Thrusta

Personal Computer News

Bob Chappell

FRANTIC HAZARDS Bob Chappell rolls out his trusty Spectrum to test five new games cassettes. Thrusta £5.95, Software Projects, [redacted], mail order/retail. THRUSTA Software Projects have unveiled a new weapon for use in Earth's continuing struggle against invading wrigglies from outer space - blooming great boulders. You control a chunky little rocket ship equipped with a standard issue laser weapon. The ship flies around the platform-filled screen, blasting guardian aliens to its heart's content. What these particular creatures are guardians of are down at the bottom of the screen, neatly tucked up in individual slots - yellow, speckled, quivering eggs. They eventually crack open to hatch out octopus-impersonating aliens. Since these hatchlings turn out to be invulnerable to your laser, you have to destroy the eggs before they hatch. Luckily, good old Mother Earth has bounteous natural resources - rocks, to be precise. One of these will pop up somewhere on the topmost ledge; you must push it from shelf to shelf, so that when it finally falls off, it scrambles a surprised egg. An original idea and nicely executed with crisp, smooth graphics and action. The pulsating blobs are enough to put you off henfruit for life.

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 8/10

Sound 4/10

Originality 8/10

Lasting Interest 7/10

Overall 8/10

Chris Anderson 8/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 16/48K JOYSTICK: Kempston, Optional SUPPLIER: Software Projects PRICE: £5.95 Great fun this one. You push boulders off ledges to squash nasty aliens which keep hatching out down below. You also fire at alien 'guards' and dodge around like the clappers. Nice animation and several different screens of action make Thrusta a game that offers just a bit more than the competition.

Crash

Use of Computer 75%

Graphics 70%

Playability 75%

Getting Started 75%

Addictive Qualities 72%

Value For Money 69%

Overall 73%

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Producer: Software Projects Memory Required: 16K Retail Price: £5.50 Language: Machine code Author: Patrick Richmond You would think that it is getting difficult to come up with an original idea for an alien shoot em up game, but with Thrusta, Software Projects seems to have done it. This is not only a shoot em up, it's also a crush em down! Your mission takes place on the planet Spectra (where else?) where you and your space ship Thrusta 1 must destroy alien nests, whose eggs are rapidly and continuously hatching. Not only are there the hatching aliens to contend with, but there are also guards which keep watch over the eggs. The screen has nine red brick bins at the base. In the four on either side sit the yellow alien eggs and from the centre one the alien guards issue forth to do battle. These resemble cross wing fighters, although they don't fire at you. Above the bins, or nests, are a series of four platforms with holes In them at staggered intervals - actually, more holes with platforms in them. On the top one your ship appears - and a boulder. The ship can move in four directions and fire at the guards with its laser (though not at the hatched out aliens). The object is to push the boulder along until it drops through a hole to the next level, drop down and push it again, until, finally it drops right down on the aliens and crushes them. All three sorts may be crushed. If you get through this screen, in the next the aliens hatched out much more vicious and eager to get you. COMMENTS Control keys: Z/X left/right, SPACE = up, ENTER = fire. The ship sinks by itself Joystick: Kempston Keyboard play: very responsive, takes time to get used to the 'gravity' effect on the ship! Colour very good Graphics: very good, nice and big Sound: continuous, above average Skill levels: harder by screen Lives: 3

Thrusta 1 drops a boulder on a hatching alien - but the others are cracking open....