Producer: Crystal Computing
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £6.50
Language: Machine code

With bright colours, fast, detailed graphics and a thoroughly single-minded idea, Crystal have launched an arcade classic with their Cyber Zone. It is a shoot em up which is as original in flavour in his flying saucer which revolves at the top of the screen on its underside is a powerful laser cannon which fires a beam downwards at you. His other weapons include highly maneuverable aircraft that dive bomb with frightening accuracy, and a red spinning-top shaped object that he lowers occasionally. This has the effect of 'jamming' your fire power.

The object is to survive long enough with all this going on to wear away the floor of the Cyber Man's saucer, and then hit him In his only vulnerable spot - his left foot!

The program has a special feature which allows players to fire the laser with the sound of their own voice instead of using the keyboard, although at the pace of this game it might be a hazard to health through loss of voice!

COMMENTS

Control keys: CAPS/Z = left/right, SPACE to start firing - It's continuous on auto from then on. In addition, 1 = sound on, 2 = sound off
Joystick: none - doesn't need it
Keyboard play: exceptionally responsive and fast
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: excellent
Sound: excellent
Skill levels: 5
Lives: 8
Features: voice activation (not guaranteed)

The graphics are very good, and the sound, which they claim is of arcade standard, is - it's excellent. The game is very fast to play, fun and addictive. It really does bring the arcade into your home. Plenty of action, I really enjoyed it!

This isn't just a shoot em up, although skill and dexterity are required, but there's a definite element of strategy involved. When the Cyber Man lowers one of his wretched fire Jammers, the easiest way of getting rid of it (as it's invulnerable to your fire once down) is to sit just under it and wait for one of the planes to bomb you, then get the hell out and leave the thing to blow up. Another way is to lure it (it follows you around) into a place where you have just shot down a bomber and let the bomber fall onto it. If you're really clever (and lucky) you can get the Cyber Man's laser to blast bomber and Jammer at the same time, but getting out from under the beam intended for you is a matter of split second timing. The graphics are superb - the effect of the saucer spinning round is very effective. The graphics, considering they are extremely fast moving, are absolutely flicker free, excellent pixel movement. Marvellous explosions too with great sound effects, and I'm sure that in the split second before his craft blows up, the Cyber Man's head explodes first. This is a dangerously addictive game which I shall be going back to again and again.

This is undoubtedly the best arcade shoot em up this month for me and indeed for some time. Utterly addictive, with great sound and marvellous, colourful graphics. There's no doubt - if you like shoot em ups - go out and buy it!

MEMORY REQUIRED: 16K

Crystal seem, continuously, to be switching between adventure and arcade style games. One of their first games, Merchant of Venus, was an adventure/trader type game but with moving graphics. Cosmic Guerilla is an arcade game. Dungeon Master is an adventure, whilst Halls of the Things is an arcade game but with an adventure type scenario. Cyberzone is a pure arcade game. Unlike Return of the Body Snatchers, it is not an actual copy of a true arcade game but rather a mix up of many different games.

At the top of the screen is a little green man enclosed in a space ship with a revolving floor. By firing at the space ship's floor it will slowly but surely disintegrate. Once it has, to a large enough extent, then you must shoot the alien's left foot!

There must be some hidden meaning behind this! Fortunately, the game is not quite that easy. Whilst your base runs along the bottom of the screen, the alien ship also has its own laser running along its base. This will fire on all but the lowest of the fire levels. Often, a little fighter aircraft will be sent out by the alien. These swoop their way across and down the screen, occasionally dropping bombs, which must be avoided at all costs. If a fighter aircraft is hit, it will spin over and dive towards the earth. From time to time, the alien ship will drop a scanner ship into the battle. You cannot shoot them, but the fighter aircraft can be enticed into hitting them as can the alien ship's own gun. These scanner shops do not fire at you, but rather at whatever you fire, hence blocking your fire until destroyed or retrieved by the alien ship.