Blade Alley

Crash

Ben Stone

Robin Candy

Use of Computer: 82% Graphics: 87% Playability: 86% Getting Started: 81% Addictive Qualities: 89% Value for Money: 86% Overall: 85% Blade Alley is a 3D shoot em up a sort of 'Buck Rogers' game. The object of the game is basically to shoot anything that moves and if it doesn't move shoot it anyway. Strangely enough, though, despite it getting a good rating in the review it has never been very popular on the hotline which is normally a reflection of how good a game is I didn't see Blade Alley when it was first released (we weren't CRASH reviewers at that time) but looking at it now I've decided that I don't really like it. I think it's got something to do with the annoying tune and the keyboard layout that seems to have your hands tied up in knots. The 3D effect is quite good but it's not a patch on the newer 3D games like Starstrike, Darkstar etc. BS Of all the early 3D games think that Blade Alley was the best. Though I don't think it would rate highly nowadays for its time it was marvellous. The graphics while good are a trifle boring when compared with the likes of Knightlore and Starstrike but they worked; better to have simple 3D graphics with few attribute problems than pretty things which just end up as a flashing blob at one end of the screen. The sound was quite good and with the addition of the Currah Micro-speech the sound was even better. The hardest thing to do on Blade Alley was lining your ship up with the enemies to shoot them but after you mastered this there wasn't a lot to the game. I quite liked Blade Alley but it's very dated now. RC (Ben) I would lower 'Use of computer' down to 70 because the keys are so hard to use. 'Graphics' down to about 77 and 'Playability' down 6% to 80. All the other ratings I would take down about 10 to the early seventies or late sixties. (Rob) As I've said the game is a bit dated now so all the ratings except maybe 'Playability' should go down by 10 to 20%. 'Playability' I would probably push up by a couple of percent to somewhere around the 89 region because it is very playable for a while.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition

Big K

Graphics 2/3

Playability 2/3

Addictiveness 2/3

Overall 2/3

Steve Keaton 2/3

BLADERS OF THE LOST TRENCH MAKER: PSS FORMAT: cassette PRICE: £5.95 Another day, another trench. Settling into the Interceptor's cockpit you glance confidently around. The Kempston looks somewhat incongruous sellotaped to the flight deck but you clasp it anyway. Suddenly a roar of anger fills the launch bay and your Ion Drives begin to bleed. Ahead in the valley wait the Ties and the Saucers... So begins a commendable but flawed attempt to rewrite Buck Rogers and the Planet of Doom. Flawed? 'Fraid so. There's a couple of niggling game details which persistently spoil the action. F'rinstance, while you and the enemy scud smoothly across the screen blasting away at each other the scrolling backdrop looks decidedly hesitant. It doesn't seem to know where it's going. The Photon Disruptors are also suspect - a successful shot seems to depend more on the relative size of the two conflicting ships rather than any real space-jock accuracy. Try as you might, nothing is ever picked off on the horizon. Killer Kane, Buck Rogers' nemesis, best summed it all up with that celebrated line: "There's nowt in them pants save radishes!" The media clearly owe him great debt.

Sinclair User

Gilbert Factor 6/10

Memory: 48K Price: £6.95 Joystick: Kempston Star Wars appears to have been the main inspiration behind Blade Alley, in which you must fly your ion-driven interceptor along a defensive trench while avoiding or firing at the enemy craft hurtling towards you. The three-dimensional effects and perspective of the game are realistic, with shadows under each craft adding that extra touch of sophistication, and the player's fighter vessel handles well on either the keyboard or joystick. You have three lives to enable you to notch a score which might take you from the rank of space cadet to leader and eventually admiral. The enemy craft prove difficult to hit and although it is possible to stay in the game by weaving your way between them, achieving an impressive score is a laborious and possibly discouraging task. The game offers six screens, with varying backgrounds and additional hazards such as hopping aliens to increase the player's difficulties. Blade Alley is produced by PSS, Coventry.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online

Personal Computer Games

Graphics 8/10

Sound 5/10

Originality 5/10

Lasting Interest 5/10

Overall 7/10

Chris Anderson 7/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K CONTROL: Keys, Kemp FROM: PSS, £5.95 At last! Buck Rogers hits the Spectrum. This is a version of the game in which you guide a spacecraft as it hurtles through a corridor battling a succession of alien attackers. The game's interest stems from the 3D view you are given, with the enemy looming larger as they approach. Considering the Spectrum's limitations, this is done pretty impressively. Your craft moves smoothly as it swerves from side to side, and its height along with those of the alien ships is shown convincingly by the use of shadows. But the depiction of the corridor walls is not nearly so impressive as in versions on more powerful machines. The bands which make up the walls simply flash alternately blue and magenta and it takes some effort to imagine that you really are rushing forward. That aside, the 3D effect is among the best going on the Spectrum. The perspective has been worked out well - for example, to destroy aliens you must not only get in line with them but also move your craft to the same height, using the shadows as a guide. You then take a quick shot before swooping away to avoid a fatal collision. This takes considerable practice, and it's just as well, because that's about all there is to the game. The enemy attack one at a time and it's merely a question of shooting as many as possible. Eventually, this takes you on to a new screen, but although the background changes in each of the six different screens of action, the actual game and tactics remain much the same. You may find that it will not retain your interest for very long.

Crash

Use of Computer 82%

Graphics 87%

Playability 86%

Getting Started 81%

Addictive Qualities 89%

Value For Money 86%

Overall 85%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: PSS Retail Price: £5.95 Language: Machine code Blade Alley is a 3D shoot 'em up with six screens which uses quite simple graphic devices to create the sense of high-speed movement through trenches, over desert plains and so on. The object of the game is to climb aboard your ion driven interceptor and then shoot out of the sky a variety of enemy craft, saucers, tie fighters and space hoppers as well as asteroids. The 3D effect is created in three different ways. First of all, enemy craft grow bigger as they approach going through what looks like six frames of increasing size, the second device is that everything casts a shadow on the ground, which also grows bigger with approach, as well as defining the apparent height of the craft above the ground. The third method is that the landscape is created with alternate bars of flashing red and mauve, which give the impression of movement. In all the screens, your craft is seen at the foreground, facing out into the screen. Movement is in eight directions with fire possible while moving. In the first screen you plunge into the trench and are assaulted by tie fighters and saucers. The second is fought out over a plain with hoppers and saucers. The third represents your craft flying between two layers of some giant space station. In the fourth you are over a plain with mountains in the background with all four hazards. The fifth screen takes place in outer space without shadows to help you judge height, and the sixth is in a bottomless trench, again without the help of shadows. Moving from screen to screen is accomplished by shooting down the indicated number of saucers, the indication appearing at the bottom of the screen. COMMENTS Control keys: top row=up, third row=down, Q to T=left, Y to P= right, bottom row=fire Joystick: Kempston Keyboard play: responsive, and reasonably laid out Use of colour: good Graphics: very good, with effective 3D on several levels Sound: continuous, good Skill levels: 1 Lives: 4 Screens: 6 Features: Currah Microspeech compatible

The first screen of Blade Alley.

Read it at Crash - The Online Edition