Producer: Silverbird
Out of Pocket: £1.99 cass
Author: David Lyttle

Far in the future man has created convenience robots, trendily called Droidz, so that he can go off and have a good time in Benidorm, Mars, while they do all the menial tasks. Not surprisingly, the individually unintelligent robots are a bit peeved at this (all work and no play makes Jack a dull droid) so they've grouped together in protest to form a collective intelligence - not unlike us reviewers at CRASH Towers.

Droidz have taken over the Holographic Recreation Centre, hoarding all the high technology they can get their robo-grips on. Driving a reconditioned Mk III battle walker into the complex, you must destroy the revolting droidz and retrieve as much technology as possible in the procezz.

The action is represented by a plan view, Gauntlet-style, as the battle walker, equipped with gun, strides around the screen which scrolls accordingly. Contact with a robot reduces your energy; the game is over when this reaches zero. The mazes are populated by a variety of coloured and fairly simply animated sprites. Progress is relatively easy - until the energy level starts getting low, when it becomes a mad dash to find a battery for recharging.

Scattered around the levels (multiloaded in sets of three) are various useful items including flashing globez which give extra zmart bombs to destroy all droidz on the screen. In some mazes, there are literally hundreds of droidz after the battle walker's circuitry, so the smart bombs are extremely useful. Find the exit and you're granted accezz to the next stage.

Despite various useful objects, there is still a terrible lack of variety-most mazes just contain massive amounts of robots and little else. Strategy doesn't come into it-all you can do is zap droid after droid after droid. Avoidz.

PHIL [26%]

THE ESSENTIALS
JOYSTICKS: keyboard only
SOUND: simple spot effects

This game is little more than a horribly glitchy, thinly-disguised Gauntlet clone. Guiding the Mk III battle walker around the maze of flickery screens, shooting at the gaudily coloured droids isn't exactly my idea of fun. The whole process bored me witless in a matter of minutes. Even a £1.99 price tag can't compensate for repetitive gameplay and the absence of any lasting appeal. Unless you're addicted to tedious games, I strongly advise you to steer well clear. You've been warned…
MARK [16%]

Label: Silverbird
Author: David Lyttle
Price: £1.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: None
Reviewer:

The Droidz of this Silverbird title are convenience robots, built by Man to do all the drudge work while he's off sunbathing or watching the telly. They lead a pretty dull life, there's no job satisfaction, something's gotta change.

So. all of a sudden, these electronic menials form themselves into a collective intelligence. Having realised how stupid they are, they decided to embark on a quest for knowledge. They all gather together down the local holographic Recreation Centre, and start hoarding pieces of technology. What for? Absolutely no reason whatsoever, as far as I can see.

Now, the people who built this chore corp are a bit miffed so they send in another of their constructions - a reconditioned Mk III battle walker. Needless to say, this lone combat machine must enter the complex, retrieve as many of the techno-gadgets as possible and engage in a little droid destruction.

This little beast carries a standard laser with which to protect himself, but he can also indulge in some self-customisation when he finds a suitable piece of equipment, there are five vital statistics which can be improved in this way, including: increased damage to Driodz on contact; decreased damage to the walker on contact with the Droidz; increased shot power; increased smart bomb power and an increased rate of fire. Each characteristic is represented by a small icon which may be collected up to five times the maximum efficiency, you're going to need the lot!

The complex is displayed using an overhead viewpoint, Gauntlet-style, and similarities to the Atari coin-op don't end there. In fact, the whole game is simply a one-player Gauntlet variant.

Other features of its arcade inspiration are there, including pushable and destructible blocks; solid, moving and removable walls; food for the walker (in the shape of batteries), collectable equipment, and LOADS of enemies.

The graphics are clear, colourful and nicely drawn, although the scrolling can be a little jerky at times. Similarly, the creature animation is simple but effective.

There are one or two niggling points, such as the fact that the walker can't move and blast at the same time, but overall I was impressed: each load contains several levels, and I think there are enough levels to keep even the most ardent blaster at it for years to come. And although there's no save option, each freshly loaded set of levels may be replayed, if desired, once your walker's energy has fizzled out.

The few levels that I managed to play through were well designed and interesting to play, many screens requiring a fair amount of strategic thinking. The later levels become extremely hectic and each new screen brings fresh problems to overcome. Great stuff - go get it now!