Moon Buggy

Your Spectrum

George Price HIT

Johnathan Norman MISS

Mark Manning HIT

JOYSTCK JURY Evaluating the batch this month is the Gloucester Computing Club. Any club wishing to offer their services should contact Ron Smith, Your Spectrum, [redacted]. This month's reviewers (all ten of them!) are members of the Gloucester Computer Club and, in alphabetical order, they are: Stephen Avent (28), Andrew Base (15), Robert Ledbury (22), Mark Manning (15), Nigel Newland (13), Peter Newland (15), Johnathan Norman (15), George Price (35), Mike Skinner (30) and Richard Vernon (15). They all set to work with Spectrum, pen and paper to tell us what's right and what's not so right with the latest new releases. THE GLOUCESTER COMPUTING CLUB In a moment we'll get on to the verdicts of our nimble-fingered, boggle-eyed band - to find out which new games are bound for the YS Top 20. But first, some details on the club. It was formed approximately eight months ago by Mr B Ledbury (who happens to be the father of Robert - one of our reviewers) and it's already built up a membership of 35 enthusiasts - ages ranging from 10 years to 'mature'. Meetings are currently held in two rooms at Mr Ledbury's home; one for games evaluation, the other for more serious studies. Membership is free and for more information, contact Mr Ledbury, [redacted]. MOONBUGGY Visions Software £5.90 You've been sent to an alien world where you will be attacked by spacecraft from above and missiles. To overcome all this you have an armed moon buggy, whose only refinement is a sort of pogo stick that helps you jump across craters.

Read it at Your Spectrum Unofficial Archive

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 6/10

Memory: Any Spectrum Price: £6.95 Joystick: Kempston Mosquito-like aliens swirl above your armoured car as you bounce your way across the pitted surface of some distant moon. Armour-piercing missiles home-in from the sides and all you can do is to keep firing and drive with the utmost care in Moon Buggy for any Spectrum. The game will be familiar to high-scoring arcade aces as a tough variant of the shoot-'em-up space games. The buggy is meant to be a slow tracked vehicle fitted with gizmos which will hurl the machine into the air, enabling it to avoid the craters and cracks. If the tank falls into a hole the wheels will fall off and you have lost one of your five lives. For protection the buggy fires shots up and sideways. The aliens become progressively smarter and there are 16 types to contend with on eight screens. The sprite graphics are smooth, well-designed, with brilliant colours. Action is fast and edgy, timing being very important once the player attempts to drive away. It makes sense to find a wide, flat place to stop and fight it out, risking driving only when there are few aliens remaining. A good score can be run up in that way, whereas travelling is extremely difficult and hazardous. The cassette instructions are clear but the trouble is they are incorrect. To load you must LOAD "" CODE and that all-important instruction has been bungled on the insert. That is a pity, as Moon Buggy is an exciting game, though the format remains fundamentally the same throughout. If you are an arcade freak you will enjoy the Visions program even if you curse because of falling into too many craters.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Crash

Use of Computer 63%

Graphics 68%

Playability 61%

Getting Started 45%

Addictive Qualities 55%

Value For Money 58%

Overall 58%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Visions Memory Required: 16K Retail Price: £6.95 Language: Machine code Author: Jon Dyte You are stranded (for some obscure reason) on an alien planet where aliens attack from above and the sides, and the ground is full of holes. Lunar Jetman had to get out to fill them in, but technology has obviously advanced, and the makers of Moon Buggy have provided it with a sort of pogo stick underneath which bounces it 20 feet into the air to clear the potholes. The guns fire straight ahead in the direction of travel as well as straight up. Up above, crowds of aliens jiggle and waft about, dropping bombs in a constant rain, while from either side various weapons cruise just above the planet's surface in your direction. Should you get hit by an alien or bomb, or fall into a hole, the buggy doesn't explode, but does something more original - a wheel flies off! With each screen cleared, more and varied aliens appear. Also the position of the holes in the ground alters. COMMENTS Control keys: Q/P jump left/right, A to ENTER=fire, alternate keys on the bottom row for left and right Joystick: none Keyboard play: responsive Use of colour: very good Graphics: smooth and very detailed, good explosions and plenty of variety Sound: continuous, average Skill levels: 1 Lives: 5 Screens: 8

Whoops! There goes another wheel! Moonbuggy faces aliens from all sides.

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 5/10

Sound 5/10

Originality 4/10

Lasting Interest 5/10

Overall 5/10

Chris Anderson 5/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 16/48K JOYSTICK: Kempston, Optional SUPPLIER: Visions PRICE: £6.95 Nothing like Ultimate's Lunar Jetman. Simply another shoot-'em-up in which you get your buggy to fire simultaneously at missiles on either side of you and aliens about you. And you escape trouble by making it leap over craters. Good choice of control keys. Not all bad for 16K.

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

VIOLENT VISIONS OF ARMAGEDDON The Visions Software Factory has really got their production line working overtime, churning out games at an incredible rate. Another six games have been added to their range of Spectrum and Commodore 64 titles. Armageddon 'a game of gratuitous violence' is a jolly little game which lets you and a friend or two blow the world to pieces as many times as you like before breakfast. Global genocide is now possible on a CBM 64 plus breaks for coffee, of course! 1994 is a multi-level game for the 48K Spectrum. You must guide Smithy (I suppose they mean Winston Smith from 1984) through eight levels inhabited by droids, robot eagles and plasma bolts to find the key that unlocks the gate to the next screen. WILLY get to the top or fall to the bottom of the mine? ...oops different game - isn't it? There aren't any speed limits on the moon so why not go for a spin across the lunar landscape with a little help from Moon Buggy. It's not all smiles though. The local aliens have got a little narked with all the noise you've been making and are trying to shoot your brains out. Sounds like a rough neighbourhood. Moon Buggy, 1994 and Articus run on the 48K Spectrum. Two other releases - Banana Drama and Gusher - run on the '64. Banana Drama is a kingdom-type game where you play the part of a dictator of a small banana republic. Taxes have to be collected, crops sown, exports sold and the population fed, otherwise you could be on the end of a very nasty revolution. All the games are available from the Visions' Software Factory or from most High Street retailers.