Reviews

This was another of the Psion titles that launched Sinclair Research's Spectrum software line in September 1982. It also received a second push as one of the launch cartridges for the ill-fated Interface II.

It's a fairly straight Asteroids clone, but with sprite graphics rather than the vectors characteristic of the arcade machine.

The gameplay is pretty solid too. The Asteroids break up satisfactorily when shot, and the occasional saucer flies across the screen to add to the fun. Momentum is handled in a realistic fashion that makes the necessary moving and shooting a touch tricky until you get the hang of it. There's an interesting bug in that if you hide in the corner behind the score, you become invulnerable.

The flip side of the tape held Missile (not present on the Interface II version) which was one of the earliest games to feature 3D vector graphics on a home computer. That novelty aside, however, it's a poor game with sluggish controls and dubious collision detection.

However, on the strength of Planetoids, this was one of the better launch titles and it generally remained the game of choice amongst Asteroids clones. Purists looking for something like the vector graphics of the original may prefer Jon Ritman's Cosmic Debris though.

Planetoids is a game, an early Asteroids clone with a certain amount of appeal, while Missile is not a game, it's meant to be a shooter but nothing ever happens. Missile is only present because there was no way it was being released on its own because it's shite.