Games News - C+VG Issue 1 (Nov 1981)

Battle of the Prehistoric Giants
Beam back to prehistoric times when the land was covered in swamps and terrifying dinosaurs fought bloody battles to the death.

That is the setting for one of the games available for Tandy's latest machine, the TRS-80 Colour computer. Called Dinowars the 3D game is for two players, or one player against the computer.

When you switch on the computer - Tandy promises it will be available this month - a pair of dinosaurs flash up on the screen. One is red, the other blue. Each of the beasts is controlled by a joystick and can be moved backwards, forwards, to the left and right. The picture on the screen runs around so that the monsters can walk off the screen at one edge and reappear on the other side.

With tails swishing the two dinosaurs leap ferociously into action when the button on the joysticks is pressed. Then the fight to the death begins complete with gruesome sound effects.

The players have to manoeuvre their monsters into a good position to kill each other. To do that they have to plant a lethal bite on the back of the neck. If the dinosaur dies from his wounds he literally drops dead in front of your eyes. If a monster dies the player in control of him loses 10 points.

One unusual feature is that the dinosaurs can be killed when they are off the screen. As you can't actually see what they're doing it's more a matter of luck than judgement. It costs £22.95 and is available from your local Tandy store.

Towering Inferno
They say there is no smoke with-out fire and in Towering inferno it is truer than ever.

Recently produced for the Sharp MZ-80K by Sharpsoft, the game is definitely not for the squeamish. The object is to find your way out of a multi-storey building which is on its way to being gutted by fire.

The only way out is to go down to the bottom floor - you are stuck on the 10th storey - or to go up to the roof of the building.

There is no time to panic on your escape. As you make your way from one floor entrance across the room to the exit you have to judge the quickest way to avoid the fast-spreading flames. You control a man with the cursor keys and have an aerial view of each floor.

If you are not careful where you tread you might find yourself overcome temporarily by smoke fumes. When that happens the man under your control disappears from the screen for a second.

If you manage to reach the roof it is not certain that you will survive the ordeal. With luck a helicopter will swoop down, dropping a rope ladder to whisk you away.

If you reach the bottom and emerge safely, an ambulance will drive to the building and take you away to recuperate in hospital. It costs £5.85.

Eat or Be Eaten
An addictive new Pet game will keep you glued to screens trying to avoid fast-moving monsters.

Avid fans of the Mazeman or Puckman arcade game, who also happen to own a Pet, will be eager to try this rather different version in their homes.

Called Super Glooper, the object is to gobble-up as many monsters as you can. A difficult job because they move very quickly and can turn on a heel suddenly while you are in hot pursuit of them and without hesitation will eat you up.

The hectic chase takes place in a maze with points being scored for swallowing-up dots along the path and for monsters which you catch up with and manage to devour.

The Gloopers travel that much faster than you can go and the game has been written in machine code to give it extra speed. It is available from Pet software supplier Supersoft, costing £8.00.

Peril on the Seabed
Not for the claustrophobic, Sea Wolf recreates the perils of submarine warfare complete with mines tumbling off the decks of enemy destroyers.

At war with an enemy fleet the commander of the submarine must shoot down ships sailing above him on three different levels. Coloured purple, red and white the ships are worth varying number of points when they are successfully destroyed.

Each ship moves at a different pace, the fastest ones sailing at the top of the screen farthest away from the submarine making it more difficult to get a direct hit. Use a joystick to move the submarine and the button to fire an unlimited supply of torpedoes.

There are two levels of play for beginners and expert shooters. The submarine commander is firing against the clock which ticks away from 60 seconds down. A minute has never gone so quickly.

But the commander has to keep a wary eye out for destroyer mines released by enemy shipping. These hover in the sea blocking the path of torpedoes. If a torpedo hits one by mistake it's a wasted shot. Don't worry too much about the mines because they cannot sink down to your level in the sea.

The ships sailing at the lowest level (coloured white) are the slowest moving and the easiest target. They are only worth five points at skill level one or 10 points at level two.

Next up are smaller ships which travel more quickly. The red ships are worth more points, 15 at level one and 25 at level two.

And ruling the waves at the top of the screen are the smallest and fastest ships in the fleet. They zip along, barely giving the submarine commander time to take aim let alone fire. These purple coloured ships score 50 (level one) and 60 (level two). They are the ones to go for to boost your score. Once the score reaches a magic 800 the time limit is extended giving you scope to shoot down more ships.

The extras needed are a joystick, the game is supplied by Adda Computer's VIC Centre. The cassette with two other games on it costs £14.95.

Go for Real Gold
One computer game destined to follow the success of Kit Thomas' treasure book "Masquerade" is Goldrush.

"Masquerade" was the book which became a best seller by offering clues to a £5,000 piece of jewellery in the shape of a hare. Since it first appeared many treasure hunters have dug up various stately homes and searched numerous river beds in the mistaken belief that they have solved the clues and will find the treasure.

Whether Mr Micro's VIC game Goldrush will keep its players guessing for as long, we will have to wait and see - but there is no shortage of interested people waiting to try solving the problem.

The prize for the winner is real gold nuggets provided by Mr Micro.

The game is an Adventure type based on the 1849 Californian gold-rush. Participants start trekking across to California with a number of clues to be found on the way. Once there, you have to stake a claim and try to find the Golden Word.

First person to get in touch with Mr Micro with the correct word wins the gold.

A review appears on page 88.

Coming soon for the just-released Commodore VIC 20 is a variety of new games including versions of Puckman, the popular arcade game, Galaxians, Cosmic Jailbreak. Space Invaders and Moon Lander. These were scheduled for release in October at the earliest and will be covered in more detail in future issues.

Finger on the Button
Polaris is the Tandy version of the popular arcade game Missile Command.

The player has to protect cities from an onslaught of ballistic missiles, alien space ships and other extra-terrestrial beings. Saving the cities from obliteration is in your hands - you control the ground base where anti-ballistic missiles are launched.

Polaris is designed to run on the TRS-80 models but though the game's concept is exciting without the colour graphics available on arcade games and other microcomputers, it still loses a lot of its attraction. It is also expensive for a computer game at £27.95 so only keen fans of the original are likely to spend that amount of money on it.

Death Among the Stars
An action-packed space game which looks set to be a scorching success is Starmines.

It first reached Apple screens in the States and has just been released in the U.K. Take command of a starship fighter on a mission in the galaxy to defend your own civilisation from the threat of invasion.

You control the starship flying through hyperspace dodging attacking missiles, meteorites, and small spaceships all out to get you. The action is fast and you barely have time to press the fire button to exterminate an alien ship before a shower of rocks falls at the speed of light towards your ship.

To hit the objects you must line them up in your sights and press the fire button.

The game follows in the Star Raiders and Space Battle vein, retails at £14 95.

Minefield
Tread warily to save your skin when you are playing Minefield, one of the latest games available for the Acorn Atom.

In this game introduced by Leeds software supplier Program Power, the only protection is a metal detector to pick out the mines.

The minefield spreads across the screen with the one safe patch being your home square on the far side of the field.

On the same tape, which costs £5.95, are two other Atom games, Snake and Awari. The first is a variation on the barriers type game. Two serpents grow in length and the object is either to cut off the opposing snake, or make his snake cross over itself.

In the Atom version, the serpent is trapped in a square box which has electrified walls. Numbers flash in the box and the snake has to gobble-up as many as possible. If he touches the walls, or doubles back and touches itself, 50.000 volts are shot through his body. Like most of these games it proves a good test of your reactions.

The third game is another computerised version of an ancient African pebble game, Awari. A strategy game for thinkers, the object is to win as many pebbles from your opponent as possible to dominate his territory.

Each player is given six pits on which they place his pebbles. Then in turn the pebbles are moved according to certain rules. The game finishes when one player has put his stones on the opponent's territory.

Death.... The Opposite of Life
Apple owners are invited to dice with Death as opposed to Life in a new game from Leisure Genius.

This new strategic game is based loosely around the computer classic, Life, and involves building-up cells until you can dominate your opponents by destroying them through disruption of their cell structures.

There are 10 cell structures to play with and from which evolve your own universe.

Each player starts with a stock of cells which they can choose before the game kicks-off. First you have to decide how many cells each player is allowed and then select the structures you want to play with.

Also take into consideration how quickly you want the cells to generate and the number of generations carried-out during the multiplying period. It is for the players to set the game rules. Another option available is sound.

The rules of the game are complicated and therefore take some getting used to but once you have decided exactly what to do and the conditions necessary for cells to regenerate the game, it is difficult to stop playing.

Conditions for regeneration must be three cells next to an empty space - in that space a new cell will pop up so you can literally see your empire grow. If a cell has two or three cells positioned next to it, that cell is safe and will survive, but if it has fewer than two or more than three the cell cannot cope and will shrivel and die.

The two players fight it out on the screen, each placing cells in desired positions. You can move the cells into any position on the screen, the idea being to get them in the proper place to see them regenerating.

It demands absolute concentration to keep track of your cells and those of your opponent. The generation cycle begins when both of you have finished placing your cell structures.

Once you have learnt how to play Death you can vary the levels and intensity of the game with the selection controls. Made by the London-based firm Leisure Genius, you get your money's worth for £15.

Two-In-One Space Trial
Two popular arcade games. Missile Command and Asteroids, have been combined to transfer to the Pet screen.

Called Meteorites, the aim of the game is to protect seven bases from a swarm of meteorites descending from the heavens.

The only way to survive is to blast the rock showers with your laser gun, but you will find that often it serves only to shatter the meteorites into even smaller - yet just as deadly - fragments.

Altogether you have to fight-off six waves of meteorite storms, scoring points on the way for each hit. Other hazards to avoid are alien ships which swoop down intermittently to fire at the bases under your protection. Shoot down one of those and you score bonus points.

Meteorites is from the Harrow-based firm Supersoft who also supplied Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy addicts two months ago by producing a Pet version of the Douglas Adams book and TV series.