The Guardian

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 5/10

Sound 3/10

Originality 5/10

Lasting Interest 3/10

Overall 4/10

Steve Mann 4/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K JOYSTICK: Kempston, Optional SUPPLIER: PSS PRICE: £5.95 A bit of a strange game, this one. You control the movement of your craft (the Guardian of the title) around the outside of a square-shaped grid. This has a smaller square inset towards the bottom of the grid. From this radiate lines that divide the grid into sectors of different sizes. You always stay on the outside edge of this area and any one of the sectors may produce enemy vessels which hurtle towards you kamikaze-style. These are divided into Trackers (worth 50 points), anti-mines, Swirls and Snarks (10 points each), and just to make things more difficult the Swirls and Snarks are not shown. Every so often you are faced with a meteor shower, the successful avoidance of which needs quick reflexes but will score you a bonus of 1,000 points. As an ultimate weapon, any key on the bottom row of the keyboard between 'B' and 'Space' acts as a 'star smasher' and will obliterate any of your enemies that are on the grid at the time. Use of this needs to be regulated carefully - you have only two star smashers, but these are recharged after each successful avoidance of a meteor shower. The graphics are no more than adequate, and sound is limited to a fairly standard range of 'space laser' noises. The action certainly gets fast enough, and avoiding the meteors is made all the harder by the relatively large size of your vessel in comparison to the meteors. But, all in all, I found this a disappointment and I can't see The Guardian becoming a well-used tape.

Sinclair Programs

June Mortimer

WELL-WORN THEMES RE-APPEAR The trend in software production appears to be to take stock, build on successful ideas and await new developments. New games tend to be new variations on well-worn themes rather than startlingly original concepts. The number of games based on the premise that all computer owners love shooting as many things as possible is decreasing and giving way to games which need thought and strategy as well as fast reactions. Unfortunately for ZX-81 owners, although their computer has remained consistently among the top five bestselling computers, new software for the ZX-81 is almost non-existent and W H Smith is not intending to accept any new ZX-81 software for sale in its shops. Due to the shortage of new software, no ZX-81 programs have been received for review this month. THE SNOWMAN The Snowman - Quicksilva, 48K Spectrum - is based loosely on the book of the same name by Raymond Briggs. The aim is to collect snow and build a snowman. The wandering flames must be avoided, as they melt your snow and turn it to water. Falling off the ice structure of pathways and ladders will result in the player being sent back to bed, as will running out of energy. On the higher levels, sleep monsters must also be avoided or confronted with alarm clocks. The Snowman combines the best of many games already on the market and should become a best-seller. The latest sequel to Pimania, Pi-Eyed and other Automata productions is Pi-Balled - 48K Spectrum. Once again the Pi-man is the hero of the game, this time accompanied by two bouncing balls and Sid the Snake. It is a fairly straightforward arcade game. The mystical pyramid of Pi must be changed in colour by jumping from square to square. Sid the Snake must be avoided, as must the bouncing balls, which can also change the colour of the pyramid but not necessarily in a way which is helpful. Pi-balled has lively graphics; the bouncing balls and spinning discs are particularly convincing and the degree of difficulty is well-judged to suit beginners and experienced players. Shades of Manic Miner are apparent in Loony Zoo - Phipps Associates, 48K Spectrum. The storyline is that, while surveying another planet, you have been captured by its vastly superior inhabitants and placed in one of their zoos, together with various other alien specimens. It is possible to escape by jumping from ledge to ledge to reach the door pressure-pad at the top of the screen. Needless to say, you escape only into other cages from which it is more difficult to escape. Despite its simple graphics and slow pace, Loony Zoo is a difficult and addictive game. Killer Knight - Phipps Associates, 48K Spectrum - thinly disguises a Kong-type game with medieval trappings. The player must climb from platform to platform, using ladders and avoiding rolling objects. Beginners will find it difficult to progress very far, while experienced players will soon realise that a high score can be obtained simply by running back and forth along the bottom level. MONKEY BIZNESS In a very similar vein is Monkey Bizness - Artic, 48K Spectrum. The monkey mentioned in the title is King Kong and the object is to rush up the scaffolding, dodging or destroying the barrels which Kong rolls at you, to rescue the woman at the top of the scaffolding. Monkey Bizness is an amusing and colourful game, although many Spectrum owners will find they already possess similar games. Like Donkey Kong, Pac-man is a game which spawned a multitude of imitations. Dinky Digger - Postern, 48K Spectrum - has a distinctly Pac-man-like air to it. The object is to clear the screen of cherries and grab the cake in the middle, while avoiding the monsters which are trying to eat you. One monster is followed quickly by another and the game is so difficult that it should be attempted only by the experienced or very nimble-fingered user. 3D Star Wars - Addon Electronics, 48K Spectrum - is one of the less worthwhile pieces of software on the market. The graphics are lifeless and confusing, the three-dimensional effect is jumbled, and the number of keys to be used complicates the game still further. THE GUARDIAN The Guardian - PSS, 48K Spectrum - is the first version of the arcade game The Tempest to appear for the Spectrum. The site is a spaceship on the edge of a vortex to another universe. Aliens appear through the doorway and must be destroyed by the use of laser bolt gun or star smasher weapons. The game has had to be simplified for micro-computer use but it is easy and fun to play. CCS has begun its Games for Girls series with three games for the 48K Spectrum. Hicksted, a simulation of a show jumping event; Diamond Quest, which is a straightforward adventure; and Jungle Maze, in which prizes are won with a Mastermind-style guessing game which is fun, although unoriginal. Apart from a tenuous link with show jumping in one game and a heroine rather than a hero in another, it is difficult to see in what way CCS has changed its strategy to aim it at females rather than males. Computers are bound to affect everyone's future in some way, so encouraging more people to use and understand them is a worthwhile project. To attempt to increase a software company's market vastly by selling to women is unlikely to succeed unless the software market is changed substantially.

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 6/10

OLD FAVOURITE IS RIGHT ON TARGET Memory: 48K Price: £5.95 Joystick: Kempston The Guardian, for the 48K Spectrum, is the first version of the classic arcade game Tempest for the machine. You are in a spaceship on the edge of a vortex into another universe. Through the doorway flit groups of aliens intent on destroying you. Each has its own attack patterns which you must study closely if you are to survive. To destroy the aliens you must use your laser bolt gun. You will also have the opportunity to use two secret star smasher weapons which will fizz down the sides of the vortex and destroy everything trying to exit. The Guardian, from PSS, is a spirited attempt at producing a version of Tempest, a game from which everyone else has shied away. It is a difficult game to run at a reasonable speed and, although the author has simplified the game, it is still worth playing. It is not often that we would recommend a take-off of a game found in arcades as the market is becoming more sophisticated and demands greater originality. The Guardian provides nothing spectacular in innovation but it is easy and fun to play.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Crash

Overall 68%

Producer: PSS, 48K £5.95 (2) The gateway to the anti-matter world of Migon is actually an oblong grid line with radiating lines from an off-centred inner square. Your ship whizzes at amazing speed round the outer edge of the outer grid, firing inwards at (first) enemy ships which come outward, one to a segment and which will destroy you if you are still on that segment when it reaches the edge, (second) at meteors and (third) at more enemy ships plus an energy force which zips around the inner edge of the grid line getting closer and closer to you. It has a specialist appeal for those who like simple asteroidal games played at an almost insane speed and that require split second timing skills. Reasonable use of colour in the very small graphics, an ample selection of control keys, joystick: Kempston. Progressive difficulty, fast and medium addictive. Overall CRASH rating 68% m/c.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Crash

Use of Computer 75%

Graphics 59%

Playability 68%

Getting Started 66%

Addictive Qualities 72%

Value For Money 67%

Overall 68%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: P.S.S. Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £5.95 Language: Machine code The scene is set: you are at the gateway to the antimatter world of Migon. Do you dare enter, will you survive? Well of course you dare enter, but whether you will survive in this mega-lightspeed game is quite another matter, or anti-matter in this case. The simple object of the game is to speed your ship in either direction around a square which is superimposed on a space background. A smaller square is offset within the bigger, and lines radiating out from it create segments. Your ship is a sort of picture hook shaped thing that runs on the outer square. From the central square four enemy ships fly outward in three successive waves. You can centre yourself on an occupied segment and shoot the enemy with your laser, zipping around to get the next, and so on. If an enemy reaches the outer square while you are stationary on that segment - you're dead. The second screen has no segments, but meteor showers radiate out at a high speed. The third screen returns to the radial grid and the enemy are back with another danger, a V shaped energy thingie that zaps around the edges trying to get you. Your only other weapon is a Star Smasher that destroys everything in the square. But you only have two of them. The more screens you get through, the more enemy there are. As you can see, holiday package tours keep well clear of Migon. COMMENTS Control keys: an ample selection - Y/U/I/O/P = fire, A/S/D/F/G left, H/J/K/L/ENTER = right, B-SPACE = Star Smasher Joystick: Kempston Keyboard play: lightning fast responses Colour simple but well used Graphics: very simple but very fast Sound: good Skill levels: gets tougher by the screen Lives: 3

Your picture hook zips round the base of the grid in The Guardian.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

DON'T SHOOT THE WHALE OR ELSE! Save the Whale activists will love Moby Dick! If you depth-charge the famous big White whale by mistake in the heat of a raging sea battle the Greenpeace ship comes after you. The idea of the game is to down the helicopters that are bombarding your destroyer, and depth charge the subs that lurk in the deep - but watch out for that whale! When you shoot down a helicopter be sure to catch the pilot who parachutes to safety. Moby Dick runs on the Commodore 64 and is the latest addition to the PSS range. Also new from the Coventry-based firm is a seven level Scramble-type game with a nuclear reactor waiting to be destroyed at the end of the winding tunnels. Spectrum owners are also included in this new package with a game called Guardian which casts you as a space age prison warder. The worst criminals are housed in a laser grid in deepest space. It is your job to stop them escaping. Armed with a powerful laser gun you must fly your craft with great precision around the perimeter of the prison forcing them back within its electronic walls. The games are available now at £7.95 for the 64 titles, and £5.95 for the Guardian.