Producer: Quicksilva/Salamander
Memory Required: 16K
Recommended Retail Price: £6.95
Language: machine code
Author: Jeff Minter

With a title like Gridrunner you might well imagine you are in TRON land, back with the light cycles, but you would be wrong. This new game from the genius of Llamasoft is really a variation of the centipede theme.

THIS IS WHAT YOU DO

A bright red grid fills the screen, little white cursors move up the sides, apparently doing nothing, another zips along the base, firing zig-zag lasers up the screen, and you think that must be you (you're wrong again). A blue squiggle-dash creature speeds horizontally along the grid lines, descending one line at a time, unless it gets hit by the laser thingie, in which case it splits up, each segment going its merry way. Then you realise little yellow dots are appearing here and there. It takes a few more seconds before it dawns on you that the side ship is firing these into the screen. If the blue centipede hits them it changes direction instantly - of course, they're mushrooms! Finally, when a segment of blue reaches the bottom line and collides explosively with the quiet, unmoving little green ship, you wake up to the fact that it was you.

The main problem is that there are no instructions either on the inlay or on screen. Fortunately the three lads who reviewed this game are experienced Spectrum thumpers, so trial and error soon established that Q/A gives you up/down and I/P gives you left/right with 0 to fire. Had they their AGF or Protek interfaces plugged in it wouldn't have been a problem.

The object of the game is very similar to centipede. Your ship (the green one) can move left and right as well as up the screen for about a third of the height. The ship on the side hurls obstructions in the way of the centipede which rushes along like a runaway intercity, changing direction should it hit one. It takes several of your laser blasts to get rid of the obstructions, and, as in centipede, your laser can take out segments of the monster, dividing its attentions to alternate sides of the screen. The other ship at the base also destroys bits of the centipede, as well as you if you happen to be in the way. And that's about it.

COMMENTS

Keyboard positions: sensible
Joystick options: AGF, Protek
Keyboard play: difficult to control, very fast
Use of colour: average
Graphics: small, not much imagination used
Sound: average
Skill levels: one
Lives: Five, with five more added as grids cleared

The game is quite difficult because of the speed, but it does not inspire the player to keep playing.

The unchanging graphic of each screen quickly made it boring, although it was fun at the start. There 's such a lot going on, and it's all very fast, but then you get into the rhythm and it becomes easy - in the end, too easy.

A little less strange may be Gridrunner, although it's hard to say when there's no instructions to tell you what's going on. However, it seemed safe to assume that I'd better start destroying something before IT destroyed me. The screen is covered by a red grid, along the top of which moves a blue wormlike 'something' - presumably the enemy. It progresses across the screen, then down a line, and so on. But as each part of the 'something' is hit, it starts flapping about and moving much faster than before. Interesting - I can't wait to read the instructions!

Producer: Quicksilva, 16K
£6.95 (1)

More of an electronic grid meets centipede than a true grid game. See main review section.

Producer: Quicksilva, 16K
£6.95 (1)
Author Jeff Minter

This is not a TRON syle grid game as the title suggests but actually a 'Centipede' with 'Grid' pretensions. Looking a bit like a series of blips on an oscilloscope the blue centipede dashes left and right down the screen following the red grid. To the left of the grid an alien ship tires objects into the grid which impede the centipede, causing it to reverse direction, At the base of the grid, another alien craft moves from left to right firing a laser blast upwards, causing the creature to split into the traditional segments if hit. You're just inside the grid, able to move along the base and upwards for a few lines. Your laser too destroys segments of the centipede, but watch our for the laser craft and the side ship. and avoid contact with the centipede. It's designed to be fast and addictive, but none of our reviewers found it very inspiring. I/P left/right and zero to fire. Joystick: AGF or Protek. Small graphics, average sound and an overall CRASH rating of only 47% M/C.

Producer: Quicksilva, 16K
£6.95 (1)

More of an electronic grid meets centipede than a true grid game. See main review section.

Producer: Quicksilva, 16K
£6.95 (1)
Author Jeff Minter

This is not a TRON syle grid game as the title suggests but actually a 'Centipede' with 'Grid' pretensions. Looking a bit like a series of blips on an oscilloscope the blue centipede dashes left and right down the screen following the red grid. To the left of the grid an alien ship tires objects into the grid which impede the centipede, causing it to reverse direction, At the base of the grid, another alien craft moves from left to right firing a laser blast upwards, causing the creature to split into the traditional segments if hit. You're just inside the grid, able to move along the base and upwards for a few lines. Your laser too destroys segments of the centipede, but watch our for the laser craft and the side ship. and avoid contact with the centipede. It's designed to be fast and addictive, but none of our reviewers found it very inspiring, I/P left/right and zero to fire. Joystick: AGF or Protek. Small graphics, average sound and an overall CRASH rating of only 47% M/C.

Producer: Qulcksilva, 16K
£6.95 (1)

More of an electronic grid meets centipede than a true grid game. See main review section.

CAUGHT OUT ON THE GRID!

One of the first arcade games to be available for the Commodore 64 has now been transferred to the Spectrum.

Designed by Jeff Minter, this Spectrum version is written by Salamander and marketed by Ouicksilva!

Confused? You won't be... Read on.

Gndrunner is similar to Atari's Centipede, but set on a grid of squares which covers the screen. There is also a computer-controlled laser which shoots at random from the side of the playing area.

The idea is to destroy the animal, but it splits into pieces as you shoot, until the screen is full of small aliens sweeping down towards you.

The game runs on a 16 or 48K machine. When the tape has loaded, the screen shows the title of the game and the current high score. There are no instructions printed on the cassette inlay, so I had to press every key to find out what to do next. The 0 key is used to start, while Q, A, I and P are used for movement. This is a lot easier than the 4 cursor keys as used on many other games.

The graphics are excellent, and are as good as if not better than those on the 64 version.

The Centipede splits into a number of fragments, each of which seems to rotate on its own. Movement is very fast, and the game is quite difficult to play. All in all Gridrunner from Quicksilva is quite an addictive game to play.

The game runs on any Spectrum, and is available from Quicksilva. It costs £6.95.

MACHINE: Spectrum 16/48K
JOYSTICK: AGF, Optional
TYPE: Arcade
SUPPLIER: Salamander
PRICE: £6.95

You can get some idea of how far games programs have moved in the last couple of years when you realise that this game was regarded as a Vic 20 classic.

Salamander acquired the rights from Jeff Minter to convert it to the Spectrum, but frankly they needn't have bothered.

It's basically a simple shoot-'em-up, similar to Centipede except that it's played on a grid with spacecraft instead of bugs.

Certainly there's no shortage of fast action - if you stop hammering the fire button for more than a few seconds, you've had it. But compared to today's state-of-the-art, multi-screen micro thrillers with fully animated creatures and intricate strategies, Gridrunner has very little to offer.

What's more, Salamander have slipped up badly by failing to supply the games with instructions. You have to find the operating keys by trial and error, and unless you already understand the game, you'll have trouble making sense of what's happening.

Frankly, at £6.95. I think I'd have to call it a rip-off.

16/48K Spectrum
Shoot-'em-up
Quicksilva
£6.95

By putting the Spectrum's sound output through the speaker of your cassette player, you can put back into Gridrunner what the weedy sound facility of the Spectrum removes, the zap of plasma cannons, the dull crump of exploding pods. Obviously the reason that in space no one can hear you scream is that there is such an almighty racket going on anyway, it is only a matter of time before the neighbours come round to complain. A splendid implementation by Jeff Minter for the Spectrum of his original game.