Producer: Hewson Consultants
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £7.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Graftgold Ltd: Steve Turner

The latest in Hewson's attempts to convince an ignorant world that life as we know it will soon cease to exist unless we turn our attention to the threat of the SEIDDAB, is also the best yet. The ideas author Steve Turner started to develop in 3D Space Wars, improved in 3D Seiddab Attack, have now come to full fruition in this latest program (unless he's got more ideas stuffed up his sleeve).

The game requires you to fly a mission in your Z5 Luna Hover Fighter against the Seiddab command base. This is protected by three rings of defense. The first consists of robotically controlled DAB tanks which fire missiles at your craft and they can be destroyed by laser fire. The second ring is a mountainous area seeded with aerial mines, set to explode in your proximity. These may be shot with your lasers, or dodged around. An exploding mine will rock your craft and deflect its course. The third zone is studded with self activating SEIDDAB missile silos, which may be attacked with your lasers. If you penetrate the command zone, many straffing runs will be required to destroy the base while avoiding its heavy defensive fire power.

At any time you may be attacked by Seiddab hover fighters. Your craft is also armed with air-to-air missiles which will destroy the enemy fighters before they come into range, although when they are sighted the lasers must be used. Weapon selection is automatic, below the horizon it's lasers, above it's missiles.

The complex screen display is a cockpit view, not unlike that in Seiddab Attack. Out of the cockpit windshield you can see the horizon of mountains, the various details of the enemy craft in solid 3D, the crosswire sight of your weaponry and the illuminated radar display. This switches on automatically an enemy hover fighter is detected. It places a small box near the enemy location and a set of decreasing figures showing range to sighting. At this stage missiles may be fired and forgotten. Below the viewscreen is the instrumentation showing fuel, armament type in use and hull temperature, which increases to a critical point with each enemy strike. A message display informs you of the zone entered and enemy activity. This is also given verbally if you are using the Currah Microspeech unit.

As yours is a hover craft, the left/right keys alter direction but the up/down keys raise and lower the weapon sight.

An additional treat is the recording on tape immediately after loading. To hear this you simply unplug the EAR socket on the recorder and sit back. Alternatively for those with Currah, just turn up the telly volume and listen to the instructions on playing the game as related by the mission commander to 'you'.

COMMENTS

Control keys: cursors, with 0 to fire
Joystick: Kempston, Datel, ZX 2, Protek, AGF
Keyboard play: very responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: excellent, fast, smooth and detailed 3D
Sound: good
Skill levels: 1 but completing mission results in an increase in difficulty
Lives: 3
Features: special sound recording on tape, 1 or 2-player games, Currah Microspeech compatible

Steve Turner has managed to pack an amazing amount of program and game into this. The display is wonderful, the best three dimensional "Battle Zone" type game yet. It is seen at its best when a missile takes off from the ground silos, and can literally dash past your windscreen, as it turns in its trajectory to head straight at you. Neat touches like the radar warning display "projected" up onto the windshield canopy are marvellous. Also useful is the navigation system. Placing the gun sight at it lowest position prompts a series of short straight lines to appear, which guide you into command base. This is essential when you are on your final straffing runs as several are needed, making you constantly circle the base for another go. Really excellent, most playable and addictive too.

You fight the battle against the Seiddab again, but don't form any opinion from 3D Seiddab Attack, for this is totally different and utterly amazing! Three dimensional graphics storm towards you at a terrific speed, and it's all so realistic. Your hover craft handles just like a real fighter would - I think. Skill and accuracy play a major role in this shoot em up game. The Spectrum seems to have been pushed to its limits, although Steve Turner will no doubt have a go at pushing them further still on the next one. Graphics are fast, smooth and detailed, and although colour has been well used, it doesn't have a major function. No unnecessary instrumentation has been put in, it's all essential to help you win. It's highly addictive and I think it will take a long time to get tired of.

All the detail in this game is excellent. As your craft turns the horizon sways to match the banking effect. When your hull overheats, the screen turns blood red, then the nose of your craft dips, and the ground seems to rush up to meet you. The graphics throughout are fast and very smooth, well used 3D effects, especially the ground missiles. Even the half sphere of the Earth can be seen hovering just above the mountainous horizon as you head for the command centre. The cursor keys may not be in the best layout, but surprisingly, they seem to work quite well here, despite the speed of play, possibly because one set operates direction, the other set the sight. The sound is also very well used, and powerful if you have a Currah unit. I could almost swear the 'you' on the recording at the start is Sean Connery playing his James Bond role. Marvellous.

Memory: 48K
Price: £7.95

You know the story. They need some poor sap to pilot the latest Z5 Luna Hover Fighter through hordes of enemy tanks and aircraft and missiles on a suicide mission to destroy the aliens' base.

The screen shows the view from your cockpit - a bleak, dark landscape teeming with hostile craft. At the bottom of the screen there is an array of instruments - radar, laser beams, missiles, shields, temperature gauge and the like. The controls are difficult to handle and of the type where you lose position rapidly through having to over-correct continually. A joystick is probably vital but it is difficult to survive long enough to find how to use even that with any skill.

That is clearly one for the cognoscenti, the experienced veterans of shoot-'em-up programs, and Hewson proudly calls it the latest and most difficult in its Seiddab saga. To go with the game there is a taped pep-talk and briefing from your laconic commanding officer.

If your fingers are used to coping with the alien hordes you might get something from this. Newcomers and klutzes had better go elsewhere for death or glory.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48k
SUPPLIER: Hewson
PRICE: £7.95

Hewson's on-going battle with the Seiddab aliens has entered a new and bitter phase now that the Abingdon software house has developed the deadly Z5 Luna Hover Fighter.

The new craft was developed after the death in combat of Flight Lieutenant Talbot in his ill-fated C64, and you can fly the Z5 if you've got a spare £7.95 with which to purchase 3D Lunattack.

Although 3D Lunattack churns out the same tired old scenario of shooting down the aliens (what's wrong with aliens anyway?). It does have some original features.

The best of these is the sound track which starts after the game has loaded. An interview between Briggs and his commanding officer takes you through the objectives and controls of the Z5. Unfortunately, this is not synchronised with the on-screen display - an amusing frill nevertheless.

The quality of the graphics was very disappointing - especially bearing in mind the £8 price tag.

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Keys, Kemp, AGF, Sinc, Datel
FROM: Hewson Consultants, £7.95

This is the latest in the Hewson Consultants Seiddab series and is fully compatible with the Currah Microspeech unit. For those of us without this facility, Hewson recommends removal of the lead to the tape recorder's ear socket. This results in a 'briefing' being heard through the tape recorder speaker.

After the briefing, 3D Luna Attack becomes fairly standard 'blobchaser' fare. The objective is to penetrate three successive Seiddab defensive zones and then to destroy the command base.

Recommended tactics are to avoid wasting fuel and energy attacking outer defence zones (although destroying these does add to your score).

The main objective is to reach the command base and destroy it, allowing the player to get back to his/her base for refuelling. The first zone features DAB tanks, which may be destroyed by laser fire. Next comes a mountainous zone which contains aerial mines that explode if you pass too close to them. The third zone features self-activating missile silos. Finally, the command zone is the setting for you to make strafing runs on the Seiddab base.

Other hazards are enemy hoverfighters, which may appear at any time and will tempt you to waste energy by dodging them.

I found this game somewhat overcomplicated to play using the keyboard, but selection of the joystick option results in a fast-moving arcade game. Graphics are good, and I suspect that the Currah unit will add a lot to the enjoyment.