Virus

Crash

Use of Computer 69%

Graphics 59%

Playability 66%

Getting Started 65%

Addictive Qualities 56%

Value For Money 57%

Overall 62%

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Producer: Orange Software Memory Required: 48K Retail Price: £5.95 Language: Machine code Author: Simon Johnson Orange Software is very new and this is their first program, accompanied by a letter betting we couldn't even get off the third level. Well we did - so there! The setting for Virus is New York. New York in this case is a purple coloured maze and it has been struck by a dreadful virus which is not only killing everyone off, but mutating the bugs the city is famous for into horiffic man-eating things. Your job is to save the place by collecting Culture Moulds and taking them to the laboratory. The levels of the game are split into 'suburbs' of New York - New York, of course, looks the same whichever neighbourhood you're in. On each level you have to collect five moulds. The mould, a white object, dashes around the maze with a life of its own. Once collected, the lab in the centre of the screen flashes and you can dash to it. Once five moulds have been thus deposited you move to the next level. To make life difficult there are several types of bug. The green ones drain your energy and eventually kill you off, red and yellow ones kill on contact. As the game progresses on each level, blue axes and red food appears. Axes save you from the bugs and banish them for a few moments, the food replaces lost energy. Finally, the centre track contains a speeding centipede like a subway express, which moves from left to right at random but frequent intervals. COMMENTS Control keys: Q/A up/down, B/N left/right Joystick: Kempston Keyboard play: responsive Use of colour: well used and bright Graphics: small, reasonably detailed and fast Sound: good, continuous Skill levels: 4 speeds Lives: 3 Originality: a very novel series of ideas based on several older themes

Axes, monsters, centipedes and moulds make for an unusual game. The culture mould is the brighter diamond shaped thing lower left.