Zaxxon

Crash

Use of Computer 60%

Graphics 70%

Playability 64%

Getting Started 54%

Addictive Qualities 52%

Value For Money 49%

Overall 58%

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Producer: US Gold Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £7.95 Language: Machine code It's taken a long time to get Zaxxon (the real life official version) to the British Spectrum screens. But here it is. The game hardly needs much explanation, since the arcade original is probably the most famous of all arcade games, but briefly: Zaxxon is a three-quarter scrolling space attack game in which you control an attack fighter as it sails above the surface of an alien enemy Asteroid City, a deep space fighter encounter and then another Asteroid City where you attempt to destroy the robot defence system ZAXXON. Destroying the robot takes you back for another go but with increased difficulty. Hazards include the walls which must be flown over, forcefields to shoot out or dodge, enemy fighters, gun emplacements, radar towers and launching missiles. Falling fuel is replenished by destroying the fuel dumps. The craft can move to the left and right as well as up and down. A classic tactic to judge the height of the approaching walls with their small gaps is to fire at them until you see your laser shots passing safely over, then you know you are high enough. Height may also be judged by the relationship between your fighter and its shadow on the ground, although this obviously won't work in deep space. US Gold released a version for the Commodore 64 some months earlier and there has been much speculation as to what the Spectrum version would look like. COMMENTS Control keys: user definable, preset are I/P left/right, Q/Z dive/climb and N to fire. Our copies failed to allow the user-definable function to be selected, nor the instructions Joystick: Sinclair 2, Kempston, AGF, Protek Keyboard play: not really a keyboard game; key response is sluggish Use of colour: colours tend to be bright but sparse and obvious Graphics: slow and jerky, not much detail Sound: very poor Skill levels: 3 Lives: 3 Screens: continuously scrolling with three sections

Approaching a force field in ZAXXON.

The missing floor and backwall takes a lot of visual fun out of ZAXXON.