Producer: Micromega
Memory Required: all of 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Derek Brewster

'Mission: Alien termination - the desperate plan to place in the mind of a teenager the combined tactical skills of all the planetary leaders in the solar system. MAT is mankind's last hope...Now your mind is Mat's mind. Take control of the Centurion and blast off on the greatest adventure of all.....'

Inlay cards usually leave something to be desired when describing a computer game, but considering the scope of Code-Name Mat, Micromega's is almost terse. For decades the Myons have sought to dominate the Solar system and they have launched an all-out attack, knowing that Earth has developed a revolutionary new space craft. Unfortunately there is only the prototype USS Centurion, and you as Mat are in command.

How to describe the game? As we said in our preview feature last issue, a starting point might be Star Trek games, but only as a convenient departure point, for Code-Name Mat has gone boldly further, resulting in a game of arcade action combined with real simulation which calls for a number of different skills. In brief: The Myons are attacking Earth, starting from the outermost planets of the solar system. This divides the game up effectively into sectors which equate with the planets Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter Mars and Earth. The Myons tend to attack a planet and attempt to reduce it to rubble which will be used to increase the numbers of their attacking fleet. In the last event, it is better to destroy a planet yourself than to let it fall into Myon claws. The solar system is seen on the Solar Chart.

The second chart is the Sector Scan, a 10 x 7 grid which shows the position of the main planet, any satellite bodies like moons, positions of Myon fleet units, your own defence units (more later) and positions of stargates (red - outer system/cyan - inner system). Travel between sectors within a planetary system is done by means of a warp gate. A cursor can be moved to the desired sector and then the Centurion must be piloted (using the view screen) at the gate which will appear in front of the craft. Failure to achieve the transition will result in the Centurion ending up in some other sector. Travel between planetary systems is done by navigating through one of the two stargates in much the same way.

Long Range Scan is a 3D global representation of your area of space. The Centurion is seen as a dot at the centre. This is one of the most amazing aspects of the game, and one of the hardest to get to grips with. A craft disappearing behind you will reappear ahead. If you loop the loop the display will rotate vertically as if you were looking down through a revolving cylinder. To play well, you must master your scanner.

Instrumentation and its use is very critical, flying by the seat of your pants alone will not suffice. Instruments provided at the base of the view screen are Energy (basically a strength factor - when it reaches zero - you're dead), Velocity, Angles from a tracked object both vertical and horizontal, Object range, Object number, Shield Status, Tracking Computer Status. When the Tracking Computer is on, it will automatically switch between a forward and reverse view from the ship to face any object being tracked, such as an enemy fighter, and you always fire in the selected direction. You are up against three types of enemy craft: Fighters, which will attack as soon as you enter an area containing one, Cruisers, will only attack when within a range of 3,000; Base Stars (nicknamed hamburgers), which will attack immediately. If their shields are worn down, hamburgers run away for two minutes until the shields are regenerated.

The Myon attack continues once the game has started quite independently of your actions, unless you stop them, of course, and it takes a great deal of skill to contain their movement through the solar system. Your instrumentation is vulnerable to damage, which can leave you blind, but parking in orbit around a planet will result in a drone coming up to meet you. This refuels and repairs all damage.

If you wish to play with full strategy options, then selecting the second mode, Commander, means that you are also in control of Planetary Defence Fleets. These can be moved about and used to help in the battle to great effect, opening up a whole new game. Fleets are communicated with via the Subspace Transmitter.

To describe fully the complexities of Code-Name Mat would take a volume, and this introduction only scratches the surface of the game.

COMMENTS

Control keys: 6/7 left/right, 8/9 up/down,0 fire; Engines: 1/2 decelerate/accelerate, 3 decelerate to full stop, go to cruising speed, 5 go to full speed (not available with cursor joysticks); W warp drive, D shields on/off, A tracker, T transmit subspace, F front view, R rear view, L long-range scan, S sector scan, C solar chart
Joystick: AGF, Protek, Kempston, ZX 2
Keyboard play: instantaneous
Use of colour: well used
Graphics: outstanding
Sound: continuous, well used
Skill levels: 2 in effect, although they make for different games, and in addition there is a short game, full game with medium sized attack fleet, and full game with full-scale attack fleet
Lives: as it should be - only 1!

Although there are loads of keys and functions to get used to, you do find that they are all very useful, and it doesn't mean that you can't start to play immediately. The graphics have hit a new high for the Spectrum; they are extremely fast and you are given an amazingly realistic 3D view and they are varied as well. I like the way that even if you have lost your engines through enemy action, there is still a way of limping to a planet for repairs by keeping your finger on the thrust key. This causes the engines to "stutter." The planets are all drawn very well, as are the drones that come to refuel the Centurion. This game is well balanced between strategy and arcade and there is a lot of interaction between computer and player. Forward planning plays a major part too. I don't think I can find any way of telling people to buy this game that would be sufficiently adequate. Just buy it!

First impressions of Code-Name Mat are terrifying. Not only are there a lot of screens to cope with, but also a lot of keys, although joysticks may be used. But despite appearances this turns out be to a user-friendly game and, despite its complexity, it isn't one where you seem to get lost in space like so many other similar games. Mind you, I can't think of another game to really compare it with. You might just have climbed into a space ship and hurtled skywards, it's all so realistic. All the graphics are superb, and all the instrumentation is essential to successful playing. Perhaps the only "cheap" effect in the whole game is the stargate warp effect, with its flashing colours. The 3D is not only effective it's also varied. The Long Range Scan is a really exciting development. Realism is even taken to the degree that when the forward view flicks to the rear, the keys, of course, alter their left/right function, which can be confusing at first. The depth of the game will ensure that it is played for a long time to come.

Amazing 3D graphics! Enemy craft really do come from hundreds of miles away until they zoom over your shoulder. Only the planets are a bit jerky as you approach, but then, with so many of them and in such good detail, and only 48K that's not surprising. It is obviously going to take a long time to plumb the intricacies of Code-Name Mat, and that means high addictivity, helped along by the exciting space battles and tremendous playability. If there's anyone out there who doesn't like this game, perhaps they should go back to Ludo.

THE PLOT THICKENS

The frantic zap of arcade software has given way to calmer play and strategic thinking. John Gilbert investigates.

TIME GATE
Memory: 48K
Price: £6.95

CODENAME MAT
Memory: 48K
Price: £6.95

STONKERS
Memory: 48K
Price: £3.95

HALLS OF THE THINGS
Memory: 48K
Price: £7.50

MAZIACS
Memory: 48K
Price: £6.95

The 'Zap-Em' type of arcade game, although still around, has undergone a transformation which started in earnest in the middle of last year. Games manufacturers with an eagle eye on the industry saw that the time would arrive when arcade games, such as Space Invaders and Centipede, would fade in popularity and that something had to be added to make them more appealing.

The one aspect which games such as those already had was strategy. In games such as Space Invaders, strategy is needed to evade the aliens and at the same time fire at them. A good game will infer a strategy to the player and a good player is one who can assimilate that method of play quickly.

Software houses decided that the most obvious way to increase interest in the arcade style of game was to emphasise the strategy aspect. That is done either by putting strategy games in an arcade format or by slowing the action to accommodate structured thought instead of quick-fire intuition. The move worked well and games like Time Gate, Stonkers and Codename Mat prove it.

Time Gate reached the market shortly after the Spectrum arrived in great quantities and it is one of the first games for the machine produced by Quicksilva. The game centres on a conflict between the peoples of the free universe and the incredibly evil and ancient race of Squarm.

At the launch Quicksilva promoted it as the ultimate sci-fi space adventure and, with its 3D representation of space through the window of a fighter and the depth of story deadline, it was at that time.

The strategy of the game is centred on finding the aliens using the instrument panel of your spaceship and then destroying them. It was given added depth by spreading the Squarm through space and time so that the player has to lock-on to a particular sector in space and spacewarp there.

In some ways Quicksilva produced a game which crosses Space Invaders with the mainframe computer game Star Trek. It was that aspect initially which drew customers who wanted something different and who were ever-willing to part with their money.

Unfortunately, Time Gate is an example of how the software scene can change overnight. A few months after its release the game attracted much criticism and the Squarm have made many players squirm.

At the release, about a year ago, Time Gate was described as incredible but since then players and critics alike found that it had limitations, not least of which was the plot. The storyline is too much like a revamped version of Star Trek. Time Gate is still available from Quicksilva and costs £6.95.

Codename Mat, for the 48K Spectrum, is a new release from Micromega which could be described as an advanced version of Time Gate or an extremely good interpretation of the Atari Star Raiders. The strategy element in the arcade game is obvious, as you have to plot your way through the solar system, passing through star gates to spacewarp into another system.

The solar system is broken into sectors which have a planet or satellite as bases. The planets are taken from our solar system and include Mars, Jupiter and Earth. Each of those planets is under attack from the Myons and it is your job, as a teenager with the knowledge of the universe, to stop them.

There are two levels of play depending whether you want to use a lone ship or whether you want to be the commander of a task force. The latter is the most difficult as you can engage in several conflicts at the same time by using subspace radio, which seems to have an immediate effect on the sector you have selected.

If all your ships in one sector are destroyed, the planet could be destroyed and you have lost part of the game. If you see the situation where you could lose ships in another sector you will need to use your cunning and skill to build a battle strategy.

The arcade part of the game occupies about 50 percent of playing time and involves shooting through space and chasing the enemy fighters and motherships. It can only be described as classic arcade action combined with moments of strategic thinking to scan computer banks for information about the movement of hostile craft and about which planetary system are in danger.

Codename Mat could almost be described as state-of-the-art in software and it is close to a simulation in space-game terms. One of the most notable aspects is that the routine to generate the 3D graphics is only 200 bytes long. The compactness of the graphics routines means that the author has been able to concentrate on developing the depth and storyline of the game and that is obvious from the start.

Unfortunately, although the game is more advanced than Time Gate, the storyline is weak, as it seems to be a collection of unoriginal ideas. Luckily those ideas fuse together well and the plot stands on its own. Codename Mat can be obtained from Micromega and costs £6.95.

Manufacturers and authors have not limited arcade strategy games to the depths of space. They have also done the opposite of giving arcade games touch of strategy and given strategy games on arcade feel.

Stonkers, for the 48K Spectrum from Imagine, is a prime example of that type of game. The player is given command of land-based forces, including tanks and infantry, which are grouped in the top right-hand corner of the screen. The enemy is based across the river on the other side of the screen and to reach a suitable combat position one or other side has to cross the bridge.

When you start to play, a map of the whole theater of war is displayed. You can issue commands to active units on the map by positioning a cursor over the map position you require.

One of two actions will occur. If you are on the big map you will zoom in to a detailed display of the location specified. If you are already zoomed in you can position the cursor over a fighting unit and by moving the cursor to the position you want it to take up, it will start to move towards that locality.

The use of a cursor to plot strategy is inventive and imagine has put much effort into the game. It should take weeks for a player to work out a plan of strategy to defeat the foe, mainly because of the immense landscape on which play takes place.

The game is a cross between the usual type of battle strategy game such as Apocalypse from Red Shift and the arcade game Battlezone. Imagine has succeeded in producing a game which combines arcade quality graphics and strategic action. Stonkers can be obtained from imagine for £3.95.

Maze games, such as Pac-man, have not escaped the eye of software houses keen to think of new plots. The munch-munch of the Pac-Man has been replaced by ponderings, such as 'Where is the treasure?' of the hero or heroine. That type of game is well-illustrated with such programs as Ant Attack, from Quicksilva, Maziacs from dk'Tronics and the irrepressible Halls of the Things from Crystal Computing, which still seems to be out-selling everything on the market.

Halls of the Things, in which the player has to collect a certain number of rings of power in a maze before being destroyed by the monsters, started a craze for the so called all-graphics adventures in which cartoon-style arcade graphics were combined with adventure plots. Most of those games take place in dungeons and feature magic and sword play. Several companies have followed the excellent crystal game, although unlike the state of play with arcade games nobody has copied original Crystal ideas as the area is so rich in concept material. Halls of the Things can be obtained from Crystal Computing and costs £7.50.

Maziacs, for the 48K Spectrum, is from dk'Tronics and is another example of the genre. It has a different graphics style from Halls of the Things which some would say is bolder and better and is more in line with the graphics which Ultimate Play the Game produces.

The plot involves finding a treasure chest in a maze which you must drag back home without being killed by the Maziacs, which can get into terrible sword fights with your player-character. To find the way to the treasure you have to make contact with the prisoners who are strung along the corridors of the maze. The fight sequences are incredibly detailed. You will again need to develop a strategy over a period of time to win. Maziacs can be obtained from dk'Tronics and costs £6.95.

To succeed, arcade-strategy games must produce an effect for the player like that produced by an ordinary zap'em game. It is the way the addiction is created which makes the difference. In an ordinary arcade game the effect is created through a need to destroy aliens and make a high score. Arcade-strategy games are different, as they rely on the user's mind. It is the strategy as well as the graphics which keeps the player returning for more.

The combination of arcade techniques and strategic thinking has made the arcade-strategy game very popular. The insurgence of that type of program means that the customer has two types of game in one and the reality of the plot, through the realism of the arcade graphics, takes the games industry one step forward. The main criticism for a long time is liable to be that the plots on which the games hang are not original enough. We are, however, just beginning to see a change in arcade style, where bang and zap are replaced by plot and thought.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48k
SUPPLIER: Micromega
PRICE: £5.50

Complex strategy games like Code Name MAT are becoming even more popular by the minute - and they are becoming ever more difficult to master.

Code Name MAT is reminiscent of Atari's Star Raiders, combining the shoot-'em-up action of Galaxians and the strategy decision-making of chess.

The game begins by asking whether you wish to be a pilot or a commander and which of three levels of difficulty you want to play. Actually starting to play the game is a daunting experience - over ten keys are used to control your space ship during the game.

You have been chosen to control the Earths most fearsome space craft in a last ditch effort to win the war against the invading Rigilans. Equipped with long range scanners, warp engines and photon torpedoes, you must eliminate the aliens from each of the solar systems sectors.

To do the game justice, this review would have to run for some pages and involve several weeks' reviewing on my part. One thing I have discovered about the game is that it would probably be the best £5.50 you could spend on your Spectrum.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
JOYSTICK: Optional
SUPPLIER: Micromega
PRICE: £6.95

Here at last is a game offering convincing 3D space action on the Spectrum. But be warned. It's very difficult.

As ever the Earth is under attack by aliens. For decades the Myons have sought to dominate the Solar System and mankind has had to put its hope in one last project. Codename MAT (Mission: Alien Termination).

A revolutionary space craft, the USS Centurion, has been built. Piloting the craft in battle is beyond any normal human, therefore the combined tactical skills of all the planetary leaders in the Solar System are placed in the mind of a teenager... MAT.

Once loaded you are given a choice of six different control options. These include the keyboard and all of the popular joystick interfaces.

You are also given a choice of three game levels. Micromega call level one a practice level but even this will challenge the most dedicated arcade addict. Within each game level you get a choice of game type. Commander is where you control the deployment of planetary defence fleets yourself and Pilot mode gives control of these fleets to the computer.

Your mission takes place in full 3D style. If you are unlucky enough to have an encounter with an alien fleet they will swoop towards you with lasers blazing. rapidly getting larger as they approach. You fire and miss. They quickly vanish overhead, only to continue their attack on you from behind. Luckily your computer can track the aliens, you only have to concentrate on getting them in your sights.

At some time in the game you will no doubt be damaged or need more energy. Repairs to your craft are carried out by docking with a planet or satellite. All of the planets look different. In fact when you achieve orbit around Earth you can see all of the continents below you.

You travel around the galaxy by means of the warp drive. To warp you first have to decide which area you want to move to and place your warp cursor there, then turn on your warp drive and you're off.

To reach the sector you requested you have to keep a diamond within your sights. This isn't easy and unfortunately you usually end up nowhere near your target.

MAT appears to be based on the Atari classic Star Raiders. It is not a game for loading into your computer for a few minutes fun. You have to be willing to spend quite a long time playing it.

If you're the type of person who doesn't like a lot of control keys then you may find MAT too difficult. On the other hand, any time spent getting used to them will lead to some very long and exciting games.

A space adventure and strategy game which can only be described as a souped-up version of Star Trek, a game made famous on large mainframe machines.

You take the part of either a space cadet or a commander in charge of fleets of battle cruisers scattered throughout the galaxy. The object is to defeat the Myons who are destroying all the planets within the Earth's Solar System. You must stop them through remote control of ships in other systems and first-hand combat acheieved by going through star gates into another part of the galaxy. The 3D effects which show the space cruiser moving through space are created using only 2.5K of code.

Position 12/50