Prevent the enemy from attacking the Sentinel space station with
your four ships. Careful though — your extra ships can be destroyed
before you get to use them! Fortunately there are five stations, but the enemy
is numerous and there are loads of meteroids at avoid or shoot. On the other
hand we all know your skill as a Deep Space Fighter Pilot, don’t we?
Profusion of control keys actually makes this a game for the 4-handed player!
Watch out for your guided missiles — they’re as likely to destroy
you as the enemy! A good game with fast and furious action all the way.
This game has a charm of its own because it talks — mostly ET says
‘Ouch!’ as he either falls into one of the numerous wells or is
forever hit by the mad Professor and the nasty man from MI5. Loading uses up
both sides of the cassette and a printer is useful for the tons of
instructions. Very nice graphics. Basically ETX must assemble a machine from
parts hidden all over the planet with which he can phone home for rescue,
whilst collecting points by eating the fruit dotted about. Just about everyone
except friendly young Ernie is out to stop him.
A fast moving game that matches your skill as a player by
becoming increasingly more devious. You’re in a maze-like complex haunted
by laser-blasting robots, earlier ones are pretty stupid but as the game goes
on, other, more intelligent ones appear to track you down. Features a radar
screen to tell you the position of the invisible warriors. Continuous sound
effects, arcade graphics, double point scoring, and — for the artful
— bonus lives. Machine code.
The simple maze is only just big enough to let your waggling balloon through
in places, elsewhere you must use precision and timing to squeeze through
without touching the sides. Extra points for using the narrowest passages and
you’re against the clock!
Get your man to leap over the pits dug by Pigmys or swing over
them using a rope tied to a tree. Nowhere near as easy as it looks at first
since timing between walking and jumping is critical. Good graphics.
Robot security picks up your trail just when you thought you had
given them the slip (trust robots to be bloody minded). Now they’re
catching up with you — and no one has survived the grid (as we’re
sure you know). This is not a ‘grid-runner’ game so much as a
‘pac-man’ style maze game. You drive round the concentric grid
using the compass point crossovers to avoid the robot car which goes in the
opposite direction. Fast reflexes needed.
NEW UPGRADED VERSION! Boulder throwing trolls, thieving bats and
man-eating spiders add all their charms to those of an unpleasant ghost in this
all action arcade game. You are deep down a mine littered with diamonds which
you must collect on your way to the surface. Without all the diamonds or your
lamp (which the bat will try to steal) you can’t get to the next level.
30 levels of increasing difficulty. Use the 3 lifts to go up or down —
clever players get all the lifts lined up first.
Based on the popular arcade game. Travel across the flat plains
and battle with the enemy tanks and flying saucers. Absolutely excellent 3D
graphics which include a battle read-out and radar above your sights.
It’s not so much a speed game as one of tactics and timing because the
enemy is very clever at outguessing you. As you succeed in destroying the enemy
saucers and super tanks begin to appear. This is the first real 3D game for the
Spectrum which gives a true sense of depth and space.
Your spaceship must survive by destroying asteroids that plummet
through space towards you. Clear the cosmic debris by shattering it. Rotate,
thrust and hyperspace in this arcade action with typically nasty flying saucers
that appear just when you don’t need them.
Machine code makes this full colour hi-res program as fast and
exciting as the classic arcade version. 9 levels of play and swooping
Galaxians. Good explosions, high scores, personalised scoring. Still among the
top sellers, satisfying the zap urge in us all. 1 or 2 players.
Subtitled ‘Dodo and the Snow Bees’
this is not some 60’s pop group but yet another highly innovative game
from Blaby. Dodo is alone (the sole remaining one too) among the icy blocks of
the Antarctic, perpetually chased by the vicious snow bees. By shunting the ice
blocks around Dodo can keep the bees at bay, squash them to death, or even
electrocute them on the walls. Recommended.
5 screens ranging from damned difficult to the impossible as
Mario struggles to rescue his girlfriend whilst dodging Kong’s fireballs.
An excellent adaption with all the arcade games features including barrels,
elevators and even hamburgers (which must have escaped from Barmy Burgers).
There’s a factory below on the planet you need to
plunder. Between your craft, hovering above the Mother Ship, and the goodies a
constant stream of alien space traffic is passing in both directions. This is a
deceptively simple looking machine code game which requires skill to dodge
through the alien craft, and a clever variation on the ‘frogger’
theme.
All the Blaby games are characterised by their original wit and
titles, and smooth animation of the graphics. Barmy Burgers is no exception.
Assemble the burgers in the correct order (bun, lettuce, burger, cheese, bun)
whilst avoiding the voracious sausages and fried eggs. It has the charm of
looking good in demonstration and being vicious in the playing. Get your apron
on.
Harry has a lot of girders to paint on five torturous screens
— and the rust bugs are out to get him. Strategy plays an important part
in this excellent ‘painter v. kong’ style game with its beautiful
animated graphics. Machine code makes for speed and quick thinking/forward
planning is essential to get through the screens. Features down slides and
variable gaps between girders which Harry can jump — and sometimes
not...
As is their wont, scientists are being entombed by radioactive
waste which enemy aircraft are dumping on them. You are a helicopter pilot
— but how good? Can you rescue them all in time. Aim your machine and
blast tunnels to get to them without touching the waste and avoid the falling
blocks and aircraft. This extraordinarily high speed game demands the use of a
joystick if you are to get very far and avoid serious underpopulation of the
scientific community.
The 8 games by Blaby we are offering are all new, mostly unseen
by all but the worst addicts, and In our opinion are of a high order of
playability with excellent graphics and use of sound. Machine code makes Gold
Digger just as blurrily fast as Chopper Rescue! Tunnel mines to find the gold
nuggets but make sure you construct your tunnels so that you can drop dirt on
the wicked nugget gnashers chasing you. Good hand and eye control needed with
fast reflexes.
One of our favourites! Take your shuttle craft from the Mother
Ship down to the planet surface below and pick up the stranded astronaughts
which throng the hillsides waving their arms. You must come down through lines
of alien craft without touching any of them. If you succeed in landing, the
nearest astronaught leaps up in glee and runs to the shuttle, then you can take
him back to the Mother Ship. Absolutely not easy.
For the racing car addicts. Turbodriver features special
‘giant graphics’ and is a super-fast game where you stall on the
starting line and must then catch up with the 6 other cars, whilst avoiding the
7 hazards. Go too slow and carefully and you’ll run out of fuel. Good
sound and colour with machine code.
A variation on the ‘penetrator’ theme, this game has
good smooth graphics with lots of shoot ’em up features. The Hidden City
is guarded by a narrow entrance low down the approach, once you get inside the
complex there are mazes and caverns with fuel dumps and rocket launchers
everywhere. Difficulty levels.
Paint the 3D mazes without getting caught — and
you’re up against the clock for bonus points. Each maze is more
complicated than the previous one and if you complete all 4 then the game gets
faster. This program automatically selects the joystick mode if one is
connected. Demonstration mode. Simple but solid graphics make this an
addictive game to play.
Guide your Boa round the flowers to the tune of ‘An
English Country Garden’ eating the beetles and ladybirds and snails. You
must avoid hitting the fence, the flowers and yourself. Each time you eat a
beetle another segment is added to your body and another flower appears. Get
all ten beetles and you enter another garden with a higher fence. Snails and
ladybirds get extra bonus points. 5 skill levels — in the highest level
Boxy resembles a demented express train. Maddeningly frustrating and
addictive. Automatic joystick selection if connected.
Still one of the biggest crazes in the arcades. Several versions
for the Spectrum around and this 100% machine code game features 3 screens of
hi-res graphics, Gorilla, barrels and fireballs, conveyor belts and a running,
jumping man who must rescue his girlfriend from the enraged Kong. And remember
— it was beauty killed the beast!
You are one of the few surviving humans after the holocaust, and
you are to protect the remaining greenery from a giant centipede, which
confronts you from a forest of mushrooms. Watch out for the maneating spider
which tries to spin its web around your laserbase. Fast arcade action all the
way. Cassette also contains PAINTER; your mission is to defuse all the time
bombs in your path in numeric order. As you move a trail is left behind which
you cannot cross, so be careful where you tread. Against the clock.
In this ‘penetrator’ variant there are 4 trenches in
the planet’s surface infested with mutant aliens their missile
installations, fuel dumps and drifting mines. Annihilate all with your bombs
and laser torpedoes.
In their variation, C-Tech use one screen for the busy road, and
then a second one for the river crossing. As the game progresses the traffic
gets heavier and the logs and turtles get less. Five lives. The cassette also
contains SPECMAN, a ‘pac-man’ style maze game with 5 skill levels
and 5 lives plus the familiar assortment of power pills and ghouls.
Our favourite version of the popular arcade game for the
Spectrum. Hop your five Kermits across the busy 3-lane highway without getting
squelched, then cross the river using the logs and turtles and jump to the
safety of the 5 frog homes. Hungry snakes and crocodiles fancy you almost as
much as you fancy yourself. For bonus points there’s a stranded froglet
(or princess in disguise if you are normally an adventure game player) to
rescue and carry home. Time limit makes each frog life difficult and if you get
one home the next one only has the left over time to use. 4 skill levels and 7
speeds which increase with each sheet. Superb colour graphics and good sound.
RIVET-ing
One of our favourites, a completely addictive game which relies
less on speed than dimensional skill and timing to get good scores. Starts okay
— then gets faster as more tanx appear on the bridge and fire at you.
Excellent graphics and very realistic 3D ballistics. Nowhere near as easy as it
looks either. Watch your ammo because when it runs out it takes time for the
‘back-up’ team to get you more.
In our opinion, the best Spectrum version of this eternally
popular arcade game. 3 meteor types which increase and decrease in frequency
and shatter into fragments when hit. Plus evil alien ships, space walk, ship
drift and decelerate.
If the sharks don’t get you the poisonous jelly fish
probably will. Oh — and there’s not much oxygen left either.
Isn’t that life? In this game you have a target sight at the base of the
screen for shooting the sharks, meanwhile the jelly fish keep dropping gunge on
you which you must avoid because it hurts. Nice use of colour and good graphics
in this amusing game.
Fight tne black riders, whose touch is death. Guide Shadowfax as
Gandalf’s swift white horse braves the dread riders of Sauron, Dark Lord
of Mordor. How many will your thunderbolts destroy? You fire your bolt and
explode it on contact with the enemy, The game is perhaps limited in scope, but
it is more difficult than it seems as the onslaught of black riders begins to
mesmerise. Excellent graphics with a special mention for the animation of the
flying horses.
Imagine are the computer games leaders with good reason —
their programs are clever, witty and fast. ZZOOM boasts the best ever 3D view
seen in a computer arcade game. Machine guns and air-to-sea missiles are your
weapons as you fly your aircraft against awesome enemies. Impossible speeds for
the arcade addict with 100% machine code and hi-res graphics.
Your circuits are damaged, motor won’t switch off, energy
is running low, you need fuel, you’re the last ’droid around to
warn the colonists, there are tons of evil aliens swarming everywhere ...
sounds like another relaxed, laid back game for a quiet Sunday! 100% machine
code.
As the screen comes to life you might suffer a sense of
disappointment at the extremely simple graphics (Jack is nicely animated
though). BUT DON’T SIGH! One moment of inattention in this
brain-bustingly frustrating game means certain death. Jack is on the moving
platforms and must jump up through several levels to reach the top. He does
this by jumping up through 2 constantly moving holes, one going up and one
going down. Each successful leap adds one more hole. But he can fall through
the holes as well and then remains unconscious for a period, depending on how
many levels he falls. Get to the top and hazards start appearing. This is the
arcade game for 83 and we guarantee you won’t leave it alone.
Specially created to be the fastest and meanest, most addictive
shoot ’em up game ever. Wave after wave of loathsome (ugh!) and deadly
(naturally) aliens billow hypnotically towards your space fighter. But then,
you have dual Plasma Disruptors (hooray) and Ion Thrust Drive, don’t you.
Very popular and difficult to master.
“A real nerve-tingler from the moment an enormous set of teeth appears on
the screen like something out of Jaws!” (Your Computer July 83). Take
part in the fight against tooth decay (a dig at their rivals, DK Tronics, they
call the bad germs Dentorium Kamikazium or DKs for short). You’re armed
with a tooth brush and a tube of Imagico toothpaste. Starts off OK — gets
faster as the apparently harmless Jelly Babies and toffees clog up the works.
The real skill here is in aiming the toothbrush accurately to receive the
supply of toothpaste. And you need a strong stomach — a ring of
confidence is insufficient! Zap ’em!
Don’t be fooled by the title — this is no game for
cissies! The complications can be frustrating at first but it gets to be great
fun and very difficult by level 5 (there are 9 levels). You are a teddy bear
(makes a change from deep space doesn’t it?) and you must overcome the
terrors of the toy box to reach and comfort your crying baby. Watch out for the
clockwork soldiers, the play people and the aggressive train. The building
blocks, which must be assembled in the correct colour sequence, help, pea
shooter protects, spinning tops hinder, the baby’s crying — there,
there, there...
From the people who brought you the best-selling Hobbit.
Prehistoric flying monsters keep swooping down on you, content with nothing
less than your total destruction. And what has the author of this ‘Lost
Land’ jaunt given you for protection? Well he seems confused on this
point as it is referred to as a battered old pistol at one point and one of a
group of old cannon at another. Anyway, it does work, and you are
a marksman, aren’t you? So it’s no problem killing off as many as
you can before nightfall (when you can only see their eyes). The grouped
Daktils in the background are really 3D Galaxians and the swoopers come at you
as very well animated 3D TDs. Ballistic effects are very good although we were
disappointed by the unimaginative sound — no splats when your balls land.
Not easy though, especially in hitting 3D sweepers at the correct height and
position.
“BUY THIS GAME (Personal Computing Today says) one of the
few times an arcade game has been improved upon.” In this
‘defender’ type game you must race across the planet and destroy
the aliens’ master ships in their lair, but as you do so, evil green
grabbers are scooping up humans and dropping them to their deaths (good splats
when they land). Smart bombs will knock them out and you must catch them as
they fall. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Your mission is to penetrate 4 defense rings and blow up a dump
of neutron bombs — and then get out again. Missiles and radar bases track
your movements getting more accurate if you fail to destroy them. Special
feature is the ability for the player to re-program the landscape to suit his
own design. We think this is the best ‘scramble’ game for the
Spectrum. Good graphics and continuous sound. Essential training routine and
machine code.
“I’m a real mean chicken,” says the hen on the
cover — and boy, does she mean it! This is a ‘pac-man’
variant with a dotty maze and the world’s two nastiest hens who are out
to stop you taking all the eggs. What makes this one so different is that the
hens home in on you inexorably and they can cut corners where you can’t,
which gives them a speed advantage. One second lost at the start and you are as
good as dead. Power pills merely block their paths for a moment. Fast and
furious.
This game is characterised by its beautiful graphics, from the
excited adventurer (that’s you) waving his arms enthusiastically outside
the maze, to the five dread monsters, everything is pure Walt Disney. The main
feature is the 3D maze seen from slightly from above in perspective, so
it’s not easy to see the paths. 5 levels of skill (1-5 monsters). This
must be the most panic-inducing game we’ve ever played as the monsters
always seem to know exactly where you are and where you’re going too.
They are quite relentless. Find the axe, hidden behind a hedge somewhere and
try to get out. If you pick it up you lose your speed advantage.
A mind-bendingly difficult game to understand, but one which
will teach you how to play the next generation of 3D air combat games to come
out. Put simply you have to weave your way through a maze which you create
yourself with your string. There are 4 other strings which you must dodge,
never touching them or your own string. The ‘string’s shoot out of
the screen at you in big 3D blocks and rapidly fill the available space. If
that doesn’t make everything clear - well...
Ocean used to call themselves Spectrum Games, and they used to
call Robotics, Frenzy, but perhaps there were too many same names, so they
changed! In Robotics you have penetrated the HQ of robot planet ZETUS, which is
planning to invade Earth, so naturally you must eliminate them all. The walls
of the complex are electrified and kill instantly. Only the robots’ heads
are vulnerable to your laser and their leader in his floating transporter is
invulnerable. You must avoid him by escaping into another sector. The game
speeds up as you clear sectors and more patrols appear. Move and fire in 8
directions.
The graphics may be straightforward, but there are more of those
hazards than usual in this version of the old favourite. Snakes on the verge,
sinking logs, corocodiles (as the blurb puts it) which, as we all know,
are much nastier than plain crocodiles, and the frog homes are mean
little lean-to shacks which makes it more difficult to leap safely into them
than with the Palladian mansions of the D.J.L. version.
Save the human race before tea. Excellent moving star
backgrounds in 3D give real space feeling to this 5-skill level game in 4D.
Versatile scanning status and battle computers offer endless and furious fun.
Travel to the sector where the aliens lurk, watch the computer read out on the
screen as they approach, and then blast them out of the sky before they get
you. If you suffer damage, then your ship’s functions start to fail.
A brand new game along the
‘dig-dug’ lines. Dig holes to save yourself
from the monsters. Check for availability first!
Another brand new game, which we
haven’t had time to review as this issue goes to
press. Check for availability first!
Battle through a sophisticated alien maze
in 3D and search for the ‘artifact’.
Unreviewed as yet so check for availability.
Ski through Marine Maniacs, G&Ts, Regattas, but beware the
Great White Hungry! Full screen display, continuous sound and great colour.
Another brand new game — so check for availability first!
Good version of the favourite game and a must for pac-man
addicts. Good graphics and high speed.
All the speed and excitement you could want with this Tron-type
grid-runner game. Race and block the computer or another player. Simple
graphics belie the actual complexity of playing well. The 2 traces start from
opposing sides of the screen at random points and after that it’s up to
you to force your opponent into his or your trail, or the edge of the
screen.
Exceptionally fast maze arcade game. Gobble your way through
the maze and survive the ghosts. Power pills help — but you knew that,
didn’t you?
Guess what — you’re in deepest space at the controls
of your Auto-Cruiser when all of a sudden the warning lights start flashing.
Know the feeling? A check of your tracking screens shows you to be entering the
worst space storm ever recorded in that quadrant. How’re we doing?
’Bout the same as usual. That bad, huh? Unless you blast your way
through with your laser cannon your ship will be crushed.
You are in your car, lost in this endless maze and there are
hazards everywhere, rocks, oil, and ice on the road, as well as a bunch of
maniacs out to get you in their evil cars. Collect the flags as you go for
points, and watch out for the essential fuel dumps. Fast action on this
9-screen maze and a good sense of direction is a help in finding your way
round. The scrolling from screen to screen works nicely. Good Luck!
This new arcade game has a difference — you don’t
fire ahead but release vapour clouds behind you to destroy horrid aliens. They
explode in a satisfying frenzy of graphics too. Movement is in 8 directions and
one trick to escape an alien craft is to hide in your own just-released vapour
cloud. The screen is wrap around in all directions. A complex scoring system
adds to the fun with 1000 points needed to reach the next level — and
that is not easy. Top scores every month are published in Video & Computer
Games — so don’t miss out! 100% m/c
Ahead of you (centre screen) is the Black Hole from which emerge
aliens in 3 directions. You’ve got 3 weapons with which to destroy them;
Positive and Negative Ion gun (the Black Hole deflects their unlimited range up
or down), and a Neutron Blaster, which isn’t affected by the field but
has a limited range. Indiscriminate shooting results in temporary loss of
power. The aliens don’t like you shooting at them, so they fire back,
and if that wasn’t enough, the so-called safe area of operation (left
screen) is infested with asteroids. Ship control is in 8 directions. This is a
game for the quick and ambidextrous. 100% machine code and a useful practice
mode - you’ll need it!
Greedy aliens with a taste for human flesh are about to attack
mining colony OMEGA ONE, and you are the sole remaining Orbiter Patrol Craft
(here we go again). You have scanners, reverse, hyper space, thrust, lasers
and smart bombs. But there are so many starving aliens. Will you save the
colony or end up as an alien elevenses? Classic ‘defender’ type
game with 100% machine code, good sound and continuous scoring for the
successful.
Okay, smartass, so you avoided becoming a snackette for the
flesh-eating aliens, but they’re still on the attack. Federation ships
have located their home planet, but their base is deep underground in a
torturous, twisting network of caverns. Your Ground Attack Craft has all the
latest gizmos to let you penetrate their defences and destroy their vital fuel
supplies — but no one has ever survived an attack on the base before (Oh
yeah — who’re you kidding?). Full arcade features including lasers,
rockets and bombs, explosions, fuel dumps, airborne aliens, meals on wheels and
9 skill levels. Get out of this one if you can.
An update on the original, this is really more of an
‘arcaventure’ which uses machine code, colour and full use of sound
to create the space ship simulation. Your mission? Save the Galaxy etc., what
else?
The Devron are almost devoid of Good and they’re sending
their Firebirds to destroy mankind’s last outpost (and that’s
certainly No Good). Joined by Blue Weavers & White Bombers, your position
looks hopeless (Use your Hypergrav Drive and Blitzer Lasers you dummy!).
Excellent hi-res graphics and 100% machine code action in this
‘galaxian/phoenix’ style game. Fire rate and left-right movement
are the best we’ve seen, and the dance of victory the Firebirds do when
they hit you is truly evil.
One of our reviewers saw a reproduction of a screen of this game
in a magazine crit. The crit was good, but our reviewer thought the game looked
boring. He changed his mind when he played it, which just goes to show that you
can’t always rely on the immediate appearance. In fact the graphics are
very attractive and the animation is good. There’s a lot of the,
“you’re the sole remaining — White Knight — Dark
Lords,” sort of thing in the cover blurb, but basically you’re on
this electronic ostrich (Ostron they call it), and the enemy are multi-coloured
buzzards that look like something out of YELLOW SUBMARINE. You can move left or
right and make your Ostron’s wings flap to fly up from the base platform.
The idea is to ‘joust’ with the enemy, which you do by touching
them, as long as you are higher in the air than they are. If you aren’t
— POW — that’s you dead. The first, green buzzards are pretty
daft and easy to beat, but later additions are cleverer and actually attack.
Don’t hit the water — you drown. 100% machine code. Very good.
Go to hell and get lost in a maze of ladders and platforms, get
chased by Vampire Monsters, Ghouls and the Mad Monk, and yet more... This is a
‘dig-dug’ type arcade game in which you kill the monster horrors by
digging holes for them to fall through. The higher the play level, the further
they must fall to die. Machine code and Softek’s great graphics.
A version of the popular arcade game. There’s Sid the
Spider, Scorpi the Scorpion, forests of mushrooms and, of course, the star of
the show, Megapede, whose very touch is death. Machine code.
You’re behind the wheel of your car,
cruising along Broadway. Suddenly you spot a Black &
White pulls onto the strip behind you — and the chase
is on. It could be East Cheam just as well since the simple
graphics only outline the street grid on which this
zip-fast chaser game takes place. You only have one life so
your skill at dodging is the sole hope. The longer you stay
alive, the more chasers join in. There is a feature which
allows you to open up a temporary gap in the street which
slows them down. It’s a ‘no win’ game
where you play for higher and higher scores and is totally
addictive since the frustration of losing all just as you
approach a new high score can be terminal. Makers say cash
prizes are being offered for the best scores each
month.
Machine code action of the future! It’s the year 3017,
you’re in your craft and you must use strategy to outwit and corral the
opponent. Succeed and more come up against you. Fast, fast, fast.
This is a real zaparoony of a game with lots of playability and
the requirement of the Urrugian 15-digit hand for control. It comes in three
distinct parts. First you must guide your ship through waves of enemy
fighters, destroying them as you go. The screen is the view through your
cockpit window and the aliens get bigger as they approach. The control keys
move the crosshairs of your sights. When the sight touches an alien craft you
can fire. 8 fingers are needed for directional movement, a ninth for firing,
and the tenth for light speed escape routine. If you survive 5 minutes you can
land on their planet to make repairs, but your grounded craft is then attacked
by Walkers and space craft. Same procedure for shooting. Survive another 5
nerve-wracking minutes and you can take off to attack the Mother Ship in orbit
for a grand finale. We can’t review that section because no one survived
parts 1 and 2 — yet...
How long can you survive in an endless maze populated by
homicidal robots? 5 lives and 7 laser shots, but there are replenishment
squares in a sector. Find an exit for bonus points, but this restores the
robots to their original numbers. Sunshine seem to specialise in the ‘no
win’ game and this is no exception — it’s you versus the high
score. Best scores can win cash prizes in Popular Computing Weekly, the
magazine published by Sunshine Books.
At first glance this game looks simple — but it
isn’t. Your ’plane keeps crossing over the towering skyscrapers of
New York, looking for a place to land. The only way to do it is to use your
endless supply of bombs to destroy the buildings and flatten the ground.
It’s a sort of genocide game. At each pass over the city you get lower,
so it’s important to knock out the taller buildings first. Several skill
levels with taller skyscrapers.
Something of a cult among the ‘galaxian/phoenix’
fans, Winged Avenger has 2 parts (2-part load) for the brave and the also-rans.
6 skill levels, laser and force field protection. Simple but effective graphics
and very fast.
This is a game for hungry people. You are the shark on a jaws
agape feeding frenzy. Fish, swimmers (moving at Olympic speeds) and boatman all
go down your throat for points. But some fish turn red and poisonous, so
don’t eat those, and the fishermen in their boats throw harpoons and drop
depth charges to stun you. If you succeed in catching the depth charges before
they reach the sea bed you can defuse them. And the sea bed itself isn’t
flat, so don’t run into it. An amusing and fast game with good
graphics.
Here are 4 games from a new software house who have rapidly
established themselves as market leaders. Kidnapped American Arcade programmers
are rumoured to be kept prisoner in Ultimate’s secret base in the wilds
of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, so it’s no wonder their games look so good. Just
about the best graphics around. JETPAC is for the pirates! You must
assemble your rocket ship from a kit form scattered over the planet’s
surface, while keeping the alien’s at bay, then collect fuel, food and
gems and take off. At the next planet you need more fuel and you can steal
goodies for extra points. After 4 planets plundered your ship wears Out and
another kit-form is supplied for assembly. Continuous fire with your Quad
Photon Laser Phaser, movement in 8 smooth directions, 1 or 2 player games. 100%
m/c
For insect-phobes, a 100% machine code novelty game with amazing
hi-res graphics and great sound. Spray the little crawling and flying devils
that want to eat your plant (or you). If you keep them at bay the your plant
will grow and finally flower. Then you can go onto the next level. First level
is simple once you have established which of the several spray cans kills the
creepies. But on subsequent levels further types of bug appear which are only
killed by their specific spray — and you can only carry 1 can at a time.
Spades and growmore bags for extra points — if you’ve got the time.
The animation is excellent, movement control, as with all Ultimate games is
instant and smooth in 8 directions. 1 or 2 player games.
It’s post-holocaust America and the country is a barren
desert populated by a clutch of Mad Maxes in deadly Black Turbos. Your red car
is better equipped and faster but you’re outnumbered. Hazards litter the
desert sand (mostly gravestones!) but certain cities still linger on with fuel
pumps. Find the 8 gold cups in their secret hiding places. Left of screen has
instrument displays; time taken; miles travelled; a map of the States with
cities marked and your present location; local radar which will show cup
positions and the Black Turbos; a speedo; fuel gauge; temp. gauge; and lives
left. The total playing area is 600 times the actual screen area. Dots litter
the desert surface, but these are for directional reference, and are not
hazards to be avoided. This is a very playable game — you won’t
tire of it.
In a way, this is a variation on Pssst, but with an important
difference. Here you must stun and knock the elements into a container.
It’s Charlie the Chef and the Ingredients versus the Bin Monster and the
Nasties. The food (different types for different levels) is kept in the pantry
on the right, but it keeps escaping together with an assortment of unpleasant
bits which would certainly ensure Charlie’s closure by the Ministry of
Health if they ever got to see his kitchen. Charlie must stun all of it with
his (marvellous) flour bombs, and then bat the ingredients into the mixing
bowl, and the nasties into the bins. He’s dead if he touches any of
them. With enough ingredients in the bowl the cake will bake and he can go on
to the next level. Even with a joystick, this is no easy game. Hi score,
continuous bombs and 1 or 2 player games.
A new 2-stage game, basically a variant of ‘frogger’
and Mined Out. First get your Paras across a 4-lane highway, then use a scanner
to cross the enemy mine field. Movement sensors mean sudden death if you make
too many mistakes. Timing and positioning of your man is essential to get him
across the highway as only split-second timing will do it. A pity
Virgin’s games have so much basic in them, it makes the control keys slow
to respond, but the strategy of timing makes for a nail-biting game.
Hard to say whether this is an arcade or strategy game. The
speed is certainly slow, but we have the feeling that good luck rather than
skill is required to get the wretched sheep into the corral. Again, too much
basic makes for slow control responses, but the game certainly has tremendous
frustration potential. Counting sheep is a thing of the past when you have your
favourite electronic collie dog. The object of the game is to get the little
woolly devils into their pen without their falling into the river where they
drown (slowly), or letting them rampage over the vegetable patch. A game for
those not into shoot ’em up action.
Strategy as well as skill plays an important part in this aliens
v. humans game as you try to rid the galaxy of the Xtardan Battle Cruisers. As
with most ‘trek’ style games, there are endless control keys to
master before playing, but when you have got yourself into an enemy occupied
sector, the arcade action starts. There is a view from the bridge and keys
control the direction of your weapons. Damage comes thick and fast if you are
not quick, rapidly impairing your ability to hit back or escape.