REVIEWS COURTESY OF ZXSR

Galletron
by Russ Beaton, Steve Elward
Bulldog Software [1]
1987
Crash Issue 43, Aug 1987   page(s) 19

Producer: Bulldog
Retail Price: £1.99
Author: Steve Elward

Intent upon destroying the peace of the beautiful planet Galletron, the warlike Aarls have developed an advanced communications system. It could help them win - but it's also their weak link. It must be destroyed.

With your skimmer you can take out communication links on the surface of planets. But there are sentries on each planet - their contact is lethal and destroys one of the skimmer's three lives.

To defend itself and destroy sentries, the craft has two blasters: one destroys all metallic structures, the other disrupts enemy weaponry. But the blasters drain the skimmer's limited fuel supplies, which must be replenished from fuel cells on the planet's surface.

When all the communication stations on a planet have been destroyed, the skimmer is automatically teleported to the next world. After visiting the last planet, you reach Galletron itself and the central Power House. When this complex has been dealt with, your mission is complete.

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable
Joysticks: Sinclair, Cursor
Use of colour: monochromatic
Graphics: small and plain
Sound: limited spot FX and a boring title tune
Skill levels: three


Galletron is very easy to get into - because there's so little to do. The graphics are small and crude, and the animation is simplistic. Details are poor, too: the collision-detection varies from screen to screen, and the opening tune is awful.
ROBIN


Galletron is described as 'challenging and addictive', but it bored me within half an hour. The graphics are awful, small and crudely-drawn, and there's a nasty glitch when your craft is destroyed. Control is fiddly and frustrating. Galletron is alright for a couple of games, but I doubt its lastability.
MARK


After ploughing through the inspired inlay, I wasn't expecting such rubbish as this, with its boring colours and unimaginative graphics. And the gameplay is much too easy to offer any real challenge.
PAUL

REVIEW BY: Robin Candy, Mark Rothwell, Paul Sumner

Presentation33%
Graphics30%
Playability30%
Addictive Qualities24%
Overall29%
Summary: General Rating: A dull game without much challenge.

Transcript by Chris Bourne

Your Sinclair Issue 21, Sep 1987   page(s) 67

Bulldog
£1.99

Here we go again! Another arcade adventure from Bulldog, and yet another race of warmongering aliens (are there any other kind?) This lot, a race called the Aarls, have been more than a little naughty and have gone and invaded parts they shouldn't have. They've packed their spaceships, erected defences and generally invaded the areas of No Man's Land, just beyond the peaceful planet of Galletron. Of course the brave Galletronians are not going to take this intrusion lying down, so they send for a brave volunteer to go out there and give the Aarls a taste of hot laser fire.

Your mission, as the unfortunate 'volunteer', is to infiltrate a series of planets overrun by the aliens and destroy a vital communications dish on each one. Pitted against droids - and there are more of these on every planet, so things tend to hot up after a while. Reach the final planet and you're confronted by the aliens' central control dish. If you destroy this your mission is complete, and it's cream cakes all round. Your Tiegyr Mk III Surface Skimmer needs regular repairs and fuel boosts, but luckily supplies can be found on the planet surface.

Galletron reminds me a little of Colony in set-up and style, but it has none of that game's neatness. The main playing screen depicts a view of the planet surface in forced 3D perspective, all in monotones to avoid colour clash, but the play area still looks messy. In fact the gameplay's in quite a mess as well. All too often the skimmer gets caught up in a tangle of graphics with no way to escape without quitting. There's also a massive bug which shows itself early on. To destroy every sentry on a level just stand still and blast away at the same alien until the sentry total reaches zero. This leaves the rest of the area safe to explore.

The game's also far too easy to complete. I finished it off on my third go - not a lot of long term addictiveness there! Together with a terrible collison detector, a lack of depth and some very jerky animation, I'd say this must be Bulldog's weakest release so far. Come on, lads, you can do better than this.


REVIEW BY: Tony Worrall

Graphics5/10
Playability5/10
Value For Money4/10
Addictiveness4/10
Overall5/10
Summary: Far-from-addictive arcade adventure that's not up to the Bulldog label's usual standards.

Transcript by Chris Bourne

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