Earth Defence

Crash

Overall 63%

Producer: Artic, 16K £4.95 (2) Author: Donald Campbell Another 'Missile Command' of course. Six cities, three missile silos, no satellites or torpedoes. A useful feature is the cross hair sight which leaves an after image when the firing key is pressed while the main sight dashes off somewhere else on the screen. Fairly simple looking graphics and a very fast version. Pity, then, that the control keys are badly placed 6/7/8/9 and 0, 3 skill levels, joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2. Above average, overall CRASH rating 63% M/C.

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Crash

Use of Computer (Keyboard) 10%

Use of Computer (Joystick) 65%

Graphics 40%

Playability (Keyboard) 15%

Playability (Joystick) 60%

Addictive Qualities (Keyboard) 10%

Addictive Qualities (Joystick) 47%

Value for Money (Keyboard) 25%

Value for Money (Joystick) 60%

Chris Passey

Matthew Uffindell

ARCADE APOCALYPSE - MISSILE COMMAND GAMES Our erstwhile arcade sleuths, CHRIS PASSEY & MATTHEW UFFINDELL duet of their track balls and compare some Spectrum 'Missile Command' type games. 'Missile Command' is the arcade classic in which the player defends six cities from enemy missiles. These missiles leave traces on the screen, splitting up at lower levels to make life more difficult. In addition planes and killer satellites move across the screen dropping more missiles. Heat sensitive missiles (or smart bombs) are able to avoid your defensive explosions and have to be hit accurately (direct hit) or deluged with explosions. Defence is by means of three missile bases, each having ten missiles. Any missile you launch will head for, and detonate at the point where your cross wire sight is set. The game continues until all your cities have been destroyed. The control of the sight is achieved by means of a track ball, which gives a very positive, accurate movement (analogue) and is very necessary for this type of game. The Spectrum games, of course, do not have a track ball provision. Earth Defence by Artic Retail Price: £4.95 Memory: 16K This another game which falls down on the keyboard layout - all along the top row. The game itself has fairly simple graphics, the explosions being reasonable, but inferior to those of Anirog or Ocean. It is reasonable as a game, but due to keys, only a joystick game really (Kempston and Sinclair). Three skill levels and a 2 player option are also provided. CP With this version one or two players can play, with a choice of 3 skill levels. There are missiles for your defence in this comparatively tame version. Every 1,000 points scored awards you an extra city. The cross hair moves quickly and smoothly, and firing a missile results in a realistic explosion with good sound too. I like the colour, and it is a good noisy version, but its addictive qualities are slight, and its appeal wears off after a couple of hours. MU Note on ratings: To be enjoyed to the full, 'Missile Command' games should be played with a joystick (shame there is not a track ball) because keyboard play, in general, cannot give the same degree of accuracy and control. Although the same may be said for many other types of game, we are sure 'Missile Command' fans will agree that this is the game which needs it the most badly. Therefore the ratings given below have been split in two, one for keyboard only play, and one for joystick play. The two reviewers figures have been averaged as, in general, they turned out to be in agreement. Ratings are given on a scale between zero and 100 points, and do not reflect what a game may receive in a regular review.

Personal Computer News

Lasting Appeal 4/5

Playability 4/5

Use Of Machine 4/5

Overall Value 4/5

Bill Davies

Bob Chappell

Geof Wheelwight

Jim Ballard

Mike Gerrard

Simon Williams

PCN MICROPAEDIA VOL 21 PART 2 GAMES GALORE PCN stacks up the best games on the block for Spectrum Dragon Atari BBC As promised in our last issue, here is the second part of the games Micropaedia. If you didn't find something to suit your taste last week you'll probably have more luck this time around. The featured micros are the Spectrum, BBC Micro B, Dragon 32 and Atari. On the following 2 pages we present a selection for the Sinclair Spectrum - both for 16K and 48K machines. NAME: Earth Defence SYSTEM: 16/48K Spectrum PRICE: £4.95 PUBLISHER: Artic Computing, [redacted] FORMAT: Cassette LANGUAGE: Machine code OTHER VERSIONS: None OUTLETS: Spectrum retailers Missile Command is an arcade classic and there are plenty of versions around for most home micros. Artic Computing, which has been on the Sinclair scene quite awhile, has at last got round to bringing out a version of its own. Wave upon wave of multiple warheaded missiles rain down upon your three cities. Armed with a limited supply of ground to air missiles, it is your task to defend Earth by intercepting as many of the warheads as possible. The aliens also send in smart bombs; these are small yet deadly and try to roll around any detonations. They must be hit fair and square or else blasted out of the sky by saturating their path with explosions. You control a small cross-haired sight. This moves about the screen very quickly in response to the joystick/keyboards control. When firing, a marker is left at the current cross-sight position, leaving the sight free to continue moving about the screen. At the same moment, a ground to air missile is launched from your base at bottom-centre of the screen - the missile tracks unerringly to the planted marker and explodes into a cloud on arrival. Any warhead tracking down the screen which encounters the cloud is instantly destroyed. Several of your missiles can be in flight at one time, so you can blanket-bomb a fairly wide area of the screen. At the termination of every wave your score is totted up and displayed. Every city, base and missile remaining earns bonus points. For every 1,000 points reached, you gain a bonus city. With each wave, the screen colours change, adding extra variety to the action. An excellent version of a classic, and exceptional value for money. Micropaedia Editor: Geof Wheelwright Design: Paul Clarkson Contributors: Jim Ballard, Bob Chappell, Bill Davies, Mike Gerrard and Simon Williams NEXT WEEK We begin a five-part series of detailed graphics techniques for the BBC Micro, the Acorn Electron, the Oric Atmos, the Oric-1, the Atari series of home computers, the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair Spectrum.

Crash

Use of Computer 62%

Graphics 64%

Playability 60%

Getting Started 68%

Addictive Qualities 62%

Value For Money 64%

Overall 63%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Artic Memory Required: 16K Retail Price: £4.95 Language: Machine code Author: Donald Cam,pbell 'Missile Command' games for the Spectrum must rapidly be coming up for a comparison article - almost every major software house has now had a go at a version, one of the most recent being Artic. In Earth Defence you are given the usual 6 cities to defend with your three missile bases. In this version only the middle one actually fires, the other two supplying missiles. It also features a moving cross hair sight like other versions, but when the fire key is pressed a cross is left until the missile arrives, leaving your main sight free to dash off to the next incoming enemy missile trail. Since the game is well known there's little point in describing it further. COMMENTS Control keys: poor, 6/7 left/right, 8/9 up/down, zero to fire. These are keys for the Sinclair Interface 2, and an alternative should have been provided Joystick: Sinclair, Kempston Keyboard play: responsive, but difficult to control well Colour: Average to good, changes with screens Graphics: simple with good explosion effects Sound: reasonable Skill levels: 3 Lives: 6 cities

All seems lost as Earth's defences crumble.

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 5/10

Memory: 16K Price: £4.95 Joystick: Sinclair, Kempston Earth Defence, for the 16K Spectrum, is a fairly faithful reproduction of the arcade game Missile Defence. In it you must defend your cities and missile sites from invading nuclear missiles and other craft. You have three missile batteries from which to fire and a controllable cross-hair sight. Timing is all-important. You have a limited number of missiles and time must be allowed for them to reach their destination. If you survive the first wave of attackers your score is totalled according to how many cities and missiles you have remaining and another wave appears. Bonus cities are given every 1,000 points. The game has three levels of skill and can be played by one or two players, there is also provision to use either a Sinclair or Kempston joystick or the keyboard. The graphics are adequate for this kind of game, although the sound is rather limited during the explosions.

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