Producer: Imagine
Retail Price: £7.95
Author: John Gibson and Karen Davies

One by one the brave members of the Cosmo Police tackled the unspeakable evil on the planet Cynep. Alas the wallies all failed in their bid to rid the Galaxy of the Cynep rule. Now there is only you, Galvan, left. All alone you must try to achieve what many have failed to do before. Using your wits and ingenuity you must scour the planet Cynep, venture deep within its Techno Caverns, and attempt to kill each one of it's evil inhabitants.

The planet Cynep is populated by some very strange and dangerous beings who are extremely possessive about their domain. Rampaging robots turn out to be pretty talented with the old left hook, and before Galvan can manage to pick up a weapon he is forced to box it out with these scowling metal machines. Apart from the robots there are the native aliens. These aliens seem to appear out of nowhere and their attacks are sharp and accurate. To begin with you only have your bare hands to defeat these nasties. Even against the robots this is quite difficult but when up against the fast moving flying aliens you really don't stand a chance.

Things however are not as futile as they may seem. Those Cosmo Police who went before you, left their weapons behind as a sort of morbid reminder for those who were to follow. These weapons come in the form of power pyramids. When Galvan first picks up one of these power crystals it provides him with the ultimate hand held weapon - the Blue Bolt Neutraliser.

As usual there's a snag; when Galvan's power is drained to a certain level his weapon becomes less effective. First it changes to an Arc Blaster, then to a gun, and finally you're on your own again with just your fists. Luckily the power pyramids are scattered quite liberally, they can also be collected from space-suited aliens when they've been killed.

Apart from the minion nasties, the end of each of the Techno Caverns is guarded by a ravenous multi-headed demon. Before Galvan can progress any further into the game this monstrosity must be destroyed. Each part of the demon must be shot four times before it is rendered harmless.

This life-and-death-mega-battle takes place at several different venues. These range from the arid platforms to the Techno Caves to deep underwater, where savage sting-rays and salivating sharks are already sharpening their molars in anticipation of an early lunch.

Galvan moves around the planet Cynep on foot. When necessary however, he can leap to great heights in order to avoid something nasty or to get to a higher platform. Galvan has five lives, and one of these is lost each time his power level reaches zero. There is also a two player option.

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable
Joystick: Kempston, Protek, Cursor, Sinclair, Fuller
Keyboard play: fairly good
Use of colour: colourful, but attribute problems
Graphics: very slow scrolling
Sound: a totally unsyncopated tune at the beginning with spot effects throughout
Skill levels: one
Screens: jerky scrolling play area

I can forgive IMAGINE once - for Tennis - but when they start to bring out games like Galvan, then I start to worry. I can't see what IMAGINE think that Galvan has got. It's certainly not the graphics, and the sound is nothing special either. The way that the screen scrolls (in all directions) would be very nice it ft actually worked, instead it turns out to be jerky and of off-putting. I'm not too impressed with Galvan and I'm very unhappy that Imagine have started to release this inferior stuff.

On my first go of Galvan I felt somewhat chuffed on reaching the first Demon. But then I reached another, that Galvan has got. It's certainly not the graphics, and the sound is nothing special either. The way that the screen scrolls (in all directions) would be very nice if it actually worked, instead it turns and continued the same game for more than a quarter of an hour; this, by my standards is not the sort of difficulty level I expect to find in any arcade conversion. The scrolling is very poor, and the sound is a further reflection of the games lack of polish. This is definitely not up to Imagine's usual standard. Pull your socks up, IMAGINE.

This is the sort of game you can play for half an hour on your first go, get an enormous mega-high-score and then never play again because it was so boring! Legging it around the incredibly large playing area zapping, shooting or punching hundreds of nasties (and surviving by luck alone), didn't really get me going. The graphics are very messy and disappointing. The action takes place on a tiny section of the screen which scrolls abysmally, and the use of colour on some screens makes it difficult to tell what's going on. The sound too is pretty dire, with few effects. On the whole I'm disappointed, it could have been much better.

Imagine
£7.95

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the arcades, Ocean has gone and signed up another arcade deal with Nitchibutsu, and no, I don't know how to pronounce that either.

Okey-cokey, so what does one have to do in this 'ere program? Well, in a nutshell, as the last surviving member of the Cosmo Police you have to neutralise all the defences of the Cynep and eventually knock the Cynep's evil rule on the 'ed. To do this you have a number of weapons at your disposal, the only trouble is that you've got to find them first. And even then, keeping them ain't particularly easy, 'cos as your power is drained through combat your weapons are whisked away leaving you completely 'arm-less. Now you're only left with your bare hands to fight with.

Once you've got through one level of nasties then you have to fight a Giant Demon. This Demon is multi headed and each bit that fires at you must be killed seperately. Not an easy task at the best of times.

The play area looks something like Domark's A View To A Kill and with most of the fighting going on with fists, the complex structure which Imagine has tried to generate deteriorates into nothing more than a Karate punch-up.

The graphics aren't particularly wonderful for Imagine, nor is the sound and I can't say I was thrilled to bits to play the game.

Personally I reckon that if you want to start fighting multi-headed beings then your time would be better employed writing threatening letters to the Ed.

MACHINE: Amstrad/Spectrum/C64
SUPPLIER: Imagine
PRICE: Spec - £7.99, AMS/C64 - £8.95

Will you please welcome the latest arcade invader Galvan! Based on the Nitchibutus (Bless you! Ed) coin-op of the same name, this home computer version joins the growing ranks of arcade machine titles.

Is it any good? Sadly, it isn't. The jerky scrolling - bad news for ANY games these days let alone an arcade conversion - really lets it down. Hopefully this will be cured on other versions of the game - but it makes the Spectrum game not very nice to play.

Shame, as the basic idea isn't bad. You're the last surviving member of the Cosmo Police on a mission to end the vile regime of Cynep by entering the Technol Caverns, wiping out the defence systems include horrible multi-headed demons.

Your super-cop starts the game armed only with his fists. Fortunately he can find power pyramids dropped by deceased Cosmo Policemen which contain useful weapons.

These include Arc Blasters, Laser Guns and Blue Bolt Neutralisers.

As your energy level decreases - shown as a bar graph at the bottom of the screen - the weapons are replaced with ones of lesser power. For example you could have an Arc Blaster but after fighting off a couple of andorid defenders it could rematerialise as a dodgy laster pistol.

The Techno Caverns include factories, underwater sections, caves and things that look a bit like hydroponic gardens.

You get bonus points for zapping your enemies and completing a level by destroying a demon best bit of this game.

When it comes down to it, Gavlan is still just a ladders and ramps game with added shooting. It IS big if you're one of those people who measures a game by the number of screens, it could be one for your.

My feeling is that Galvan is a very average game, with average graphics, average sound and pretty average game play. An example of the well know Jackson T. Kalliber saying: "Not every arcade game deserves converting."

If you've played the original, take a long hard look at the computer version BEFORE you decide to buy.

Imagine
£7.95

At least I think it's called Galivan, as the various bits of packaging can't seem to decide whether it's Galivan or Galvan. Anyway, whatever the guy's name is, he's the last member of the Cosmo Police and has been sent to the planet Cynep to destroy the demons who have been terrorising the galaxy.

The planet surface is riddled with Techno Caverns, where lurk all manner of dangerous robots and aliens, and at the end of each level of caverns there is a multi-headed demon who has to be destroyed before you can pass onto the next level. Earlier Cosmo Policemen who have passed this way have left behind them a number of Power Pyramids, and if you can find these they will boost your energy and provide you with a series of increasingly powerful weapons.

The game reminds me of an old Quicksilva title that I used to like called Mighty Magus, in that you have a sideways-on view of a maze rather than the usual overhead view, and have to wander up and down between levels in order to find the correct route to the deepest level.

The graphics are good, and all the moving sprites, though small, are finely detailed. But for some reason the programmers have placed a large box at each side of the screen display so that the actual area showing Gal(i)van in the caves is very narrow. This spoils the game a little, since it means that any creature approaching from the sides is right on top of you as soon as it appears on screen, which doesn't really give you enough time to react and defend yourself. And while the animation is good, the 'jump' control seems to respond too slowly - there's a noticeable delay between pushing the joystick up and actually seeing your figure jump.

These things don't ruin the game and I have to admit that I enjoyed blasting my way around the caves, but they do make it less addictive in the long run as you can often find yourself getting hit and losing lives through no fault of our own. So, nice game good graphics, but not a classic.

Various
Ocean
Arcade
£7.95/£8.95

There is one simple rule of thumb to which all software companies thinking of obtaining an arcade licence should adhere - do not bother to license a game which was boring in the arcades, or the best for which you can hope is a boring conversion.

Unfortunately Galivan is a case in point. The conversion is, with a few exceptions, of a very high standard. The game, on the other hand, is unimaginative and becomes boring quickly, especially if you are good at this type of walk-along, jump and shoot game.

As with most of the recent crop of Ocean/Image games, Galivan starts on a great note, Martin Galway's excellent loading music. After that, however, the game goes downhill rapidly. The first section is spent mastering the frustrating art of jumping the enemy. At the beginning of the game you are equipped with no weapons, so although some baddies can be punched to death, most must be avoided at all costs.

As you go further into each level, the baddies become progressively more dangerous until, at the end of each level, you are confronted by a three-headed monster which requires you to kill each head individually. Unfortunately, once that is completed, the game gets no better.

Overall, Galivan is a well-converted game but it is still boring.

Label: Ocean
Price: 7.95
Joystick: varios
Memory: 48K/128K

Galvan is odd. It's sort of Manic Miner meets Galaxians - platforms, ladders, and swirling hoards of flying aliens.

Your well-animated, largish figure kicks off standing on a platform in a bewildering alien landscape. Initially you'll find your surroundings to be of a rocky nature, but as you move further into the game, other backgrounds will reveal themselves.

The playing area is quite small - about half the total screen width but the lack of on-screen space is more than compensated for by the speed of the scrolling. While you stroll around your environment, in a style a bit like Doctor Who and the Mines of Terror, the screen will lurch around in very effective - if not particularly elegant - manner. This isn't scrolling - it's jerking - but it never claims to be anything else. When you go downstairs, the whole screen shudders up and down like it's being shaken about all over the place. Suddenly you're dive-bombed by a swirl of alien fiends - flying in Galaxians-style formation. As fiends go, these little critters are pretty mean. They come in a number of shapes and sizes, ranging from nasty little triangular things which lurk on the floor, waiting for you to walk past, to wacking great boxes with tubular arms. Although the latter do very little to your energy level, they look very impressive indeed, so they must be important.

Some fly around in menacing little squadrons, diving to head-height in order to provide an extraordinarily dangerous haircut.

But the most impressive form of beasty, is the alien who looks very similar to yourself. He walks around, and punches in a most realistic manner.

You too can resort to that most primitive means of attack. In fact I found it rather effective. Also available as a method of self defence is a form of ray gun which - when operated - sends out a beam of light blue, um, light, destroying anything in it's way.

You don't get to use such splendiferous weapons (the other one is a straightforward pistol) without working for them, though. You must seek out the horrendously illusive blue triangles, which will let you use either gun.

If a continual stream of mindless violence is not all that appealing you can opt for a more passive existence by simply attempting to dodge the aliens. You can jump and duck in an attempt to avoid death. Obviously, you fail with remarkable regularity.

The best-plan of action is to work gradually down the screens moving left and right, in order to work your way to the bottom of the playing area. Once you've got there, you will encounter The Alien. Once destroyed, you move on to the next level.

As you go deeper into the game, various new creatures will appear in order to block your path. While underwater, for example, some shark-type beasts will swim around and drain your energy. In the computerised area, your fees are much more mechanical.

And you can fire while jumping. Although some of the movements are a little unresponsive, it is possible to leap into the air and shoot down an approaching horde.

A useful two-player option is also included so you can play against a friend.

Some of the aliens stun on contact. If you are unfortunate enough to run into one of these, you will be frozen to the spot for a few seconds and, until the blue border has vanished from the screen, stuck you stay!

At times, there is an awful lot of activity on the screen. The programmers have managed to contain the action very neatly and everything still runs smoothly.

Galvan is hardly the most original game in the world. It is, on the other hand, fast, smooth, and surprisingly vicious.