Pheenix

Sinclair User

Overall 2/5

Jim Douglas 2/5

Label: Alternative Software Author: Martin Ward Price: £1.99 Memory: 48K/128K Reviewer: Jim Douglas Pheenix is a very old game indeed. It became moderately popular during the post Galaxian swirly twirly shoot-out "boom". The concept of these games is to wipe out the alien horde before they do allkindzabadstuff to the Earth. In fact, Pheenix was just a form of Space-Invaders although the little blighters refused to stand in easy-to-kill lines. They zoomed around a bit and disguised themselves as large blue birds. Indeed, there is a large blue bird on the cover artwork. Unfortunately it is very poorly drawn and gives the casual on looker little if any idea what on earth the game is about. (Why do software companies use the name of a well known game - presumably for easy identification and thus increased sales - and then use a largely confusing piece of artwork? Discuss) Anyway, that's all by the by. Now, were we living in a romantic world, this is the point where I'd be able to say "But despite my initial feelings about the game, it's really great!" Unfortunately we don't, I can't and it's not. Moving left and right and firing and using your shield (sometimes) may have been satisfactory a few years ago but it no longer holds the slightest interest. The gameplay is predictable, the graphics are uninspiring and the whole thing is very disappointing indeed. And hold on to your horses all you "Ah yes, but it's a conversion of the arcade game and therefore the graphics remain faithful" crowd. It won't wash! Pheenix is a load of hogwash if - he says, nervously avoiding an entirely damning review - you really want a version of this tired old fogey, it may be worth a look.

Your Sinclair

Graphics 4/10

Playability 7/10

Value For Money 7/10

Addictiveness 6/10

Overall 6/10

Rick Robson 6/10

Alternative Software £1.99 Reviewer: Rick Robson DH Lawrence lived before computer games and his symbol was the Phoenix. He didn't think people should go to school, so no doubt he would've approved of Alternative Software's Pheenix, spelt in true non-skool attender's style. At £1.99 a flight I'd be chary to criticise this game as feather brained. Indeed it's all hot-blooded action in true Lawrentian style and after all at that price you'd normally be content for the thing to load. The Pheenix concept goes back to the original Space Invaders - though the emphasis isn't so much astral aviation as avaries. You're in control of a space ship that's besieged by squadrons of feathered aliens, nay, positive gaggles of the things. Your aim is in true Space Invader's style - blast as many as possible from the firmament. The first screen is fairly simple - you can usually avoid the enemy as long as you don't get stuck in a corner. Get stuck and your five lives will start ticking off, no matter how famed the Phoenix may be at coming back from the dead. Thing start hotting up on screen two 'cos you've got to zap the eggs before they hatch out into beastly birds that take great pleasure in dropping things on you from a great height. I'll be generous and assume that they're actually eggs but it did inspire a sense of relief at the though that cows can't fly. Screen three is blab the mothership time though it certainly ain't easy. The five skill levels are based entirely on speed, and oh boy, I can assure you that level five really does motor. As punk is to Bryan Ferry, this is to all those nice laid back shoot 'em ups you've seen before. What you lose in namby pamby graphics, loony tunes and pseudo Star Wars posing you make up for with 100 percent playability and a completely orgiastic surfeit of gratuitous destruction. Yup, ol' DH would've loved it.

ZX Computing

Mark Sargusingh

Pheenix for the 16 or 48K Spectrum, is a reproduction of the arcade favourite Phoenix. Pheenix is a space invader type of game in which you must destroy the aliens to enter the next phase of the game. You control your spaceship which is equipped with left, right, fire and barrier controls. The barrier protects your ship from oncoming blasts of alien fire. Like the arcade game, your barrier only protects yours ship for 3 seconds, you must then wait a further 3 seconds before using your barrier again. I found the barrier most useful in the first and fast phases of the game. In each phase you will have to destroy: PHASE 1 - Purple birds worth 25 points. PHASE 2 - Green birds worth 25 points. PHASE 3 Large blue birds worth 100 to 250 points. PHASE 4 - Large purple birds worth 100 to 250 points. PHASE 5 - Alien spaceship worth 4000 to 6000. You are awarded 100 points on phases 4 and 3 if you destroy a bird while it is still an egg, but you gain 150 to 250 points if you destroy it after it has hatched. At 10,000 points you gain a life and if you clear all 5 phases, the game returns to the beginning. The graphics were very good and similar to the arcade version and were moving smoothly across the screen. Sound was also good but not enough sound was given when your ship was destroyed. Pheenix is written in Machine Code and costs £5.50 from Megadodo Software. It is undoubtedly the best Phoenix game available for the ZX Spectrum.

CrashCrash Guide Game of the Month

Matthew Uffindell

ONE OF THE CLASSICS - PHEENIX BY MEGADODO Pheenix is 99% accurate as a copy of the arcade original, and includes 5 screens with 5 skill levels. The entry skill level can be chosen by the player (level 1 is slowish, level 5 is very, very fast). A demo mode will run if the keyboard is left alone for a short time. There are no instructions on playing the game, so watch this demo very carefully. Once the various options have been chosen the game begins with a tuneful melody - just like the arcade original; even the scrolling stars have not been forgotten. In screen 1 (your craft appears at the bottom of course) very colourful birds form up on the screen, one or two breaking formation to attack you. For defence a laser cannon is supplied and an electro force field comes as standard. Screen 2 is very much like the first but the birds are a different colour (flapping wings as well) and they attack you more frequently, but you can shoot more quickly now. On screen 3 you will get a surprise when you start to shoot the weaving eggs - they split open with the points awarded inside, the two halves of the egg shooting off to either side of the screen just as in the original. After three passes of the eggs over the screen, the birds inside hatch out, flapping creatures, each with a mind of its own. Now the force field comes into its own, saving you from the deadly bombs and their kamikaze attacks. One thing though, the barrier can only be active for a certain length of time before it needs recharging. These birds certainly don't like you, and will sacrifice their lives for yours if necessary. Screen 4 is a copy of the third screen except for the colour difference. There are the eggs again, but the resulting birds are even more lethal for it. On both this screen and screen 3, giving a bird an indirect hit causes it to yelp - great!! Screen 5, and on to the Mothership. The object is to shoot away the protection barrier beneath the ship and kill the mother bird inside. Of course, she isn't going to let you get away with this, so she throws loads of cluster bombs at you. The Mothership is also protected by highly dangerous birds, which not only swoop at you, dropping as many as twelve bombs at a time but they'll also kamikaze you if the bombs don't kill you off. Screen 5 is very difficult to complete, but if you do, then a tuneful display congratulates you and you return to screen 1 with the game speeded up. All the details of the original have been included and I was very impressed with the way the birds flapped their wings and with the explosions. The sound appears to have been faithfully reproduced and the Spectrum has been pushed a long way with this game - and what's so appealing is that it has all been fitted into 16K. If you haven't got it, definitely a game to add to your collection. Matthew Uffindell Phoenix is produced by Megadodo for the 16K Spectrum, priced £5.50 it may me played with a Kempston or AGF joystick.

Eggs and bombs away in one of the best arcade original copies for the Spectrum - Megadodo PHEENIX.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Crash

Producer: Megadodo, 16K £5.50 We've been very remiss in leaving this game out of the Guide. Megadodo's Phoenix is a very close copy of the arcade original and has, for some time, been one of the most popular versions around. It features a laser base with force field for protection (no shooting when it's in its timed operation), eggs, various flapping birds and a very large Mothership, the underside of which must be worn away in traditional style before making it vulnerable to your fire. There are 5 screens and 5 skill levels (speeds). The graphics are very smooth and quite large. Sound is inventive and continuous. The game can actually be easier to play at the higher speeds. If you like shoot em ups, this is a must for your collection and very good value at the price. 100% machine code, sensible keys and Kempston joystick.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Personal Computer News

Mike Gerrard

Steve McClure

SPORTING SPECTRUM Mike Gerrard and Steven McClure set up a two-man defence against the latest Sinclair hordes. Spectrum games keep coming thick and fast - some of them more thick than fast, it must be said. But this latest consignment includes at least a couple that match arcade standards and even one in which it's your shout - you literally call the shots! Start yomping .. PHEENIX (£5.50) - Megadodo Software, [redacted] Why should anyone write a fast-moving machine code version of an arcade classic, then make you wait 20 seconds between each and every game while the screen fills with stars? It's a pity because this is otherwise an enjoyable version of Phoenix... go on, admit it, you'd never have guessed. You can use the keyboard or either Kempston or AGF joysticks, and select from five skill levels. There are several screens of birds and eggs to be scrambled before you get to assault the Flagship. The hardest level is suicidal, but a few instructions wouldn't have gone amiss. It is colourful, but due to the frustrating wait between each screen change I recommend you look for a better alternative. AQUARUIS (£5.95) - Bug-Byte, [redacted] Bug-Byte bites again with a game that would grace any arcade. Using Kempston joystick or keyboard, you must negotiate your diver through a scrolling sea filled with sharks. Jellyfish, mines, strangleweed and other fishy nasties. Most of these can be despatched with a direct shot from your gun, but your oxygen is also expiring, so pick up the supplies from the seabed when you can. If you're lucky, or extremely skillful, you'll eventually come to dark caverns, at the end of which is your mission - to defuse the death machines by shooting the three-colour coded panels in the sequence given at the start of the game. Amusing graphics, if a little jerky here and there, but definitely the pick of this batch. ANT ATTACK Macronics Systems, [redacted] After a hard day's gardening you fall asleep, but your dream turns nasty as the ants decide to get their own back on you. At least that's the story behind what's claimed to be the first Spectrum game controlled partly by your voice. Yell 'fire' at your tape recorder and that's what's meant to happen. I couldn't make it work, but that's not to say it won't on other tape recorders. More of a gimmick than of practical use, unless you can shout at a very fast rate indeed. Settling for keyboard control, I enjoyed a fast and furious Centipede-type game, shooting at ants and other pests as they descend the screen in that well-known fashion. The cassette insert is cheaply done, but there's nothing wrong with the game itself. ALIEN INSECTS Macronics Systems, [redacted] Armed with a laser bolt, you must shoot down the fat little insects that are buzzing all over the screen. You can move in four directions, with a sensible layout for keyboard control. This is a game worth getting just to see what sounds can be squeezed out of the Spectrum. If you kill enough nasties then space eggs start to appear at the top of the screen, waiting to descend on you. By this time the insects are about as easy and pleasant to deal with as a swarm of wasps. 3D STRATEGY (£6.95) - Quicksilva, [redacted] As a change from killing ants, aliens, birds or jellyfish, here's a game where you could cheerfully kill the programmer. It is so hard to beat the machine in this 4x4x4 version of Noughts and Crosses or Connect Four, and I was only playing on the easiest of the four skill levels. The only drawback to this piece of software is the instructions. They drivel on for pages about how totally wonderful the game is... auto-play option, timer that can be set per move, per game or switched off, on-screen ticking clocks, two styles of play, an average response time of 1.7 seconds, machine code, over 200,000 decisions per move, and so on. The board is displayed as four separate grids at the bottom of the screen, which is a little confusing, though We no doubt a proper three-dimensional cube would have been even more so. However, it does offer a very tough opponent, and it may be as good as it claims. YOMP (£7.98) - Virgin Games, [redacted] A paratrooper opera which is fairly easy to figure out. You use four keys to manoeuvre your way through four columns of trucks and tanks and all you have to do is learn how to place yourself in the optimum position to sneak through to the other side of the moving convoys. As a video game memento of the Falklands conflict it's a pretty weak effort. SHEEPWALK (£7.98) - Virgin Games, [redacted] Sheepwalk is almost as dull as Yomp once it's in play. You're a sheepdog moving around the screen trying to catch up with miscreant sheep. While doing this you risk trampling the vegetables or bumping into walls. GOLF (£7.98) - Virgin Games, [redacted] In its Virgin form, Golf is an interesting enough game to play. It requires players to plot out each shot's direction and strength, while using the right club. There's enough of a random element to make the game more than a little irritating. When your ball lands in the rough it can take three or four strokes to get it out. This is where having a low handicap (you can choose between 1 and 28) is a real advantage. The game's designers have assumed real duffers are going to have problems in getting out of the woods.