Tempest

Crash

Use of Computer 68%

Graphics 75%

Playability 85%

Getting Started 66%

Addictive Qualities 88%

Value For Money 85%

Overall 79%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Euro-Byte Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £6.95 Language: Machine code Author: Boris Baginski Euro-Byte games have been around for some time, but we have never seen one reviewed. Euro-Byte itself appears to keep a very low profile as well. There are two games reviewed in this issue, G-Force here, and Pod. Pod, however, appears to have been sold to, or marketed through, Visions under the new name of Rapedes, and a review of it can also be found in this issue. F-Force is a hard game to describe as it fits in with no known categories and resembles no other game we have seen. It is a shoot 'em up - that, at least, can be said. It is played on a grid made up of 10 vertical columns. Your ship is at the base and may move left and right, firing ping-pong balls up any of the columns, at the aliens which drop down from the top. There are six types of alien, although you won't encounter all at once until the higher skill levels are reached. Flippers, a red X-shape. are common and move randomly back and forth as they descend. Tankers, purple diamond shapes, move down a column quite slowly, and if shot split into two Flippers. Spinners, looking like a mini molecular structure mode, are the most common and move down a column at various speeds from slow to very fast. Spikers look like cotton reels on a thread, dangling from the top in a column. They stretch down, leaving spikes which kill at the end of a frame if you survive (the whole grid scrolls down and the spikes will stick you if you remain in a column under one). Pulsars run along the top of the grid and drop deadly bombs, while lastly, Fireballs move all over the screen. Extremely busy bonus screens between frames give details of scores, level reached and aliens to be encountered before a countdown from 10 starts. There are 32 levels to play through. COMMENTS Control keys: G/H left right and F/J superfast left /right, 1 and 0=fire Joystick: none Keyboard play: excellent responses, simple to use Use of colour: very good Graphics: very good, large, detailed and more well if suddenly Sound: good Skill levels /screens: 32 Lives: 3 Features: 1 or 2 player games with independent level starts

An unusual game of pure speed - G-Force.