Producer: Artic
Memory Required: 16K
Retail Price: £4.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Donald Cam,pbell

'Missile Command' games for the Spectrum must rapidly be coming up for a comparison article - almost every major software house has now had a go at a version, one of the most recent being Artic. In Earth Defence you are given the usual 6 cities to defend with your three missile bases. In this version only the middle one actually fires, the other two supplying missiles. It also features a moving cross hair sight like other versions, but when the fire key is pressed a cross is left until the missile arrives, leaving your main sight free to dash off to the next incoming enemy missile trail. Since the game is well known there's little point in describing it further.

COMMENTS

Control keys: poor, 6/7 left/right, 8/9 up/down, zero to fire. These are keys for the Sinclair Interface 2, and an alternative should have been provided
Joystick: Sinclair, Kempston
Keyboard play: responsive, but difficult to control well
Colour: Average to good, changes with screens
Graphics: simple with good explosion effects
Sound: reasonable
Skill levels: 3
Lives: 6 cities

The graphics are fairly simple with nice explosions, but with only one of the three bases firing it's difficult to cope, especially with the poor control key layout provided. The original used a tracker ball for controlling missiles, and unless you have a compatible joystick, I would not personally recommend this game.

I thought the use of colour was good, the graphics are smooth and the sound is also good. A very addictive game.

It has simpler looking graphics than some of the other versions, but the explosions are about the best I've seen. All three levels are fast, the highest being virtually impossible without a great deal of practice. Pity about the silly control keys though - it's not an arrangement for what is a very difficult game to play.

Producer: Artic, 16K
£4.95 (2)
Author: Donald Campbell

Another 'Missile Command' of course. Six cities, three missile silos, no satellites or torpedoes. A useful feature is the cross hair sight which leaves an after image when the firing key is pressed while the main sight dashes off somewhere else on the screen. Fairly simple looking graphics and a very fast version. Pity, then, that the control keys are badly placed 6/7/8/9 and 0, 3 skill levels, joystick: Kempston, Sinclair 2. Above average, overall CRASH rating 63% M/C.

ARCADE APOCALYPSE - MISSILE COMMAND GAMES

Our erstwhile arcade sleuths, CHRIS PASSEY & MATTHEW UFFINDELL duet of their track balls and compare some Spectrum 'Missile Command' type games.

'Missile Command' is the arcade classic in which the player defends six cities from enemy missiles. These missiles leave traces on the screen, splitting up at lower levels to make life more difficult. In addition planes and killer satellites move across the screen dropping more missiles. Heat sensitive missiles (or smart bombs) are able to avoid your defensive explosions and have to be hit accurately (direct hit) or deluged with explosions. Defence is by means of three missile bases, each having ten missiles. Any missile you launch will head for, and detonate at the point where your cross wire sight is set. The game continues until all your cities have been destroyed. The control of the sight is achieved by means of a track ball, which gives a very positive, accurate movement (analogue) and is very necessary for this type of game. The Spectrum games, of course, do not have a track ball provision.

Earth Defence by Artic
Retail Price: £4.95
Memory: 16K

This another game which falls down on the keyboard layout - all along the top row. The game itself has fairly simple graphics, the explosions being reasonable, but inferior to those of Anirog or Ocean. It is reasonable as a game, but due to keys, only a joystick game really (Kempston and Sinclair). Three skill levels and a 2 player option are also provided.
CP

With this version one or two players can play, with a choice of 3 skill levels. There are missiles for your defence in this comparatively tame version. Every 1,000 points scored awards you an extra city. The cross hair moves quickly and smoothly, and firing a missile results in a realistic explosion with good sound too. I like the colour, and it is a good noisy version, but its addictive qualities are slight, and its appeal wears off after a couple of hours.
MU

Note on ratings: To be enjoyed to the full, 'Missile Command' games should be played with a joystick (shame there is not a track ball) because keyboard play, in general, cannot give the same degree of accuracy and control. Although the same may be said for many other types of game, we are sure 'Missile Command' fans will agree that this is the game which needs it the most badly. Therefore the ratings given below have been split in two, one for keyboard only play, and one for joystick play. The two reviewers figures have been averaged as, in general, they turned out to be in agreement.

Ratings are given on a scale between zero and 100 points, and do not reflect what a game may receive in a regular review.

Memory: 16K
Price: £4.95
Joystick: Sinclair, Kempston

Earth Defence, for the 16K Spectrum, is a fairly faithful reproduction of the arcade game Missile Defence. In it you must defend your cities and missile sites from invading nuclear missiles and other craft.

You have three missile batteries from which to fire and a controllable cross-hair sight. Timing is all-important. You have a limited number of missiles and time must be allowed for them to reach their destination. If you survive the first wave of attackers your score is totalled according to how many cities and missiles you have remaining and another wave appears. Bonus cities are given every 1,000 points. The game has three levels of skill and can be played by one or two players, there is also provision to use either a Sinclair or Kempston joystick or the keyboard.

The graphics are adequate for this kind of game, although the sound is rather limited during the explosions.