Producer: Games Workshop
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £7.95
Language: Machine code
Author: SLUG

SLUG is a programmers cooperative and Battlecars is from an idea by Games Workshops' Ian Livingstone, ideas man, incidentally, behind the Fighting Fantasy Books and Domark's Eureka!. It is sub-titled The Game of Deadly Driving and hovers between being a strategy game and an arcade game for one or two players.

After loading you are faced with a menu offering 1 Circuit, 2 Autodrome, 3 Slug City, 4 Car Design and 5 Load Car Code. There are three different arenas for battle, selections 1 to 3. As a solo player you can build up your skills by racing against the computer controlled car on the circuit and then test yourself in combat against the computer in the Autodrome. The third option is the real battle, a fight to the death against another real player in any of the battlegrounds.

In this game you can design your own cars and fill them with the weapons of your choice. Each weapon pod can take only one type of weapon but carry a certain number of rounds. Machine guns can take up to 16 rounds, Shells can take up to 8 rounds, Missiles up to 4, Flame throwers up to 4 and Lasers up to 4 rounds. Accuracy depends on range, since the target is always at the centre of a 15 degree field of fire and the shot can go anywhere within that angle, so the nearer you are, the more likely it is you will score a hit. If you have a gunnery computer on board, the angle of fire is reduced to about 10 degrees, increasing accuracy.

Each car has six steering functions, four fire functions and throttle and brake, so the box comes complete with a keyboard overlay for each player. Steering is in 45 or 90 degree increments left and right as well as drift to the left and right. Firing, depending on the weapon selected, is controlled by firing either the left, right or rear weapons pod. The amount of pods you have and the weapons carried depends on the type of car you choose. This is done through the Car Selection menu. A choice of eight cars is available incorporating three engine sizes, chassis sizes and weights, wheel sizes and other varied factors. At this time, the type of car for the computer can be selected, and it's wise to cheat at first!

Both cars may be selected as computer controlled, in which case you will be given a demonstration.

The Circuit is loaded with the start of the program, but the other two scenarios each have their own program to be loaded when you are ready. Another program, the Designer, will allow you to redesign your car, with an allocation of money that has to take into account the cost of weapons as well. It's the ultimate Mad Max game!

The screen display is split into two halves, left and right. At the top of each half is the playing area square for each car. This scrolls in all directions with the individual car, showing details of landscape or cityscape through which you are driving. When the two combatants are alongside each other, the two screens show the same view. Below the playing area is a diagramatic view of each car showing weapons and damage, which 'toggle' between the two every time you fire or are hit. It can be manually toggled whenever you wish however. There is also a fuel gauge, and refuelling can be done at any of the garages you may find, although while this is taking place you may be very vulnerable to attack. Between the two players' displays is a radar map showing the relative positions of both combatants.

Battlecars contains many strategical elements which must be taken into account, and add greatly to the possible complexities of the game.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q and U/R and P 90 left/right, 1 and 7/4 and 0 45 left/right, 2 and 8/3 and 9 drift left/right A, S, Z, W/J, K, M, I for weapons pods
Joystick: you must be kidding!
Keyboard play: complicated but very responsive
Use of colour: not much
Graphics: generally small, though detailed
Sound: not much, firing spot effects
Skill levels: depends on play selection
Lives: percentage of damage
Screens: three scenarios

This is a game of skill and strategy which I feel has great potential, although I wonder whether Games Workshop have done enough with it. The graphics are good, although the sound is poor. It might have been logical to assume that after designing a car, the one you played with would look like it, but this isn't the case. The game itself is pretty good, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations because there are too many control keys, especially for steering. And by having so many facilities on the car meant that the game was a jack of all and master of none.

This must be one of the wierdest games I have played for an exceptionally long while. I cannot really say that I understand it even after playing it for an hour. Okay, yeah, we all know what to do with the computer's car - give as much damage to it as possible. This does pose some tricky problems, seeing as the computer controlled car is a computer car it usually thinks ten times as fast as you do, but being a computer he lacks cunning and skill. You can choose your car or design a car, but whatever, you still need to have your wits about you. I must state that there is an odd steering arrangement. Why on earth didn't they have two keys which could continuously control the car? An excellent example of this is Ultimate's Tranz-Am. Although, saying this, the keys which are provided do have a very good response but doesn't quite make up for the odd arrangement. There doesn't seem to be much going on in this game, which is not to say that there's a lack of content though. One thing I missed is that there doesn't seem to be any clear cut winner as defined by the computer with the exception of a quit button, which stops play at that point in time and tells you how much damage is done to each car, the one with the least amount being the winner. I am sure I've missed something in this game, and I am sure there is more to it, but I just can't get into the game at all. Perhaps after four or five hours play, objectives, skill factors will become crystal clear.

It isn't all that easy to review Battlecars in a short space because this is a complicated game, not so much to play, but to get into. At first it seems complex, then when you play it seems easier than you thought, then you realise that it is the sort of game to play over a long period, reshuffling strategies and settling on the type of car and weapons you prefer best. Playing against the computer is only half of it, because the computer is a somewhat unthinking opponent, good but unoriginal. Playing in two make the real difference and turns Battlecars into a thrilling experience in which you can eventually become quite lost. The unnecessarily complicated steering is a handicap at first, although you do become used to it, and then fairly sophisticated movements are possible. Perhaps the biggest drawback is that it really requires two well-matched players to get the full potential out of this highly unusual program.

BARGAIN BASEMENT

Make a mug of cocoa and stick yer tired feet on the coffee table ("Get them off" oo-er- mum), as Duncan MacDonald guides you through the spooky world of budget games.

Summit
£2.99
Reviewer: Duncan MacDonald

I couldn't believe it when this game had loaded in. I pressed break by accident and was in a program listing. That's right folks - Battlecars has been written in Basic. It's a two player racing game viewed from above (two fairly small windows) and the graphics are awful (Udg). Much more than that I cannot tell you, cos the horrid thing kept crashing on me, a not to the Author "Learn machine code - it's much easier in the long run".

MACHINE: Spectrum 48k
SUPPLIER: Games Workshop
PRICE: £7.95

It seems that all those BBC documentaries have finally paid off. The year is 2084 and road accidents are a thing of the past.

Which is a shame for the population, as they have nothing to amuse themselves with any more. The world is such a safe place and they miss all the blood now the roads have been replaced with Autoslot tracks.

But, luckily, someone has found some old 20th century cars so they go in search of an old road to race them on. It doesn't lake long for the sport to become a success, especially when a famous driver is actually killed. They're a savage lot a hundreds years from now, you know.

Battlecars becomes a sport. The computer version is either for one or two players. You can play against a friend or the computer. The cars are fairly complex machines with 12 keys used to control each car. Luckily you get a keyboard overlay to help you remember which buttons to press to fire which piece of your mobile arsenal.

On the Other side of the tape to the main game is a program called Designer. With this, you can design your own battlecars and the artillery which they will carry.

The screen shows two windows at the top. One is used to show the position of each car. You see the car itself and the immediate surroundings. At the bottom of the screen is a diagram of the cars and their artillery, and also a map of the whole track.

This is certainly a long way from Chequered Flag and not really as good. The idea is pretty silly, but then so are quite a few computer games at the moment. Animation of the cars is very slow and the track moves a whole character at a time across the screen. Most of the game is written in Spectrum Basic which just isn't fast enough.

There's a lot to playing this game and you'll certainly have to study the 16-page manual for some time. Personally, I don't think it's worth it. It's one thing to have a good idea for a game, but another one to actually write the program.

And one out of two isn't good enough.

USED RUNNERS

MAKER: Games Workshop
OTHER VERSIONS: CBM 64 & Amstrad (announced)
FORMAT: cassette
PRICE: £7.95

Games Workshop have chosen to implement one of their board games for their move into software, but the original game, despite ears of work, was less than satisfactory and the computer version can most kindly be described as over-ambitious.

Battlecars are armed and armoured cars in which you can either race or fight the computer of another player. There's a selection of differing off-the-shelf behemoths or you can use a Designer program to customise your own, with features like autosteer, powerbrakes, turbochargers or gunnery computers, while the weapons range from lasers and flamethrowers to mines and spikes. Three venues are provided, a duelling arena, the Autodome, a circuit and a town. Once started the screen displays three real-time windows, one for each car and an overall map of the area showing positions, plus vehicle displays, fuel, speed and damage or weapons. So far, so good sounding, but it's the controls that break the game. Each battlecar has six steering functions, four weapon controls, throttle and brakes and an amazingly uninformative overlay is provided for each end of the keyboard. That's right - in the two player version you each take one end of the same Spectrum keyboard! This hi-tech is too much! Playing solo against the computer you would, eventually, reprogram yourself well enough to have quite an enjoyable game, but I really can't see it as a two-hander.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Keys
FROM: Games Workshop, £7.95

Battlecars features four different sections all of which should keep you occupied for some time with their complexity and action. The four sections are a driving race, a car fight in an arena, a battle in a town and a chance to design your own car.

The cars are horrendous monsters kitted out with all sorts of technology and weapons to make them real mean machines. They have armour, offensive weapons like missiles and lasers and defences like oil slicks and smoke.

There are already eight cars set up but you can produce your own using a beautiful graphic designer sequence.

The cars battle either against each other or against the clock on the racing circuit. The autodrome is a bare arena in which the cars try to inflict more damage on their opponents than they receive themselves.

Slug City is a townscape in which two players can fight it out, this time in the close confines of the streets. The circuit is less violent, with cars competing in a straight driving race round some rough terrain or against the clock.

In the autodrome and the circuit you can compete against a computer opponent, but in Slug City it's you, a friend and two keyboard overlays battling it out.

The screen for each game shows the area in which each car is driving, a map of the whole territory, its speed and fuel, as well as updates on the damage it's sustained and weapons still available.

The sound isn't up to much, there is very little of it, but that doesn't detract from the fun.

It will take you a while to get to know the controls and all the aspects of the game but it's well worth doing. It's a bleak view of an automotive future but terrific to play.

The game itself is best suited to people with more than the regulation number of hands - some twelve keys are required for absolute control of your vehicle.

Despite this, Bottlecars is really rather fun. The screen layout is original and clear, well suited (as are the dual sets of keys) to the two-player option. Also given the amount going on all at once, the graphics are very adequate, if a little jerky.

The game requires some effort to be put into it for its entertainment potential to be realized but it is worth it

PETER WALKER

Because of the incredible amount of keys needed to control the car, especially if you chose to include weapons, it soon becomes apparent that to keep moving as you want and to attack your opponent as well is almost impossible.

This is not a game I would recommend.

MARTYN SMITH

I found the game boring and complicated, which is a pity, because the instructions makes it look really exciting. Another one for the white elephants graveyard, I'm afraid.

SIMON ROGERS