Cosmic Cruiser

Crash

Use of Computer 58%

Graphics 62%

Playability 30%

Getting Started 74%

Addictive Qualities 35%

Originality 68%

Value For Money 48%

Overall 54%

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Producer: Imagine Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £5.50 Language: Machine code Author: Steve Lavache Cosmic Cruiser comes packaged in Imagine's new cassette design with a profile of the programmer and detailed instructions and game objectives. Essentially you have parked your Cosmic Cruiser underneath an Earth-owned space station which has been overrun by aliens. Your task is to rescue the captured crew and bring them to the safety of your Cruiser. Your ship is equipped with a laser canon and a hatch, and you also have a laser hand gun. Cosmic Cruiser is not a moving game in the sense that the ships fly about; both your ship and the space station remain static. The object is to shoot open one of the hatches in the station which line a revolving outer wheel. This is done with the canon. You can then fly up to the opened hatch and dive in. The scene cuts to the interior. If you are lucky the compartment will contain a crewman, and after blasting the alien guards, you can drag him to the safety of your ship. But not all the compartments contain crewmen. You will have to kill all the aliens before you can leave. Outside, the aliens are gathering. There may be fighters which will bomb you and the warriors from the station may come after you. Firing the hand gun while carrying a crewman will result in his floating away from you. Progression from level to level is either by time or by rescuing eight crewmen. Bonus points are awarded after each level. As the levels progress the enemy become nastier. COMMENTS Control keys: alternate bottom row for left/right, 2nd row down, 3rd row up, top row fire Joystick: Kempston, ZX 2, Protek, AGF, Fuller Keyboard play: average responses, but hard to control Use of colour: good Graphics: average Sound: poor (except for start music) Skill levels: progressive difficulty Lives: 4 Screens: 2 Originality: not a bad idea, and certainly quite original, but poorly implemented

...getting out is quite another because the aliens give the hero a fit of the jitters.

For the Cosmic Cruiser, getting into the space station proves quite easy...

C&VG (Computer & Video Games)

WIN YOURSELF A COSMIC CRUISE! The latest game for the Spectrum from Liverpool's Imagine Software is set in deep space on a besieged space station. A raiding party from the nasty Rallom Empire has taken over the space station and you as pilot of an outdated Cosmic Cruiser have to set off on what could turn out to be a suicide mission. You are ordered to save the space station crew at all costs. Using your laser cannon, you have to blast open the space station's airlocks and then, by using your space suit's body propulsion unit, you have to leave the relative safety of your ship, rescue the floating crewmen and bring them back to the ship. While helping the poor old crewmen back to safety, you must make split second decisions as the Rallom fighters attempt to prevent your rescue bid. If you use your hand laser, the blast will blow the crewmen back into space. If you wait until you can reach your ship-board laser cannon, it may be too late! When you first arrive at the station, you must be careful which airlock you blast-otherwise you could find yourself face to face with a bunch of Ralloms! They lurk behind the hatches as well as imprisoned crewmen just to confuse you completely. You can play the game using keyboard or joystick. There are several levels of play and a "Roll of Honour" feature so you can enter your hi-scores. Cosmic Cruiser was the brainchild of Imagine's Dave Lawson but was programmed by Chief Engineer, Steve Lavache. It's Steve's first major programming project for Imagine. Watch out for a review of the game in forthcoming issues of C&VG. In the meantime, Cosmic Cruiser is the latest in the series of. free offers which our friends at imagine like to put your way. Take a look at our competition pages and you'll find the form to fill in. If you are lucky, a free copy of Cosmic Cruiser could be yours.