Computer + Video Games - Commodore Is Awesome

IKingdom Come.
In all there are ten island
complexes onTargon which are
making The Assault Machine.
All must be destroyed.
All the equipment you have
are four droids— Tracy,
Holmes, Bond and Chan and
three atmosphere craft which
must move the droids around
from island to island.
First of all you must plot your
moves by consulting a map of
Taragon's islands and decide
where to drop the droids. Once
this is decided you switch to
what is basically flight
simulation combined with a bit
of zapping. Delivering a droid to
its target will require you to face
attack from aerial torpedoes
and blaster fire
I* MACHINE; SPECTRUM/
COMODORE/AMSTRAD
P. SUPPLIER: OCEAN
PRICE: L7.97ISPECTRUMI/E8,95
CMM 64 CASSETTE E12,95 DISK
to VERSION TESTED: SPECTRUM
REVIEWER: PAUL
You're the disease I'm the
cure. "Immortal words from
vigilante cop Marion Cobretti,
also known as The Cobra.
Months after Sylvestor
Stallone's latest cinema
rendering of brutal corpsestrewen
crime control was
massacred by the critics,
Ocean's game of the film
slithers onto the software
shelves. Better late than never, I
suppose.
The film's plot — actually that
is a gross misuse of the word —
is fairly simple. Cop Cobra of
the "Zombie Squad" has to
rescue a fashion model, Ingrid
Dnutsen, from the clutches of a
band of mad killers and their
evil boss who goes by the cute
name of the "Night Slasher".
The game roughly follows the
film so this is where the law
stops • • and you start. And
what you get is basically a
frantic platform and ladders
game set across three playing
Once the drold is on the
island you can monitor its
progress. If one gets into
difficulty — being attacked, for
instance— you'll have to rescue
it.
Once the droids have found
the information and location of
the Assault Weapon bases, it's
then time to move Onto the end
game. This involves bombing
missions over the searched
islands.
Assault Machine is a nice mix
of Icon-driven strategy
combined with fairly satisfying
shoot-'em-up.
t
V
A
L
U
E
8
8
PLANIABILITY 4
71t
areas — night-time in the city,
daytime in the country and the
factory.
To move onto the next
section of the game you must
collect beef burgers— inside
are either knives, pistols or
V. Be sty and you could be a winner
•
SNORE 00,000
8
7
laser-sighted machine guns —
rescue Ingrid and clear the
section of killers. It's only when
you get to the factory that you'll
confront the Night Slasher
himself,
At the start of the game Cobra
61
II Assault Machine has a good mar of
icon-dnyen strategy and avre shoot-
'etm-up.
I hal headbu
—so he can despatch the
multitude of killers without
doing himself any serious
damage. The action is certainly
fast and frantic as Cobra
charges around like a raging
bull.
Cobra's lives are represented
as boxing gloves. Is this a clever
reference to Stallone's Rocky
films? If so, what is the
significance of the
Cluackometer, which shows
how long Cobra can use a
weapon for?
Rogue prams and
beefburgers are not prime
ingredients of the film but they
crop up a lot in the game. The
prams charge about on their
own slamming into Cobra
unless he's quick enough to
jump over them. The weapons
are hidden in the burgers.
Graphically and soundwise
Cobra is okay, but really its the
sort of game you've seen many
times before. It will sell on the
name rather than on the
originality.
0. GRAPHICS
10. SOUND
la. VALUE
PLAYABIUTY
7
7
a