Producer: PSS
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Paul Hutchinson

The name Covenant refers to a long lost parchment which carries the entire cultural record of a long dead people, a race whose once proud members have now mutated and been scattered, along with fragments of the Covenant among the 256 caverns of a subterranean horrorscape contained within a planet. You are the last survivor of the race, and as such it is your duty to find the 64 pieces of parchment and restore the knowledge that it bears. You must also gather the poor miserable mutant creatures from within the caverns, so that when you have the complete parchment the planet surface can be repopulated.

Alone you may be, but unaided you're not. Your equipment includes a globe (for getting about in) and a stun gun. Now it may seem odd that the wretched creatures you are trying so hard to rescue need to be stunned, but it's safe to assume that at this stage they have no idea what you are up to so they tend to regard you as an enemy. The globe itself isn't a bundle of fun to manoeuvre its movement is designed to mimic that of submerged bodies, ie awkward. Whenever you or your globe come into contact with a creature energy will be drained, so the first task in any cavern is to stun the creatures within and take them on board by manoeuvring your craft over them.

The whole cave system is divided up into blocks of four rooms. Each area has a key, a piece of the Covenant and some anaesthetic. Get the anaesthetic for the stun gun so you can capture the critters, which you must do, because you can only move into the next area when they've all been rounded up.

You only have one life so you must be careful not to get too close to the creatures, especially when you are not in the globe the rate at which you lose energy increases. Fortunately you can recharge by standing on a power point.

At any stage of the game you can inspect the status screen by pressing the space bar. This screen shows how much of the parchment you have collected, your energy level and how many objects (keys etc) and creatures you have gathered. A record of the time and score is also displayed.

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable
Joystick: any
Keyboard play: good
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: great
Sound: a little distressing at times
Skill levels: one
Lives: one but can be re-charge energy
Screens: 256

As the ratings may well show, getting started on this game was far from easy. The instructions showed the anaesthetic to be a sponge like blob, but in fact for the first area it looked more like a bowl of flowers, and there was a bowl of flowers on another screen. A take perhaps. The game itself has some very well drawn and colourful graphics. The movement of the character and the globe take a lot of getting used to, but that's all part of the game. On the whole I found this to be a reasonably difficult game but this was mostly due to the 'bad' handling of the craft. I have a feeling that this is a game to keep all of you mappers hard at work. Overall pretty addictive but don't expect to finish it too soon.

I have to admit that l found this a very difficult game to complete and I'm not sure that the reasons for this are good ones. The characters are very difficult to control and the initial supply of energy wouldn't be enough to get a C5 down the hallway. I suppose that is really the challenge of it, one is expected to learn how to control the characters and have the foresight to find a recharge point in time. Nevertheless the graphics are very good and I am sure that the game is interesting enough to make the hard work required worthwhile.

This is not an easy game to play. The movement of the globe is almost unpredictable, as it is meant to be, but it's still pretty confusing. When the character leaves the globe he is pretty happy just pottering around the floor of the cavern, but cannot be controlled when floating upwards. I have decided that there really isn't enough energy for the first part of the game - I know there are power points available but I'm sure I would have made more progress if a difficulty level had been provided. On the whole this is a very attractive game; there is a great deal to see and it should keep the patient and persistent going for a long time to come.

Rick: One for all you raiders of the lost Arcade. An adventure with a platform element, this game combines something of a Dr. Who scenario with an intergalactic Roots saga. A game most certainly for the skilful, not the wilful, as just one false blast (well only a few anyway) on your retro will doom your ancestral race, to oblivion. As a cosmic culture-vulture your mission impossible is to retrieve the 64 pieces of your people's covenant. You won't find 'Darwin was here' scratched on any of the multitudinous caverns in this game, as it's actually the groovy ghoulies who threaten your existence. They're miraculously transmuted into your own descendants once you've captured them all - it's a wonderful thing evolution.

But what am I doing, I can't go on telling you the plot! Let me tell you about the revival of the bubble car instead. You must manoeuvre your spherical craft, In a roundabout way through rocky caverns and around ledges. Don't worry about bursting the bubble, you can quite safely smash it into walls. But be warned, it's no smooth ride in your floating globe. You'll need a pretty nifty touch to control the craft as the friction factor's high, so don't expect to slip around gracefully like the ball in a Steve Davis trick shot. And don't waste energy searching for a recharging spot either.

If you've got Superman-type-saviour-of-the-world instincts, then you should have plenty of fun with The Covenant, and it really does put the joy back into joystick! 8/10

Ross: I know software can be adventurous, but the thought of being the last bastion of a whole threatened race is hard to get used to! Luckily, controlling the vehicle and avoiding grand caverns takes your mind off the seriousness of your task! Watch out Indiana Jones, you've got a rival! 6/10

Dougie: The graphics are fairly average, but the game is well up to scratch. It takes a bit of practice to get really good, and there's no chance of me finding all 64 bits of the covenant... but that's no problem. Fun. fun, fun. 8/10

Publisher: PSS
Price: £6.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston. Sinclair, Cursor

Any connection between The Covenant, biblical events and good games is totally coincidental.

You must guide your space ship around the caverns, getting out to pick up objects and pieces of covenant which, once fitted together, will save the world from destruction. There is, however, the little problem of the Thingies. They have a sting in their tails which will terminate you instantly.

To destroy the Thingies you must 22 leave your craft, pick up some anaesthetic and hit one of the two creatures. It will then be disabled for a few seconds. Then jump back into the spacecraft and bounce on it to pick it up. Such complex action makes lengthy play impossible.

The Thingies are intelligent and attack as soon as you leave your craft, draining your energy. Getting to the energiser is difficult and once there the Thingies continue their attack.

In the second section you must pass pipes which drip molten lava. There are more Thingies to kill, more covenant to pick up and more sections through which to pass.

Arcade wizards would find it difficult to complete 256 caverns, go through 67 passages and contend with ever-present aliens using just one life.

PRICE: £6.95

Scattered around a vast, subterranean complex are 64 pieces of parchment. As last survivor of your race your task is to collect these parts of The Covenant, last remnant of your people's culture, and to collect the animals which surround them.

First task involves only four screens, each inhabited by two creatures. The aim is to stun and collect all the creatures, collect the key and the parchment on order to open the way to further rooms.

Movement is agonisingly slow as your space craft floats gently around, and your spaceman hops from rock to rock. Neither is easy to control, neither is responsive to quick changes of direction. Drift the wrong way and you are doomed.

Doomed because you have very little energy in the first place, and very little contact with a non-stunned creature will drain it all. Infuriating because you only have one life, so dying means going right back to the beginning of the game.

Produced for the 48K Spectrum by PSS, 452 Stoney Stanton Road, Coventry.