Producer: Reaktor
Retail Price: £8.95
Author: System Software/Tigress

It's the graveyard shift in the security room of a highly secret office complex. All the security guards are happily slumbering, unaware of the terrible fate that has overcome the building.

Suddenly, the smoke detectors go off, and as the guards rub the sleep out of their eyes, the full horror of the situation slowly dawns on them. The buildings have been attacked by highly sophisticated terrorists. Bombs have been planted all over the place, set with time fuses. The time limit to the game is set by the fuses on the bombs.

Normally, the security services can cope with this sort of everyday occurrence, and would just send in the security droids to sort things out and bang a few heads together. But things are getting out of hand. The terrorists have got into the central data banks, reprogrammed the security droids and then wrecked the computer.

So there's nothing for it, but to call in the Deactivators. These little chaps are a dedicated team of super droids controlled via an icon system in the lower display area, below the view of a pair of rooms. Pressing the fire key brings up four icons: select a droid, throw, scan, and return to the game. In scan mode, a cursor can be moved around a small plan of the building displaying the contents of rooms in detail. Select a droid allows the cursor to be moved around the plan screen, and a droid selected. This droid can then be moved around from room to room. The main display reveals the room the droid is in, and an adjacent room.

Each of the five levels of the game is progressively harder. The First level is a simple four by four grid in which there are three bombs to be destroyed. Rooms are linked and many of them have several exits, although some have windows, transporters, or poles which allow vertical travel. Circuit boards can be found in some locations.
The circuits have differing effects when they are moved to the computer room and plugged in: force fields are deactivated; transporters initialised and lights turned on in dark rooms for instance.

Reprogrammed security droids are out to get the unarmed Deactivators. The only way to kill a security droid is to get it to follow the Deactivators around and fall through the floor a few times. Usually, getting a bomb out of the building requires team work. The bomb gets picked up by one droid, and then thrown through a window to another droid. You should make sure that the other droid is ready to catch the bomb when it is thrown, as bouncing a bomb around tends to make it explode!

The throwing system itself is a laws question of selecting the throw icon, and then chucking the bomb, circuit board or whatever when the indicator reaches the angle desired. However, adjacent rooms tend to have different gravities, or even totally different orientations - presented on screen upside down, or sideways.

Should a bomb explode, then both the room and the clumsy droid are eliminated - which could mean the game becomes impossible to complete.

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2
Keyboard play: effective
Use of colour: limited
Graphics: good perspective effects
Sound: tune on the 128, the odd beep on the 48K
Skill levels: two
Screens: 160

No way can this be described as an easy game. Even the first level takes a lot of getting used to but, as long as you can master that, you'll really get into it. Some of the problems are neat and totally mind-blowing on the later levels, with the rooms at all angles, and some dark. The icon driven system can be another sticking point, but at least it means a complicated game can be controlled from a joystick. The graphics are well drawn, and there are some jolly visual effects like the bombs going off, it's rare to see a strategy game with so much care taken over presentation.

Games like this have never really appealed to me as they involve too much brain and pencil work. Graphically, Deactivators is unique - I have never seen a game quite like it be. The droids are detailed and well animated and the rooms are drawn in neat perspective. The sound is disappointing; there are no tunes and the effects are limp. The game is very difficult to play even on the first level, though if you do persevere it gets very rewarding when you finish a building. Very playable if you stick with it.

Now and again it's nice to see a game that does not involve shooting things. Deactivators is something of a strategy game as you must plan all your moves perfectly beforehand. Just one slip could have explosive consequences! The graphics are simple and uncomplicated as is the game play, although lobbing the bombs around does take a little practice. The explosions are well done, with the screen shaking violently, but unfortunately the room in which the explosion takes place is totally devastated, making it practically impossible to complete that level. An ingenious game - and a welcome change.

Reaktor
£8.95

I like Tigress-styled games. I thinked Think till I was well and truly thunk, and now Deactivators is de activator of my tired mind.

This time the ace design team has come up with a complex arcade puzzle totally unlike anything you've seen on your Spectrum. It's an abstract maze game, but it calls for a goodly number of arcade skills too just to keep you on your toes.

Actually, there are no toes in this game, nor fingers, because your bomb disposal squad is totally devoid of anything but droids, which is pretty lucky really since they're eliminating the explosives in the most unlikely environments ever. And there are security droids on patrol which the terrorists have reprogrammed to attack you. See what I mean when I say it's not a good place for flesh and blood.

Playing Deactivators is easier than describing it but playing it well is fiendishly difficult. Each level of the game contains a series of rooms arranged in a grid. The first of these is a mere four by four, but they get bigger as you progress.

Most of the rooms are linked, either by doors, trapdoors, which only allow downward travel, and poles, which allow two way vertical movement. Windows are too high for a hovering droid, but you can throw things through them, and teleports serve to... well, teleport. Also in the building you'll find a computer room.

The first thing you should do when you approach a new level is make a map. Get to know what will take you where, using the scan facility, accessed through an icon menu, because there's nothing worse than being stuck with a fizzing fuse in a dead end!

Next, check where the circuit boards are because you'll need to insert them into the computer if you're to complete the task. They do things like removing force fields, switching on teleports and even the lights, so they're invaluable for getting about.

Then, find the exit to the outside world. You throw the bombs out of this, so make sure that you know the fastest route. Finally, study your map and try to decide on a strategy, because you'll be pretty busy when the action starts.

The game becomes a test of manoeuvring your forces within a set time limit. You have to pass the circuits and bombs through windows if you're to carry them to their correct destinations. Meanwhile, movement of robots within the proximity of a guard leads to a frantic game of chase as you try to collect objects without colliding.

Throwing a bomb is controlled by a clever system, with a swinging line indicating the angle of the shot. Given that explosives don't take too kindly to being tossed around, you need to judge this carefully. Position your fielder so that the bomb doesn't bounce around the floor before going Boom!

If a bomb should explode prematurely you'll lose the droid and the room it was in, which can bring a game to an early end.

As the levels progress, Reaktor has included some fiendish tricks. Different rooms have different gravities, making those throws even more difficult. Sometimes there are no lights. Worst of all are the upside down and sideways rooms, which makes orientation tricky to say the least. There you are, trying to position yourself accurately and make a flawless throw, when everything about your joystick is the wrong way round.

With its clean graphics and clever control system, managing to provide all the information you need to do the job, this is another goodie from Tigress. Providing you don't mind putting in some hard brainwork in order to play, it's a must!

Label: Ariolasoft
Author: Reaktor
Price: £9.95
Joystick: various
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Graham Taylor

Deactivators is a game that doesn't really lend itself to comparison with any other program.

I suppose you could call it an arcade strategy game. Actually it is just itself. A curious phenomenon seldom met in the 'lets do Frogger again' software industry.

Not merely original, however, Deactivators is also very entertaining and tests parts of your brain you didn't even know you had.

What is it? Well this is the difficult bit. Nominally it's all about saving a building by chucking bombs out of available windows before they explode. Imagine however that the house was designed by a madman and features abstract rooms with windows and doors in all the wrong places. Imagine also that to empty a building of bombs you will have to think in at least three dimensions, develop lightening reflexes and master trajectories. Imagine that the screen is divided into two sections depicting adjacent rooms in which bombs, guard droids, bits of circuit boards and your own team of droids are located. And, finally, imagine you have a time limit and that the game gets harder and harder as you reach each new building level with more and more bombs to be discovered and, most bizarre of all, changing gravities which make it very difficult to judge exactly what effect your bomb throws will have. It takes a lot of getting used to.

That's Deactivators. It's a very, very strange game and I love it.

If there has to be a point of comparison I suppose Spy vs Spy is the closest I can think of. Although this is not a two-player game, the way you have to keep your eye on several things at once and keep you wits about you is a bit similar.

All commands are issued via a joystick - it's icons again but not too many of them. Mostly the game is played out in the compartments of a building. You control a number of droids which begin each level scattered around the different rooms. As you switch control between droids the central screen will show both the room pieces of computer circuit board) are shown, as are enemy droids, transport pads, windows and doors.

Icon options allow you to switch viewpoints among your droids and scan the overall layout of the building. This is vital.

Having selected a droid it may be moved around between any rooms which are connected by a door or by a transport pad. The first task is to find a piece of computer circuit board and place it in a computer. This opens a window or door between rooms without which it will be impossible to complete the level.

The strategy element of the game is really sneaky. It's simply this: you may find that no one robot droid can both collect a bomb and reach one of the building's outside windows. What this means is that you must find a droid that can reach an outside window and a droid that can reach a bomb and then arrange for these droids to meet - except that they can't. What you must do next is get them in rooms adjacent to each other and throw the bomb between them through a window or door. Droid control will switch between droids in mid-air and you must catch the bomb with the other droid - bombs are not good things to drop, although you may get away with it once or twice in the early stages.

On later levels adjacent rooms may not even be' on the same horizontal ie the floor of one may be a right angle to the floor of the other - this means figuring out what is going on and turning the joystick accordingly - working out the correct way is very difficult.

Graphics don't need to be astounding but are not bad at all and the there are some nifty sound effects here and there as well as some clever music in the opening stages.

Deactivators is absolutely superb.

MACHINE: C64/Spectrum/Amstrad
SUPPLIER: Ariolasoft/Reaktor
PRICE: £9.95 (tape), £14.95 (disk)

There's nothing like a droid. Not when you're playing Deactivators, there isn't! If you haven't got one or two of these nifty little things then you're stuffed.

This is one of the most original games to come from Ariolasoft - and it's British! Programmed by the people who brought you The Music Studio, this little number will grab you, shake your senses upside down and then do it all over again. Not an easy game to put down once you've started.

The basic idea is this: You are in charge of a bunch of droids the Deactivators. Your mission is to remove terrorist bombs from five different buildings. Level one is a four by four building - later levels get much bigger and more complex.

The display at the top of the screen shows two rooms at a time. In the centre of the lower part of the screen there's a map of the building showing the positions of your droid team and the bombs. On the right there's a status box which shows anything the droid under your control is carrying.

The map window can be replaced by droid control icons. But I'll you about those later.

As well as bombs you'll find circuit boards scattered about. These have to be replaced in the buildings computer in order to get certain things in the building - like matter transporters and lights - working.

To remove the bombs from the building you will have to carry them to the exit and throw them out. There is not always a direct route out of the building, so you will have to throw the bomb between a number of droids to remove it.

The exit room is the only room with a door which leads to the outside.

Certain elements in each building will not function until you replace the corresponding circuit board in the computer room. These include lights, matter transmitters and door or window openings. Some circuit boards are dummies and have no effect and others switch off obstructing forcefields.

You can move around the building in a number of different ways. Through the doors, dropping through hatches, sliding up and down poles, or using the matter transporters.

Moving around would be quite easy if it were not for the Guard Droids who have only one aim in life. To vapourise you. Fortunately for you we've got a games guide to Deactivators in the thing you found stuck to the front of this issue - and it tells you how to deal with the guards in no uncertain terms!

What with the guards, sideways - yes sideways - rooms, blocked exits and entrances and different gravities in each of the rooms things tend to get a bit weird from time to time. Most of the time to be more precise.

You see these buildings belong to a top secret research establishment - so they need different gravities in some rooms, and some of them just have to be sideways or upside down.

This makes controlling the droids and throwing things about reasonably difficult. OK, very difficult! You see as soon as you enter an upside down room your joystick controls get reversed. Which makes life interesting until you come to terms with it.

All the bombs in a building are set to go off in a sequence. If you are carrying an active bomb you will see the fuse burning in the status display. Be careful when throwing bombs as they can only withstand a limited number of impacts before they will explode.

Four control icons appear in the icon window. They are:

Droid select: Enables the selection of another droid by moving joystick left or right and pressing fire. Control is switched to this droid.

Throw: Enables the droid being controlled to throw a bomb or circuit board.

Scan: Allows you to view all the rooms in a building.

Movement: Returns you to movement control of the currently activated droid.

A droid can only carry one object at a time. Trying to pick up a bomb whilst carrying anything else will cause the bomb to explode. To pick up either a bomb or a circuit board you move your droid over it.

To throw, press the fire button to open up the control icon window and select the bomb throw icon by pressing fire.

The display is replaced by a meter showing the angle and direction at which the throw will be made.

When a new level starts, you will be placed in droid select mode. This is shown by the flashing highlight on the map. By moving the joystick left and right. The cursor can be moved over all the available droids in the building. Pressing the fire button selects the droid. If the cursor is over two droids, then the droid shown hovering is the one available for selection.

In scan mode, moving the joystick in any of the four directions will move a cursor over the building map. Releasing the joystick will display the highlighted rooms. This mode will enable you to plan your routes and keep an eye out for any guards which might be lurking in adjacent rooms.

In building five, no scan mode is available until one of the circuit boards is replaced in the computer! Sneaky, eh?

Beginners may find the game looks complicated. It isn't so don't be put off. Take time to read the instructions and play through the first level which is really a training session for what comes later.

Using the icons is pretty simple - and gets simpler with practice. Don't try to pick up a circuit board when you're holding a bomb - or the other way around - because you'll end up one droid less if you do.

Throwing items around between different gravities is an art which again comes with practice. But you'll soon learn to position the droids effectively to catch items. Control passes automatically to the catcher.

Successfully complete a building and you get an extra droid which can be placed at will in the next building to give you an extra edge.

Graphics are good and the sound on the 64 version is superb. Playability? Well it goes off the C+VG scale.

Deactivators is a demanding, challenging and original game. It requires quick thinking and fast reactions. I was hooked from the moment I started playing. Deactivators is destined to become a cult game. Get it.

Ariolasoft
£8.95

As chief of security at a top secret research centre, you are already in considerable hot water as a group of terrorists have bypassed your security system and planted a series of bombs, timed to detonate in sequence over a short period of time. As if that wasn't enough, they have also reprogrammed the guards to attack everything on sight. Your only hope of regaining some of your lost credibility is to send in a team of deactivating droids and get rid of the bombs as quickly as possible.

The building is on five levels and each one must be cleared in turn. At the bottom of the screen is a map showing the layout of the floor together with the location of your droids and the bombs. A series of icons can be used to select a specific droid and also to view any two adjacent rooms. These are drawn in 3-D perspective and show details of all the exits and objects present.

Clearing the level of bombs is no easy matter and there are several problems confronting the droids. Not the least of these is that they are limited in which rooms they have access to and this results in one droid having to pick up a bomb and throw it through a window into a different sector. It helps if you have another droid there waiting to catch it for there is always the chance that the bomb will detonate prematurely. You will also find circuit boards lying around and the object with these is to return them to the computer room. These are essential as they open up extra windows and doors, activate teleports and remove force fields. Your aim is to find a room at the corner of the building with a window leading to the outside through which you can dispose of the bomb.

On top of all this there are the guards to contend with. They will destroy you on contact and the only way to neutralise them is by persuading them to follow you through a hole in the floor onto the next lower level. Do this often enough and the guards will blow up. Still your problems aren't over. Because of the nature of the research establishment, some of the rooms have decidedly funny properties. The main difference you will notice is that they are all colour coded and this refers to the gravity level in the room. This ranges from 0.5G to 3G and affects your aim badly when you try to throw objects out of a room. At higher levels, rooms are rotated through 90 or 180 degrees, giving rise to another set of problems. Or a room may be blacked out totally.

Deactivators is an excellent mixture of strategy and action. It is not easy to work out the correct sequence of events that you must organise and a lot of people will find that they are getting nowhere fast with the game. Certainly it is very daunting at first and it would help considerably if you could get a decent demonstration before deciding if it is the game for you. Love it or hate it, it will definitely give your grey matter a good working over.