Lunar Jetman

Sinclair User

A sequel to the equally successful Jetpac, Lunar Jetman is a display of virtuoso programming. In addition to his jetpack, the spaceman now has a lunar buggy to explore a hostile landscape and discover the whereabouts of the alien base and destroy it. A new base is then created and must be destroyed in turn. A feature of the game is the almost total lack of instructions. You must find out the significance of the scattered objects, and then move successfully with only limited fuel and time. That turns an already impressive arcade game into one requiring considerable forethought. Position 17/50

ZX Computing

Brian Buckley

READERS' REVIEWS Reviews of software and hardware from the people who use them most - yourselves. LUNAR JETMAN Ultimate Brian Buckley Lunar Jetman by ULTIMATE PLAY THE GAME takes 4.5 minutes to LOAD, which is longer than most other games for the 48K Spectrum. In common with all other ULTIMATE games, a picture of the cassette insert illustration is built up on the screen during LOADing. Gazing at this helps pass the LOADing time as does reading the scenario and instructions contained on the insert. Starting with overtones of the 'Six Million Dollar Man' it transpires that Jetman (yes, the same little person who starred in Jetpac) has crash landed on 'a strange undiscovered world' where he discovers the inhabitants are about to attack his beloved Earth, and destroy us poor unsuspecting souls. Bravely, our little hero sets about destroying all of the enemy missile installations he can find. All he has to aid him in this mammoth task is his Hyperglide Moon Rover (Sinclair's electric car?), an unlimited supply of bombs and bridging platforms, and of course, his faithful old Quad Photon Laser Phaser. This may seem a fairly straightforward exercise, but be warned, it's not! The first problem is that Jetman can't find the operating manuals for anything, so he doesn't know how to use bombs, teleporters, detachable gun or the bridging platforms and indeed doesn't even know where to get the platforms! After playing the game for a while, things will gradually become clearer, but you will probably have lost countless men and suffered severe frustration by this time! The teleporters are the cylindrical objects which sit on the surface of the planet, and these allow Jetman to transport himself (and indeed anything which he happens to be carrying) to another point on the planet. This part brings back fond memories of the classic 'Star Trek' series (beam me up Scottie!). The other problem is the inevitable aliens, but more of these later. Once the game has LOADed, a menu appears allowing the choice of a one or two player game and the method of control, i.e. keyboard, cursor joystick or Kempston Joystick. Having made your selection, the screen changes to show the landscape at the bottom with the lunar rover sitting close to a bomb (complete with fuse!). At the top of the screen, one and two player scores are displayed, along with lives left, the number of bases destroyed, direction indicators (which show the direction of the missile installation and lunar rover), a gauge showing the remaining fuel in your Hydrovac Jetpac, one for the time remaining until the missiles are launched and finally, in the middle, the hi-score, which stands at an unbelievable 105140! Don't despair though, it can be beaten. Jetman appears close to the lunar rover a few seconds after the main screen appears, so unless you have your fingers at the ready, he'll probably be flattened by something before he's had a chance to move! At the start of the game there are three types of alien flying about, all with their own pattern of behaviour. As the number of destroyed bases increases, so does the number of alien species, and after blowing four bases to pieces, things get decidedly hair-raising to say the least! Up until now, it's been easy! Having obliterated ten bases you will find yourself dealing with no less than ten different types of alien, all of which will cause the instant demise of your Jetman should he touch them. Of these ten types, three actually follow you, and another shoots it's own missiles! In the event of not reaching a base in time, you are given a warning informing you that the missiles have been launched. The only way to prevent your lunar rover from being blown up is to fly towards the base until you encounter the missile, and then shoot it (the number of hits required are given in the warning) with your phaser, dodging the aliens in the process! The game ends when your lunar rover is blown up by a missile, or you lose all of your lives. Incidentally, an extra life is awarded after every four bases. A hall of fame exists in the program and lists the eight highest scores along with the initials of the players who obtained them. The scores range from 10500 to 105140, and when you score enough points to qualify entry to the chart, your problems aren't over! You'll have to figure out how to place your initials in the chart, as there aren't any instructions to help you! The choice of control keys has been sensibly made, so that even left-handed people shouldn't have any trouble in using the keyboard. Indeed, it seems to be easier to play the game using the keyboard than it does using a Kempston joystick! In all, there are seven keys to master, controlling movement left, right and up, firing, picking up and dropping objects, getting into and out of the lunar rover and teleporter, and finally, one for hovering. The game can be paused by pressing the 'O' (letter) key, and restarted by pressing this key again. The graphics are nothing short of superlative, and the smoothness of movement is such that you could be forgiven for thinking that you are watching a cartoon! Sound is excellent, as is the use of colour. All in all this is a very well written and presented game which is also very addictive. Even the character set has been redefined! Extraordinary attention has been paid to detail (the aerial on Jetman's backpack wobbles when he walks!) making this in my opinion the best computer game of all time. Anyone who buys games for their Spectrum should have Lunar Jetman in their collection. At £5.50 it's a bargain! Full marks to ULTIMATE for a superb piece of programming!!

Crash

Lloyd Mangram

Matthew Uffindell

As summer poises, ready for the onslaught of fab new games around Christmas, CRASH takes a look back at some of the major games we have reviewed in the past to see if they (and the reviews) stand the test of time. MATTHEW UFFINDELL and LLOYD MANGRAM take keyboard and reputation in hand... LUNAR JETMAN Ultimate This game was eagerly awaited after the thrills of Ultimate's first game Jetpac. Would it be an improvement? Everyone thought so because Ultimate had insisted on being 16K before - this was the first 48K game. When Atic Atac appeared about a month after Jetman's release, Jetman seems to have been forgotten. I don't know why - it still greatly appeals to me; but has lost some of its addictive qualities, which is odd considering it still has fantastic playability. It's the same frantic, impossible game that it ever was and is worth buying if you love fast, detailed shoot em up graphics. MU My first reaction initially to Jetman was all the keys - what a handful! Our review then said, 'Marvellous seems an inadequate word.' A statement I would still agree with now. Ultimate had managed in a short space of time and with very few games to establish themselves as a leading software house with 'state of the art' programs. Jetman was certainly ace. Today it is still playable, as witness its popularity among hi-score freaks (who did not forget it when Atic Atac came out) and because of the massive nature of the game, remains as addictive as ever. Incidentally, recent rumours that trailers have been spotted in the game are purely imaginative, as Ultimate could not fit the trailer in the width of the screen. LM (Matthew) On use of computer, I would still argue that the many keys make it hard to play, but that responsiveness makes up for it. In general I would say that all the ratings were just a little bit over the top. (Lloyd) Well I'm afraid I wouldn't change a thing, not even that extravagant 100% for money value. ORIGINAL REVIEW Use of Computer: 90% Graphics: 99% Playability: 95% Getting Started: 90% Addictive Qualities: 95% Value for Money: 100% Overall: 95%

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Crash

Overall 95%

Producer: Ultimate, 48K £5.50 (1) The follow-up to 'Jetpac' is, as expected, a fabulous game. If it has a drawback it's that it is too difficult to play, but as is usual with this sort of game, experts can get a long way and prove that you can score! After failing to construct his space shop in Jetpac properly, Jetman has crashed on the moon with only a Moonglider for company, plus a clutch of assorted and unexplained equipment, alien missile bases and hordes of horrible alien creatures. Half the fun of the game is discovering what makes what tick, since Jetman can pick up objects and transport them himself, or drop them on the Moonglider for transport. He can get inside as well, where he's safe from the aliens, and drive the Moonglider along. But it won't cross holes in the ground. These must be filled with bridging units carried on the side of the vehicle. Whenever an alien hits Jetman, it creates another crater. The basic aim of the game is to destroy the alien bases - but this task certainly must rank among the most heroically difficult of all time! Superb graphics and sound (improved with talking aliens if you have a Currah Microspeech unit attached), a lot of well planned keys which make the joystick options (Kempston, AGF, Protek) a bit redundant, One or two player games. Overall CRASH rating 95% - highly recommended M/C.

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Crash

Overall 95%

Producer: Ultimate, 48K £5.50 (1) The follow-up to 'Jetpac' is, as expected, a fabulous game. If it has a drawback it's that it is too difficult to play, but as is usual with this sort of game, experts can get a long way and prove that you can score! After failing to construct his space shop in Jetpac properly, Jetman has crashed on the moon with only a Moonglider for company, plus a clutch of assorted and unexplained equipment, alien missile bases and hordes of horrible alien creatures. Half the fun of the game is discovering what makes what tick, since Jetman can pick up objects and transport them himself, or drop them on the Moonglider for transport. He can get inside as well, where he's safe from the aliens, and drive the Moonglider along. But it won't cross holes in the ground. These must be filled with bridging units carried on the side of the vehicle. Whenever an alien hits Jetman, it creates another crater. The basic aim of the game is to destroy the alien bases - but this task certainly must rank among the most heroically difficult of all time! Superb graphics and sound (improved with talking aliens if you have a Currah Microspeech unit attached), a lot of well planned keys which make the joystick options (Kempston, AGF, Protek) a bit redundant, One or two player games. Overall CRASH rating 95% - highly recommended M/C.

Personal Computer News

Bob Chappell

GAME TALK Bob Chappell proves that the art of conversation has not been killed by the dreaded micro games. Since the Currah speech box arrived on the market, a number of software houses have taken the plunge and incorporated speech in their programs for the Spectrum 48K. This group could turn into an army as publishers realise the potential of the device. Here is a clutch of programs showing the pioneer spirit. VOICE CHESS II (£8.95) Artic Computing, [redacted] Artic have an excellent range of chess programs. Including one that speaks without the use of any add-ons. Its existing Voice Chess program was an obvious candidate for conversion. As chess is a game normally played between people, what could add more realism to computer chess than having your electronic opponent speak? Every time you or the computer makes a move, the voice makes an announcement. A capturing and/or checking move is spoken: 'D5 takes F6 check'. An illegal move gets the response 'Invalid move'. Castling is voiced as 'Castles' and mate as 'Checkmate'. It can be a little disconcerting to suddenly hear 'Mate in two' when you were not expecting it - fortunately, the voice has no trace of smugness. If you type in 'M' when it is your move, the computer announces 'I recommend E6 E7' if it thinks that is your best move. Having done as told, you will hear, not unreasonably, 'I expected that'. The speech is clear and certainly adds that extra something to a program that plays a very good game of chess. Excellent. BIRDS AND BEES (£6.95) Bug-Byte, [redacted] This is a super little game to be used with or without the speech facility. The game commences with the rousing 'Flight of the Bumble Bee' (what else) and a spoken 'The Birds and the Bees'. A point to note here, for all games, is that any sound effects generated by the program are output through your TV if the Currah box is connected. Playing Boris Bee, you buzz across the meadows in your hunt for nectar. The sun rolling across the sky, drifting clouds and a passing plane (towing a Bug-Byte advert!) adds to the animation. Swaying flowers beckon and when alighted on, open their petals to 'Nectar'. Boris faces many hazards, these include: nectar overload, flying ducks, blackbirds, centipedes, and many more. Spoken announcements include 'Oh dear' (when Boris gets duffed up). 'Game over', 'New high score' and, to warn Boris of approaching danger, something like 'Full alert'. An addictive game with a good scenario. LUNAR JETMAN (£5.50) Ultimate Play The Game, [redacted] The follow-up to Ultimate's successful Jet Pac, has you jetting about a planet with the assistance of a Moon Rover - not a dog but a buggy. The Rover is used to carry various strange objects, you must discover their use as part of your mission to destroy the enemy defence installations. With sideways scrolling screens and brilliant hi-res animation, this is a worthy inheritor of Jet Pac's fame. A drawback with the speech unit is that it cannot be used with a joystick. Jetman is hard enough with a joystick - use of keyboard alone makes it more so. Speech is used randomly and frequently, and is a mixture of statements, commands and threats. They include 'Oh, no!', 'I'll get you, Jetman', 'Exterminate', 'Destroy enemy missile base', 'Pull yourself together' and 'Missile fired'. Although control of Jetman is complex, this is a superb game which benefits by the extra dimension of speech - the taunts generate a psychological obstacle to add to the challenge. BLASTERMIND (£5.50) Martech Games, [redacted] This is the most talkative of all the programs and the only one that attempts to use the voice as a personality. The objective is to guess the computer's code (colours or digits) before it guesses yours. The fun part comes in the computer's comments. To start with, halfway through the loading of the program, you hear 'Keep your hands off my keyboard!' Once loaded, it declares. "My name is Howard but you may call me Sir.' It continues by referring to you in a variety of insulting terms. Not only that but, if given suspect information following one of its guesses at your code, it says, 'You cheated. I suppose I must expect that sort of thing from you humans.' When you decide to finish, the computer begs 'Please don't switch me off. I'll let you win a game if you let me live.' If you agree, it says 'Thank you', but it doesn't honour the promise. I never managed to beat it - judging by its megalomania. I suspect it cheats. I found it amusing - fellow masochists will, too. Most of the pleasure came from waiting to see what it would say next. If you want one program to show off your speech box to your friends, this could be the one. THE ISLAND (£7.50) Crystal Computing, [redacted] An interesting text adventure in the classic mould, the program makes use of speech to repeat your commands ('Inventory', 'go east', etc) and for some responses ('I don't understand'). A unique feature of this program is the ability to switch the speech on and off during the game (the commands are SPEAK and SHUT UP!). An interesting adventure in its own right - as is the case I with some graphics adventures, the speech adds little to the enjoyment but, if you've got the unit, it's an added. Optional bonus. LUNAR RESCUE (£5.95) Lyversoft, [redacted] This is a competent version of rescuing humans from the planet surface by guiding your craft down from a mothership, gathering them up and returning from whence you came. The spoken items include such phrases as 'Chocks away' and 'Rockets fired'. An old favourite, the speech here is more a question of gilding the lily than adding a real bonus.

CrashCrash Smash

Use of Computer 90%

Graphics 99%

Playability 95%

Getting Started 90%

Addictive Qualities 95%

Value For Money 100%

Overall 95%

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Producer: Ultimate Memory Required: 48K Recommended Retail Price: £5.50 Language: machine code There can't have been a Spectrum owning games player who hasn't wondered what the wizards at Ultimate could do if they moved up to 48K. Well now we know - amazing! In a neat touch it is we, the games players, who are blamed for the predicament our hero finds himself in. It seems none of us was quite good enough at assembling his rocket in Jetpac, and now its various stages are disintegrating in warp space. Luckily he manages to crash land on a strange planet where he is stranded with his Hyperglide Moon Rover and a bunch of the most ferocious aliens yet. The control keys follow the pattern of Jetpac, with alternating left/right keys on the bottom row, fire laser on second row, thrust on third row, and hover on the top row. In addition pressing Z or Symbol Shift will allow him to pick up or drop any piece of the Moonglider's equipment and Caps Shift Break will let him get in and out of the machine. Briefly (!) Jetman is discovered standing outside his vehicle and not far from a rounded object which resembles a bomb - it has a B inscribed on it, so it must be a bomb. You have to discover for yourself since no one tells you anything in this game! Instantly aliens move in, 3D green boards swirling end over end, bouncing red balls, and others in later screens. If an alien hits him on the ground he creates a small crater - if he's in the air they bowl him into a spin dive and he makes another crater on the surface. These craters are important because the Moonglider can't pass them. If you can get him into the vehicle then he's safe from the aliens and pressing the thrust and direction keys will cause the vehicle to roll along - until it meets a crater crevice. Fortunately the Moonglider is fitted with short bridging units. You have to get Jetman out of the vehicle, pick them up and deposit them in the crater, without making a fresh one! Finding out how to get the bridge units is a trial and error situation - and if you don't already know how you'll just have to find out! There are enemy bases some distance from the Moonglider, an indicator at the top of the screen points in their direction. These can be bombed by carrying. the bomb and dropping it on the base. The problem is that the base is too far to carry it in the air, because Jetman only has a severely limited fuel supply, and it drops faster if he's carrying something. So he has to drop it on the bonnet of the vehicle, get in and drive, get out, make bridges, get in, drive until reaching the base, get out, pick up the bomb, drop it - and all without getting killed off. COMMENTS Control keys: very well laid out - practice makes imperfect but it's the only way Joystick: Kempston, AGF, Protek Keyboard play: excellent and highly responsive Use of colour: excellent Graphics: excellent Sound: excellent Skill levels: no choice, but difficulty increases with each screen - we don't know how many of them there are yet! Lives: five Games: one or two player

JETMAN hovering above his vehicle and firing at the aliens.

The Base at last! Woops! A miscalculation and that's JETMAN going head over heels.

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Personal Computer GamesPCG Hit

Graphics 10/10

Sound 7/10

Ease Of Use 1/10

Originality 10/10

Lasting Interest 9/10

Overall 9/10

Chris Anderson 9/10

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K JOYSTICK: Optional CATEGORY: Arcade SUPPLIER: Ultimate PRICE: £5.50 Lunar Jetman is the follow-up to Ultimate's hugely successful Jetpac, and the good news is that it's even better. The game features smooth scrolling graphics, ingenious games design and a challenge that will last for months. As in the earlier game, you control an animated spaceman who can fire at aliens, walk left or right, and fly, using his jetpack. The spaceman can also pick up objects, such as bombs, and get into objects, such as his moon buggy which means you need no less than six keys to control him. This is no mean feat unless you're already a Jetpac expert, or a joystick owner. The game opens with Jetman stranded on the surface of an unfriendly moon with the remains of his rocket spinning and bouncing at him from all directions. His only place of safety is inside his moon buggy - but even that isn't safe for long because an alien base is preparing to launch a missile which will destroy the buggy and end the game. The most controversial thing about Jetman is that the game's instructions give no idea of how to avoid this fate. Certainly, there's some interesting looking equipment lying around, but all you're told is that you've lost your operation manual. Ultimate obviously decided that you would get more satisfaction working out For yourself what you're supposed to do, but I think they may have miscalculated. So, for the sake of the many people who would otherwise be extremely frustrated by this game. I will reveal what I think the operation manual would have said. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW STOP READING. The bomb is pretty obvious. If you can drop it on to an alien base, you'll destroy it. Only trouble is, you usually don't have enough time or fuel to simply fly to an alien base carrying it. That's where the teleporters come in. There are two of these, and if you enter one of them, you automatically teleport to the other. The idea is to place them a long way apart, and then there's a good chance that one of them will be reasonably near the base. The moon buggy offers safety and can be used for transporting bombs or teleporters - just drop them on to it. Unfortunately, the buggy can't cross craters in the moon's surface, unless you bridge them. You can get a seemingly infinite supply of bridging units and fuel top-ups from the moon buggy. The detachable weapons system looks like a roast turkey, but is actually something of a red herring. You can drop it on to the moon buggy, and then score a few points by shooting aliens and rocket parts in safety. But the weapons system can't help you to actually destroy alien bases, so your time is better spent on other things. One sensible strategy to adopt is this: put the bomb on the moon buggy, and drive it to the nearest teleporter. Teleport, and then move the second teleporter as far as you can - without running out of fuel. If you find an alien base, teleport back to collect the bomb, and you're in business. Of course, if you do manage to destroy an alien base, your troubles have only started. Your action will have released a wave of aliens to attack you, and a new alien base will be created. I'm told that aliens in the later stages of the game do nasty things like steal your teleporters. That's a joy/frustration I look forward to experiencing. Sometime next year, perhaps?

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

WILL OUR HERO SAVE THE EARTH? Jetman has returned... this time to save the planet Earth from destruction. After building his rocket - as seen in the prequel Jetpac - disaster struck when it started to disintegrate over a hostile planet whose inhabitants' sole purpose is to destroy the Earth. Using his instrument console to locate the aliens' weapons installations Jetman sets out single handed to do battle. Crossing the rugged and pitted terrain in his lunar buggy, various hazards present themselves in the form of creviCes and ravines which can only be crossed using the special bridging equipment Jetman carries. Confronting the enemy our indomitable hero has to breach their defence systems before he can destroy the warheads aimed at Earth. If the deadly rocket isn't stopped with in the time limit, Jetman has one last chance to bring it down. Chase it in his buggy and blast it out of the air or - in the manner of Jetpac - fly after it. Only one problem - watch his fuel consumption as it might run out! Life is made easier by a teleport system which can transport Jetman, the Moon Rover and one piece of equipment over long distances. Lunar Jetman, sequel to Jetpac, is controlled by either keyboard or joysticks and is available from Leicestershire based Ultimate Play The Game for the 48K Spectrum at £5.50.