Computer + Video Games - Commodore Is Awesome

28
Nr‘
▪ MACHINE: SPECTRUM
bb SUPPLIER NEXUS
▪ PRICE: E8 95
IP' REVIEWER: TIM
Hey, there's something wrong
here! This game isn't a coin-op
conversion. It doesn't feature
characters from a TV cartoon. It
doesn't feature characters to do
with a new film. Some mistake
surely?!
Tell you what though, it is a
cracking mixture
of action and
strategy and features some of
the most stunning 3D I've ever
seen on the Spectrum.
Peter Cooke can be relied
upon to produce original and
challenging games and he's
done it again with Micronaut
One— set inside a massive
Biocomputer riddled with
enough pests to keep Rentokill
in business for at least a couple
of light years.
Play the game and you
become a member of the Guild
of Equalisers, formed to protect
the asteroid based
biocomputers from infestation.
As with all systems, the
biocornputer has predators, the
Scrim, a mutated descendent of
the fruit fly, Drosophilia.
The Scrim live in the Tunnels,
feeding on free energy and
thriving on the warm and damp
enviornment. As part of their
work Guild must keep the
tunnels clear of Scrim eggs and
webs,
The Scrim has a three stage
life-cycle in the tunnels, Eggs
are laid by adult Scrim. They are
very strong and usually
impervious to the Guild's
weapons
The eggs grow very quickly in
the energy rich tunnels and
continue to feed until they
split and form the fully
adult Jellyfly.
Jellyflyers are
fast moving and will
search for a section of
tunnel to build an energy web
and lay their eggs to begin one
lifecycle all over again,
The objective of the game is
to rid the tunnels of any Scrim
while maintaining the energy,
When all the Scrim have been
eliminated in a tunnel complex
the Guild will transfer you to a
more unstable and heavily
infested area.
To begin life as a Guild
member, move the arrow to the
0 0
0
1 1
,
‘
,
V
M
o
v
o
m
Play option on the main menu
and press fire. The screen will
clear and a new set of options
will appear, the game menu,
You'll see View, Map, E.T.U,,
info, Pad, and Misc, options at
the top of the screen.
Select the View option, The
top of the screen, the
viewscreen, will show you view
of the tunnels. Now left, right,
up and down will move you
Ship about through the tunnels
and fire will fire the ships
weapons. In addition the keys
and W allow you to move up
and down in the tunnel to avoid
obstacles.
Below the viewscreen are the
ship's instruments, A small
rectangular window, the
scanner shows the tunnel
section that you are in, the
direction that you are facing,
the time and
whether
your
weapons are
targetted.
Below the scanner are three
bars. The first shows the ship's
speed, the second ths ship's
energy level and the third is a
message window for
information about the
Biocomputer.
The next menu is Map. This
shows a map of the tunnels
Which wraps round the screen
and can be scrolled from left to
right.
Your position is marked by a
X and you can also set a marker
to any section simply by
pointing at it and pressing fire.
These markers are used by
the ships Navigational Locking
System lNavlock on the map
menu bars to calculate a route
for your ships to anywhere in
the tunnels,
The ETAT menu shows the
energy levels of the four Energy
Transfer Units in the tunnel
complex.
The Info menu simply gives
an overview of the biocomputer
and provides a valuable
identification chart for the
differing life stages of the
Scrim.
There are several extra
options available on the main
menu.
Of course you can always
work out your own routes to the
ETU's if you reckon you know
better than your on-board
computer.
The scrolling is amazingly
fast for the Spectrum — you can
make things move VERY
rapidly. And then there's the
terrific sense of being enclosed
by the tunnel walls All very
atmospheric.
Micronaut is Pete Cooke's
best yet. And the blurb contains
the best excuse why there's no
real sound effects in a Spectrum
game I reckon I've ever read.
What is it? Well Pete says that
because the tunnels are kept in
a semi-vacuum condition you
wouldn't be able to hear much.
Nice excuse — great game.
0. GRAPHICS
b. SOUND
I. VALUE
11.• PLAYABILITY
9
SIFOR CHEEK!) 9
9