Enigma Variations
SAM Coupe
£14.99

Disaster has struck on Planet X! The human colonists have been captured by an evil race at aliens - the Reptilons - and are being forced to create an army of killer robots with which the Reptilons plan to destroy Earth!

But help is at hand with the arrival of Jake and Duke, two tough, square-jawed interplanetary SWAT men. One or two players choose a character and are briefed on their mission: rescue the hostages, destroy the Reptilons and rescue the beautiful Professor Sarah Bellum. Planet X is a big place so is split up into many levels, filled with robotic guards.

Each level is split into several sections, each part accessed by ladders and escalators. There are several types of guard including the infamous Weetabix character, but both Jake and Duke possess a ray gun and a limited supply of smart bombs, so get blasting. As guards are destroyed glowing gems appear - collect these for increased ray power. Lockers can be shot to reveal such goodies as food, energy and smart bombs.

But it's the hostages you're here for, and these are usually found slaving away at computer terminals. Just touch them and they'll be transported to your ship for a hefty end-of-level points bonus.

At regular intervals you meet up with a Reptilon, big, dinosaur-type creatures that take a lot of hits to kill. But to save the lovely Prof and the Earth, you must battle on.

When EFTPOTRM first appeared about a year ago on the Speccy, I played it to death, and now the SAM game is here, more late nights are on the cards. Graphically, the game is identical to the 16-bit versions: coiourful and beautifully defined characters leg around the screen being very anti-social indeed.

The control method is a little on the frustrating side: the character spins when the joystick is moved left or right and it takes a bit of practice to get him heading in the right direction. For the first few games you end up giving the robot guards lessons in breakdancing. If you own a SAM this game is an essential purchase.

MARK [88%]

Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters is the first of a run of games for SAM using the excellent Atari ST graphics and Spectrum code. This creates a game that wavers in quality from one second to the next. For example, the introduction screens are all from the Spectrum, with the usual colour clash and shading you would expect. Moving farther into the game, you have sprites and backgrounds that look like they have come tram the ST and in between levels you have ST character graphics. The game itself is excellent, full of action and adventure, but the control method takes some getting used to.
NICK [84%]

LABEL: Revelation
MEMORY: 256K/512K
DISK: £14.99

Not so long ago, an Evil empire led by the sinister Reptilians (mutant reptiles) took over Planet X, a synthetic planetoid. Apparently, the humans stationed there (mainly scantily clad maidens) have been taken hostage to work computers (Yeah I bet! - Ed), and build the reptilians's empire.

Taking the role of either Jake Of Duke or playing with a friend (2 players) you have the chance to get even, and rescue the humans before they become complete scuz zombioids - and if you rescue enough of them you even get an extra life by the way of thanks.

Blasting your way through this enormous multi level 3-D perspective open platform game, you have to rescue the captive humans and blow away some of the ferocious nasties, to progress through the levels by turning on the escalators in order to get to the end of level teleports. Every few levels there's an end-of-level nasty (isn't there always) waiting to blast you off the screen.

Watch out for hidden traps, such as spikes that shoot out if you walk past, and rolling balls where contact will mean sudden death.

After hours of blasting, chances are that your weapons and energy power will become seriously depleted. Fortunately, there are reserves available, hidden next to some of the computers. Some of the Robot Monsters also leave behind energy blobs which when collected increase your Ray Power (which strangely enough is the name of a sociology lecturer of mine). But be quick as they will disappear pretty quickly.

The graphics in the game come straight from the ST, and the music comes by the way of the built in 6 channel stereo chip. Tunes don't come more catchy than this and as you'd expect having two more channels than the Amiga it's fantastic!