Computer + Video Games - Commodore Is Awesome

' MACHINES' CEtM 64
P. SUPPLIER FIREBIRD
1
1
VERSIONS TESTED; cam as
1
Remember . Revs, the race
simulation P game with more
vroom R than all the rest put
together? I It met with almost
universal
C
acclaim from critics
and
E
public alike. Well, now
there is Revs 2. It more of the
:
same but to mind slightly
better. E
l If I remember correctly I
found l Revs a little difficult to get
into. % Getting up speed and
changing gear proved a
poblern.
This isn't a simulation you
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just load up and take it away.
It's really like driving. You have
control over starting the engine,
throttle and brake, gears and
clutch of your Formula Three
mean machine.
Like most race games you can
select a practice mode before
getting down to real race action.
Tracks which can be selected
are Brands Hatch, Silverstone,
Snetterton, Oulton Park and the
Nuremburg Ring.
Excellent Fun. Man, machine
and computer in harmony.
GRAPHICS
lo SOUND
P• VALUE
it• PLAYABILITY
lErnit •
11~
Trt -
SD:
51
- 2INN 1 m 7 .
1ER 1 N
t
a r
Alt 9
IP MACHINES: SPECTRUM/
AMSTRAD/CBM 64
SUPPLIER: ELITE
IP PRICE E3.96 CASSETTE/614.95
DISK
VERSIONS TESTED:
SPECTRUM/AMSTRAD
fi r
Things s have neen a little quiet
on jathe
games from at Elite
recently, pi no doubt gearing up
for
ER
the Christmas blitz.
:
But the Walsall boys have
found time to put out three
P
excellent compilation tapes for
not A an excessive amount of
dosh. U
L The Trio Hit Pak — Trio
sounds a bit like a chocolate bar
to me is available across the
three main formats with most of
the games common to each.
This is what you get: Spectrum
and Amstrad — Great Gurianos,
Airwolf Two and 30C_
Commodore 64— Great
Gurianos, Airwolf Two and
Cata ball.
Great Gurianos is the old
Taito coin op game and for me
it's the best of the bunch, Hack
and slash with nice big cartoon
graphics.
I'm much too young to
remember Elite's original
Airwolf game based on the
adventures of TV helicopter
pilot Stringfellow Hawke twhat
a dumb name). 30C is a 3D
arcade adventure set
underwater in which a diver
must reconstruct a submarine
while fighting off deep sea
nasties. Catchall is a bit odd.
You control four bounding
balls, which move in a wave-like
motion, against a series of
backdrops in an effort to collect
ballons, Strange but playable.
Great Gurianos gets my top
vote but when you add three
other good playable games.
•
• Spedtrum/Amstrritl
GRAPHICS 7 8
SOUND - 6 9
VALUE 9 9
PLAYABILITY 9 d
ith 9
a. MACHINES: AMSTRAD/
COMMODORE/SPECTRUM
b. SUPPLIER: GREMUN
IP. PRICE: E9.99
VERSIONS TESTED:
REM
k 6
-
S
Intergalactic
P
1W: kidnapping is
suddenly big business, but
Ethere
J
seems to be no rhyme or
Creason
O for it, except to populate
Tthe
ominous H Matrix prisons
R
owned
N
by the Cratons.
The latest victims are
Uharmless
mechanical race
M called / the Bioptons who, despite
Atheir
request that they be left
Malone
to rust in peace, are not
Sabout
to scrap their buddies.
TFiendish
security systems make
R
a rescue attempt impossible by
anything other than a lone
A
Biopton.
D
Nimrod is chosen by the
Biopton Govenment, given a
space ship and told to land on
each section of the Matrix
planetary network, overcome
the security devices and rescue
hostages. There are a
seemingly infinite number of
matrix prisons on which to land
and a limited amount of time —
99 minutes — before the
hostages are executed.
You're first given the
opportunity to select a matrix
level by scanning a cursor
across a star map on yor space
ship's veiwer. Pressing fire
when you are over one of these
level takes you down to a
landing sight to which you'll
return with your hostages or if
you want to get back to your
ship for any other reason, such
as your energy's running low.
Nimrod is lightly armed when
he enters a complex but he'll
need to find other weaponry,
such as the Lazatron, Megabolt
and Megatron if he's to deal
with the monsters and traps the
Cratons have left for intruders.
The guards are the most
obvious of his worries and, if
his firepower is low, it's best to
be out of any situation which
involves them.
The ground is laden with
energy distruptors, spikey
mines, floor pad operated
doors, black ice, rebound and
energy loss squares. Rebound
squares are particularly
dangerous if arranged in a
semi-square. Once you're in its 1
arms it takes a lot of force to
break free of the magnetic push
and pull. As for the black ice, I'm
not sure whether you fall
through into the depths of the
prison or into a black hole.
Cratons are unusual captors;
they've included elements in
their prisons which'll help
potential rescuers. You can leap
up onto walls stepping on blue
arrow squares and read your
position off a map displayed
when you step on a square
marked 100— or Loo. I'm again
not sure. There are also crates,
labelled like alphabet bricks,
scattered around which you can
push onto the floor pads for the
pressure activated doors.
A final word of warning —