Galactic Warriors

Personal Computer News

Lasting Appeal 3/5

Playability 4/5

Use Of Machine 5/5

Overall Value 4/5

Mike Gerrard 4/5

NAME: Galactic Warriors SYSTEM: Any Spectrum PRICE: £5.95 PUBLISHER: Abacus, [redacted] FORMAT: Cassette LANGUAGE: Machine code OTHER VERSIONS: None OUTLETS: Mail order/retail. FIGHTING FEVER Some games ideas are obvious... once someone else has thought of them. Programmer Michael Lee has combined Space Invaders with Centipede in a game that's great fun. OBJECTIVES Motherships move across the top of the screen dropping aliens as they go, and these then proceed to zig-zag in familiar fashion, your job being to see them off before they get you. IN PLAY You can only move across the base of the screen, and when this is set up there are various rocks scattered about for the aliens to bounce off when they start zig-zagging down. The first mothership appears and a line of aliens is dropped along the top of the screen unless you can shoot the ship first. You get a bonus for that depending on how far across the screen the ship has travelled; that's on top of the bonus of having no more aliens descend from it. The aliens themselves behave like caterpillar heads. They're not linked, and if you shoot one it immediately turns into a rock which takes two shots to destroy. The aliens can fire at you, and one annoying aspect is that you cannot destroy their fire with your own - hitting it with your own laser merely halts it temporarily. As the aliens tend to fire rapidly it pays to turn them into rocks as soon as you can. You have three lives to help you cope with all this. You earn yourself a bonus each time you score 20,000 points, and a small bonus if you destroy a complete attack wave. Your other defence is to erect an Energiser Barrier around yourself, and you need this should an alien make it to ground level and be zipping towards you. Pressing Symbol Shift creates the barrier, which destroys any alien running into it. While it also deflects enemy fire it does the same to your own laser, so remember not to fire when the barrier is around you. The game is fast-moving, and I couldn't detect much difference between the fastest and slowest speeds, while the sound is as satisfying as you can expect from the Spectrum. VERDICT While Galactic Warriors could soon become repetitive for your average player, it's aimed squarely at those who think repetitive alien-zapping is the only way to live.

Crash

Overall 67%

Producer: Abacus, 16K £5.95 (1) Author: Michael Lee Difficult to decide whether this should be under the Galaxian heading or the one we've put it under, but at the end of the day Galactic Warriors is more of a 'Centipede' game than a 'Galaxian'. Your mission is to save Earth by manning the last missile base. An alien mother ship (can be shot if you're quick) spews out a row of smaller attack craft which then descend the screen in zig zag lines just like a centipede. Above your head the sky is littered with small asteroids. When the train of alien craft hit one, they reverse direction, and the line is split into segments whenver you hit one of their number. The asteroids can be blasted out of the way by your laser - magenta ones take 2 shots, red ones only one. When hit, alien craft turn into magnets debris. As they traverse left and right, the aliens drop bombs on you in a continuous shower. Apart from dodging them, there is a force field which is effective against contact with aliens and missiles, but blows you up if you use your laser. Excellent 'attract mode', good keyboard positons, joystick: none. Overall CRASH rating 67% M/C.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Crash

Overall 67%

Producer: Abacus, 16K £5.95 (1) Author: Michael Lee Difficult to decide whether this should be under the Galaxian heading or the one we've put it under, but at the end of the day Galactic Warriors is more of a 'Centipede' game than a 'Galaxian'. Your mission is to save Earth by manning the last missile base. An alien mother ship (can be shot if you're quick) spews out a row of smaller attack craft which then descend the screen in zig zag lines just like a centipede. Above your head the sky is littered with small asteroids. When the train of alien craft hit one, they reverse direction, and the line is split into segments whenver you hit one of their number. The asteroids can be blasted out of the way by your laser - magenta ones take 2 shots, red ones only one. When hit, alien craft turn into magnets debris. As they traverse left and right, the aliens drop bombs on you in a continuous shower. Apart from dodging them, there is a force field which is effective against contact with aliens and missiles, but blows you up if you use your laser. Excellent 'attract mode', good keyboard positons, joystick: none. Overall CRASH rating 67% M/C.

Crash

Use of Computer 60%

Graphics 65%

Playability 70%

Getting Started 73%

Addictive Qualities 70%

Value For Money 65%

Overall 67%

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Producer: Abacus Memory Required: 16K Recommended Retail Price: £5.95 Language: machine code Author: Michael Lee Galactic Warriors follows a familiar scenario; alien hordes threaten the galaxy, your mission is to save the Earth by manning three laser bases (by which they mean you have three lives of course). The aliens will not risk their big cruisers against you, so instead they release a load of attack craft, armed with missiles. As a game type this could be said to be Centipede as a Space Invader. The mother ship zips across the top of the screen spewing out the little green attack craft in a ragged line. Their major obstacle is all the space debris dotted about at random, asteroids in fact, which replace the centipedal mushroom forest. If an attack craft touches one it changes direction. So the line of aliens zig zag down the screen, their line gradually breaking into individual segments, until they reach the bottom and your laser base. As in centipede games you can shoot away the asteroids. There are two types, magenta ones and red ones. The magenta require two shots and the red only need one. When you hit an attack craft it turns into a magenta obstacle. Additionally, the alien missiles also destroy the asteroids. Apart from your laser the base is equipped with a force barrier but when this is employed you are not allowed to fire the faster otherwise you blow up. The barrier is effective against contact with an alien. COMMENTS Keyboard positions: good, Q/W left/right, P fire, SYMBOL SHIFT barrier. Joystick option: none Keyboard play: responsive Use of colour: mixed reception, two approved, one didn't Graphics: good Sound: very good Skill levels: 3 Lives: 3

Centipede meets invaders in GALACTIC WARRIOR.