Games Tape 2

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

FINE ART OF SPACE FIGHTING You can journey to the stars unravel the mysteries of the pyramids or become an artist with Gamestape 2, which has three 16K programs for the ZX81. First on the tape is Starfighter. The enemy are trying to destroy your civilisation. You must stop them by flying your Starfighter and shooting them down with your lasers. The screen displays the view from your cockpit with stars and a firing cursor in front of you. The cursor, your laser sights, are controlled by pressing keys one to nine, while the zero key fires the laser. This layout can be confusing until you get used to it I used a sticky label on the keyboard to remind me of the keys that give the diagonal moves, one to four. The enemy starships are shown as H, X and 0 on the screen. Each has a different score value. If you can manage to hit twenty of them before your energy runs out you get a replay. I would have liked to have seen two or three starships on the screen at once or see them fire back to liven the game up a bit. Second on the tape is Pyramid - the classic puzzle where a pyramid has to be moved from A to B via C piece by piece. The pyramid shown o n the screen has nine layers and the pads lettered A, B, C and a prompt are also displayed. Movement is controlled by pressing the appropriately lettered keys, the computer will automatically move the top layer of the pile. This game takes a very long time to play, the suppliers reckon that 511 moves are the minimum. Turning over the tape gives us Artist. The usual "draw a picture on your television screen" type program. However this one does have some major differences. After you have finished your drawing you can store it in one of 10 memories for retrieval later if you wish. If you own a Sinclair printer the drawing can be copied on to it. The sticky label used in Starfighter can also be used here as the input commands are the same. This tape must be rated as good value for money and is available from J.K Greye Software, of Bath, and costs £4.95.