Producer: Bulldog
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: Eugene Messina

A week may be a long time in politics, but it's not much when you've got to stop the evil Dr Destructo taking over the world.

First the protective forces of the Doctor must be taken out, and then his island hideaway, the Last Resort.

The fighting force of this scientific megalomaniac is a swarm of planes and jets. Some are slow, some fast, some harmless, some deadly and unpredictable. Manoeuvrable helicopters join their fixed-wing kin to fire lethal sucker darts; skymines enter from the top of the screen; bombers release cluster bombs; shuttles and satellites change direction quickly; hyperjets provide violent surprises; flying saucers hover menacingly.

These deadly enemies can send your craft plummeting into the sea or ground below, ending one of your seven lives.

But your small, athletic plane has the shooting power to take out Destructo's war machines. Destroyed, they drop from the skies onto the ships and buildings of Destructo's island. Gradually the impact of these crashes removes small sections, which pierce the structures and send them sinking into the sea.

Your plane also carries a single bomb in each screen, which can be delivered to quickly write off Destructo's assets. It usually takes three holes to destroy a target, and then you can move onto the next of the 21 screens and another corner of Destructo's seabound empire.

Be careful near the edge of the screen - approach too close and you're sent spinning out of control and possibly into the path of a lethal yellow bomber or blue jet. They, too, must be destroyed.

As time progresses, the sun and moon pass overhead and a countdown shows the few days remaining before Dr Destructo becomes master of the world.

Two players can control a plane each in a joint effort to wipe out Destructo's island.

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: detailed objects but too much colour clash
Sound: spot FX
Options: two players can team up; definable keys

Destructo is a cute little game with adequately detailed graphics: the only problem is the colour clash. The sound isn't much, just beeps and blips for a firing noise and no tune. But otherwise Destructo is good and addictive, keeping up the Bulldog standard.
NICK [60%]

The Bulldog label started off superbly with Feud (CRASH Issue 38, earlier this year), but since then it's been all downhill. I can't see why Mastertronic would risk tarnishing their good image this way. In Destructo the graphics are acceptable but suffer from a more-than-liberal splattering of colour. Games like this are ideal for people who find noughts and crosses enthralling, but for us interlskchuals Destructo is terribly boring and repetitive.
PAUL [15%]

Destructo is really out of the ark - I remember playing games like this three or four years ago. The graphics aren't bad, despite the obvious colour clash; the airplanes are quite nicely drawn, and amusing as they wobble around. But the sound is naff, just a few poops and parps. The controls are simple and easy to master, and though Destructo is repetitive it's quite fun to play for a while. Still, I doubt its lastability.
MARK [40%]

Bulldog
£1.99

This is one of those games with a story behind it. In fact, just about every game on the market has a little story that goes with it. In Dr Destructo, you have to fly your intrepid little aeroplane through the defences surrounding the island base of the evil and eponymous Doctor, destroying his ships, aircraft carriers, oil tankers and so on.

At the same time, you have to shoot down as many of the enemy aeroplanes and helicopters as you can, while avoiding the satellites, space shuttles and other nasty things. But you couldn't do without them, because it's by shooting them down and causing them to crash onto whatever is at the bottom of the screen that you - very gradually - destroy whatever it is at the bottom of the screen. Every time a wrecked enemy plane crashes onto a ship or aircraft carrier, etc it makes a little hole. If you can get another wreck to hit the same place, the hole gets deeper. When the hole reaches the bottom of the whatever it is, a pretty little waterspout appears. Three waterspouts and the whatever it is should sink, and you go on to the next screen. Once a screen, you have a bomb, which seems to destroy a number of the budding blocks the target is made up of: use it wisely - you wouldn't have thought that it was easy to miss an aircraft carrier, but I managed it.

This is a budget game, and perhaps we shouldn't expect too much from it. One the plus side, it has a certain appeal, although very little addictive quality. On the minus side, the graphics are clumsy and the game play becomes repetitive and boring... You're doing the same thing, screen after screen after screen. Just hold down the fire button and keep zooming across, if you're lucky you'll clobber enough enemy aircraft to knock holes in the target: if you're not, you'll run into something and lose a life. If you lose a life, you start again. I certainly haven't noticed any real element of skill in the game, but what the hell, its a cheap shoot 'em up. As budget games go, OK, but only just.

Label: Bulldog
Author: Eugene Messina
Price: £1.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Jerry Muir

A shoot 'em up's a shoot 'em up... or is it? THis has the traditional kill-everything scenario, set over 21 screens but with a really bizarre control system. Instead of flipping left or right your plane loops the loop in either direction, giving it a feel unlike any blaster you've ever played.

Once you've got used to weaving and diving all over the crowded sky, though, you'll be knocking the enemy out towards the ground. When enough have hit the battleship, submarine or island below you'll have to know which of the 15 nasties will succumb to your bullets, and which are better dodged.

Ideal for the odd half-hour when you're looking for some mindless mass-destruction. At this price you can't go wrong.

Spectrum, £1.99cs
Amstrad, £1.99cs

A super budget game for one or two players in which each player controls a plane and tries to shoot down all of Dr Destructo's over one of his ships, buildings or islands. Shoot down enough planes and the installation is destroyed and you can proceed to the next level. With 21 different levels and huge cutesy graphics, Destructo is an immensely enjoyable game that shouldn't be passed up (especially when you consider the price.)