Another one from the twilight zone that is the B side of the cassette 50 compilation. Coded by M.Lewis with character design by E.Lewis we can see that as usual, the most sought-after jobs are awarded to family members in the hotbed of nepotism that is the Cassette 50 tape! But seriously, on seeing the rather good UDGs, the (stationary) starfield, the two-tone mother ship and the curved space-station defence shield, I wanted to award this game a 2 and was even thinking of a 3 because compared to other files on the tape, this was looking rather good. It even gets a high score in the WoS archive, so I'm thinking "Hey, maybe like Frogger, there's actually another reasonably good game on the tape?".
However, I then actually attempted to play it and I can confirm it really is a "1" and not just because it is on the Cassette 50 tape, no this title can fall flat strictly on it's own two feet. So, what's wrong with it then?
Well, on starting a new game you are asked via an INPUT statement "Skill level?" but there's no indication of the meaning or range of this value. What do I type? 1? 77? I have no idea. So I have to BREAK into the program and examine the code. I'm now pretty sure that the valid range of skill levels is in fact 0-29 inclusive. Anything higher than 29 will cause a subscript error and whatever you type in, 1 is added to the value thus entering 0 is also valid. However, entering skill levels in the higher end of the range seems to make the game really hang, so I recommend typing 0 at this point.
On playing the game, use keys Z,X to move your missile base left and right and P to fire a missile. To be fair, your missile is impressively fast for a BASIC game. FLASHing Invaders trickle down the screen so you know what to do, hit them hard. Don't let any of them penetrate the baseline of the spacestation because you will lose energy, ultimately losing the game. You regain energy by shooting invaders.
Sounds simple enough, but I'm sure there are quite a few bugs here. Like why sometimes when I clearly hit an invader, does it not disappear? Conversely, why do some invaders which I never even remotely hit disappear of their own accord? Why do some invaders just permanently get stuck in mid-air, never moving again for the duration of the game? It's bad enough that you may lose energy when an invader slips through the net, but does it really have to totally corrupt the scoreline too? Why does the first invader which slips through cause the player to unexpectedly gain energy and then the second one cause you to lose it again? Why does an invader sometimes run down column zero of the screen which is out of range for the player and fails to follow the usual formation pattern? Should moving invaders really cause distant stars to permanently disappear? But worst of all is the huge delay in each iteration of the main game loop meaning that if you try to move continually left or right say, your craft moves in fits and starts. It's terribly unresponsive. Try playing on skill level 29 and hold the 'Z' key down to try move your craft to the left edge of the screen to see what I mean. It's really unplayable.
We don't expect commercial-quality games on this compilation, but come on this could have been improved a bit, I'm sure. Perhaps there was a tight deadline to get this one out or something.
Verdict: Nice looking game and would provide an attractive screenshot for the Cassette 50 tape, but don't believe anyone who tells you they actually enjoy playing it!
Review by No. 45 on 03 Dec 2010 (Rating: 5)
Hi folks... I'm the creator of No.45 Galaxy Defence... as far as I know the only traceable coder for the infamous Cassette 50 compilation... In my opinion an entirely credible and playable game!!! I'd like to dispute Digital Prawns review...C'mon 1 is harsh you should have seen the other games I wrote if you thought this one was bad! Galaxy defence is the culmination of a vivid imagination!... a Space City... a fragile place, that exists for a few more moments of time as the alien hordes descend relentlessly - ultimately destruction is assured, as the defender you know this, accept this, your mission.. to put up the last defence...heroic!?...pointless? Call it what you will but we've all been there or at least revelled in the bravery of 'Custers last stand'!! C'mon people join me lets rate this game for what it's really worth... Excellent!!!!?
1983 Cascade Games (UK)
by Matthew Lewis and Ernest Lewis
Claimed by the author as the best game in the Cassette 50 compilation.Well, I must say I almost agree with him. The game itself has a funny and interesting story about a boy and his father and their adventures in the games industry world (where sharks have always swimmed).
Read it here:
http://pixelatron.com/blog/cassette-50-the-interview/
