Asteroids

Sinclair User

Phil Garrett

SILVERSOFT ARCADE There are two more programs from Silversoft in case you caught the arcade itch at the seaside. Asteroids has three sizes of asteroids, left and right turn, fire and thrust controls. There are 10 levels of play from soppy to suicidal, with bonuses for knocking-out the motherships. On-screen scoring and high score make this a good all-machine-code version of the game for £5.95. Space Invaders is the closest yet to the arcade original. It has 10 levels of play, command ships, plenty of bombs to dodge, smooth machine code action, on-screen scoring and high score. Like the original, when you reach the last few invaders they start moving faster, so a steady hand and a good eye are required. If you manage one screen. the next group start one step further down. As an extra bonus, the program includes the software necessary to run the Quicksilva character generator, for even more realistic invaders action. It costs £4.95 from Silversoft, [redacted].

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

DEATH LURKS IN SPACE Take your ZX81 where no Sinclair has gone before. Out in the darkest reaches of space lurk the invaders and deadly fields of fast moving asteroids all out to do you terminal damage. Both games include most of the features of the arcade favourites and are written entirely in machine code for fast and furious action. Invaders has 10 skill levels, a high score listing, flying saucers, a bonus feature and realistic invader movement. Asteroids has 10 skill levels, a wrap-around screen, five attack waves and those flying rocks come in three sizes. There is also a high score listing and bonus feature. Invaders and Asteroids will run in 4K of RAM and are available from Silversoft, [redacted], or the London based Small Enterprises. Invaders costs £4.95 and Asteroids will set you back £5.95.