Luna Atac

Your Sinclair

Graphics 2/10

Playability 5/10

Value For Money 5/10

Addictiveness 3/10

Overall 4/10

Phil South 4/10

Atlantis £1.99 Reviewer: Phil South You know what? I thought I'd just about had it with platform games. Then I review two of them in the same blimmin' issue! Cor blimey. Well, here we go. You play the role of an astronaut who has to comb the platforms (and those are really unkempt platforms, guys) of some subterranean catacombs. What makes this peerless hero brave the hot-foots, the spikes in the floor, the animated space suits, the fear and the unmitigated peril of it all? He searches, he yearns, for the sight of... barrels!!! He collects different coloured barrels? Er... Just a minute, did I miss something here? Are we still talking about the same game? Nope, it's all there in the pixels. Our hero is risking lives and certain deresolution for the sake of a bevvy of multicoloured barrels, which are scattered around in various hard-to-get-at little places in the maze. Admittedly this is a budget game, and as such can't really be criticised for the lack of attention to detail, like its illogical and arbitrary plot, because really neat games cost a lot to make. But, though it's another platform game, it's not bad - even if it's not very taxing on the old brain muscles. Not only are the problems too easy to solve, but I didn't find it addictive enough to make me even want to solve them.

ZX ComputingZX Computing Globert

Overall Good

Atlantis £1.99 Now here is a platform game which, though not breathtaking and state of the art, is good, solid and enjoyable. It's funny how a little thing can mean the difference between boring and enjoyable, in this case it was the animation of the character's feet which tickled my fancy. So here we are stuck on a multi-level space station searching for fuel barrels and computer terminals - well, it makes a change from caverns, keys and jewels. There are booby traps and wandering robots which deplete your AC power (another way of losing a life) and your overall time (TM) is limited. Once either of the AC or TM level indicators reaches zero then it's the end of the game. Your task is to collect nine fuel barrels, three each of three colours and collect, through trial and error, the six letters of a jumbled word by visiting the appropriate computer terminal. Once all the above tasks have been completed then it's off to the emergency shuttle launch chamber where the unscrambled word has to be entered to escape and so complete the game. OK, so maybe it's not the most original or creative variation on the Manic Miner type of program, but some thought has gone into this game and an attempt to add new features to an old format has been tried. The end result is a game which is very playable provides enough of a challenge to make you keep on playing and is fun. Animation is good, and screens are well designed and generally uncluttered with unnecessary detail. Colour is used well but sound is used sparingly. Not a masterpiece in the Spectrum games field, but worth the money and will occupy an idle hour (for two).

Crash

Use of Computer 55%

Graphics 49%

Playability 55%

Getting Started 54%

Addictive Qualities 56%

Value For Money 58%

Overall 55%

Unknown

Unknown

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Producer: Atlantis Retail Price: £1.99 Author: Nigel Edwards Trapped inside a space ship crawling with aliens, the spaceman wants to escape. Robot patrols are on his trail. Somehow the intrepid spaceman must locate his escape shuttle, refuel it and crack the code so he can flee from the merciless invaders. Apart from being very deadly by themselves, the robots have also booby-trapped the ship with elaborate snares to try and get rid of the spaceman. Spikes rise ominously out of the floor and impale the unwary spaceman if he treads on them. Beware of glowing panels in the floor. When they're white these are quite harmless, but if they change to blue when you're walking over them they sap your power pack considerably. Contact with the patrolling staff also results in power loss. Your power pack is shown at the top of the screen, coloured magenta and labelled AC. Each clash with the patrol robots or a trap around the space station results in a drain of this power. When the level becomes too low, the spaceman dies and the game is over. In order to re-fuel the shuttle, nine barrels of fuel have to be collected. Fuel barrels come in three colours: magenta, green and cyan. When three barrels of each colour have been collected, their contents can be mixed to provide the fuel for the shuttle. These barrels are situated on platforms and are studiously guarded by the robots. The spaceman can move around the space station on foot or he can use the teleport pads, represented by flashing cyan boxes. If he needs to super-leap to another higher platform, then this can be arranged by way of striped pieces of floor. When the spaceman stands on these he automatically jumps upwards and can get to where he wants to go. Once all the barrels have been collected the spaceman still has to gain security access to the shuttle. For this he needs a secret password. Dotted around the space station are computer terminals. When the spaceman approaches one of these he is given a series of letters. Only one of these letters will go towards making up the password anagram. If he selects the right one, then it is displayed at the top of the screen and transferred to the Master Computer. However, if the spaceman chooses wrongly, then some of his valuable energy is sapped away. Six letters are needed to build the access code to the Master Computer. There is a time limit to the game. Next to the AC box is a green one labelled TM. The green level gradually goes down as the game progresses and if the escape mission is not carried out within 15 minutes then the game is over. COMMENTS Control keys: O left, W right, P activate, Q W and P also used to crack computer codes Joystick: Kempston Keyboard play: responsive Use of colour: very colourful Graphics: quite good, though sparse at times Sound: occasional spot effects, but that's all Skill levels: one Screens: 21

Beware of the robot patrol and their deadly booby-traps! In this spaceship the floors are never what they seem...

The minutes are ticking away. Can our little spaceman colect all the fuel barrels he needs in time?