
Avoid the falling objects which change characteristic by level or shoot them
for points. Tyres (?!) form up like thunderclouds and fall on you, a wretched
dog keeps stealing your points. Avoid him by using the wrap-around screen. 25
levels. Joystick: Kempston and AGF or Protek. Good value.
WINGED AVENGER
Producer: Workforce, 16K £5.00
Something of a cult among galaxian fans, with two options (2-part load) for the
‘brave’ and ‘also-rans’. Six skill levels, laser, forcefield barrier and simple
but effective graphics. This is a fast game for the experts — novices might
not even realise they’ve lost all their lives. Disappointing graphics and
ultimately not of lasting appeal.