Quicksilva, 16K
£4.95

Mercifully, Quicksilva have proved their originality in the games field by going onto games which make this one look as silly as it is. If you like asteroid games then this is pretty fast. Simple outlines hover in a blank black space. Ship orientation is in eight directions using all the number keys which means you can't concentrate on the game.

Quicksilva, 16K
£4.95

Mercifully, Quicksilva have proved their originality in the games field by going onto games which make this one look as silly as it is. If you like asteroid games then this is pretty fast. Simple outlines hover in a blank black space. Ship orientation is in eight directions using all the number keys which means you can't concentrate on the game.

Quicksilva, 16K
£4.95

Mercifully, Quicksilva have proved their originality in the games field by going onto games which make this one look as silly as it is. If you like asteroid games then this is pretty fast. Simple outlines hover in a blank black space. Ship orientation is in eight directions using all the number keys which means you can't concentrate on the game.

MASTERING THE ROGUE ROCKS

Asteroids became one of the craze games of the early 1980's after the worldwide successes of such mega-games as Space Invaders and Galaxians.

It is considerably more difficult than those earlier games, where you had really only two controls to worry about. Asteroids added hyperspace, thrust, rotate left, rotate right and fire.

The game places you in control of space ship being bombarded by a shower of meteorites that come at you relentlessly from the four corners of the screen.

Using your controls you must spin your ship around to shoot the asteroids.

You can also dodge in front or behind the rocks using the thrust button.

If things get a little too hot and a collision seems certain the hyperspace button will make you momentarily disappear and then replace you at random on the screen. But this could prove as dangerous as blasting away at the oncoming role!

Extra points can be earned by shooting down the mystery flying saucers which spin in and out of the asteroids.

We tested versions of the game so far available for the Sinclair Spectrum.

Meteor Storm was the closest to the arcade version of the three games we tested. The asteroids were represented as geometrical line drawings drifting weightlessly towards your ship.

The game displayed clear instructions on the screen and also showed you the value of the various asteroids and flying saucers on the screen.

All three games kept a running total of the high scores but Quicksilva's Meteor Storm took you a stage further than this enabling you to enter the initials of the top ten high scorers of the session.

This version also provides you with a keyboard overlay which, although it seems just like a gimmick, is actually quite useful in Asteroids-type games where you have up to five controls to concentrate on.

My main criticism of Meteor Storm is that the thrust button has inertia, causing you to drift helplessly towards an asteroid, frantically rotating and thrusting.

Sinclair's official software writers, Psion, entered the field with Planetoids. This is not as close to the arcade game as the Quicksilva version though the graphics are no less impressive for this.

Planetoids had the best fire mechanism of the three games tested. The missiles could be fired in quick succession and reached their targets swiftly.

The final version tested was Meteoroids from the new software writers - Softek.

This was not as good a version of the game as the others played. An admirable attempt had been made to simulate the rock-like texture of the asteroids but this did not work. They looked more like chewed up pieces of bubble gum.

There was really not much to choose between the other two - though for my £5 the Quicksilva version is marginally better because of its extra facilities and graphics.

Memory Required: 16K
Price: £4.95

Meteor Storm, another version of Asteroids, also announces itself but rather indistinctly. There is not much to choose between this and Planetoids or Meteoroids. The major problem for software companies writing an Asteroids-type game must be in finding an alternative title.

NOT ALL THAT HAS COLOUR, GLITTERS.

In their haste to get Spectrum software on the market, it appears that some companies have simply decided to recycle their ZX81 stuff, adding a few little squeaks from the sound, and an INK or PAPER or three. Phil Garratt takes a close look at some of the material available, and notes that among the dross, gold still shines.

The second of Quicksilva's arcade games for the 16K Spectrum is "Meteor Storm", their version of Asteroids. If you're one of those who belittle the "beep" on the Spectrum, this program will make you sit up and listen. Never mind the Japanese fifth generation computers, the Spectrum does it already - it talks to you! Admittedly it helps if you amplify the sound and you know what it's going to say ("meteor alert!"), but it is intelligible and a remarkable feat of programming, even if it does sound like a Dalek with a sore throat.

There are three sizes of meteors, the smaller ones worth more points, and if you clear one lot even more appear. Your controls are "6" for anti-clockwise and "7" for clockwise, "8" is hyperspace (a random jump to somewhere else on the screen, which can be used repeatedly). "9" is thrust and "0" is fire, which has no auto-repeat, so fortunately this game also has the "hold" and "start" feature on "Intruders", allowing you to rest your finger.

Bonus points can be won by knocking out the enemy saucers which appear from time to time and start shooting at you. There is a slow moving large one and a quicker small one, both of which look remarkably like raspberry pies! Every 10,000 points scored results in a noise which sounds like someone treading on a piglet's trotter, and more importantly you get a bonus ship.

On-screen scoring, high score table, good sound effects and demonstration mode complete another winner from Quicksilva. But watch out for low flying raspberry pies!

"Meteor Storm" is £5.95 from Quicksilva, 92 Northam Road, Southampton SO2 OPR

Reviewer: Phil Garratt

Overall: Not Rated

ARCADES BROUGHT INTO THE HOME

John Gilbert reviews more complex games.

Almost every major type of arcade game has been simulated on Sinclair computers. There are also new games which have an arcade format but have evolved on a microcomputer. The Spectrum is an ideal machine on which to play arcade games. The quality of them has improved substantially since the launch of the machine. Some of the first arcade games to be produced for the Spectrum were versions of Space Invaders, the game which started the arcade craze.

Spectral Invaders was the first to be announced by Bug-Byte, which was already renowned for its arcade and adventure games on the ZX-81. So far it is the game which most closely resembles the original arcade version. Although it is slow it is difficult to score points, as you can fire only one laser blast at a time.

Another invaders game, Space Intruders, was launched at about the same time as Spectral Invaders. The game is much faster and is recommended for those who like to keep their fingers on the fire button and amass a big score. The only criticism is that the aliens and mothercraft are very small and the mothership is blue on a black background and so is very difficult to hit. Apart from that Space Intruders from Quicksilva is good value at £5.95.

Namtir Raiders, for the ZX-81, is a space invaders game with a difference from Artic Computing. The player still has to face the hordes of aliens which come down the screen but the laser base can be moved up and down as well as left and right.

The player has five laser bases during the game and they can take only five hits from alien bombs. There are three levels of difficulty-easy to impossible. The game, costing £3.95, is addictive and the graphics are neither awkward in design nor jerky in movement.

The game which is gaining popularity with 48K Spectrum owners is Time Gate, from Quicksilva. The authors claim that it is the ultimate in 3D arcade space action. The game is loaded in two parts, the first being a lengthy instruction manual. After the manual has finished you can load the game. The object is to destroy a race of aliens called the Squarm who are trying to colonise Earth. The enemy fighters are also seen in 3D and so are the planets on which the player can land to refuel and repair the ship. It is by far the best arcade action game so far for the Spectrum and costs only £6.95.

Asteroids is also becoming popular on Sinclair machines. One of the first companies to launch a version for the ZX-81 was Quicksilva. It was a good version on such a small machine and is still proving popular.

Quicksilva has also introduced a Spectrum version called Meteor Storm. It has the added attraction of speech before play. It is difficult to hear the words but we are informed by the authors that it says "Meteor Alert... Meteor Alert...". Meteor Storm is a novel version of Asteroids and costs £5.95.

Sinclair Research has a good game of asteroids, called Planetoids, in its new Spectrum Software library. The asteroids are in 3D and much careful design work on both the asteroids and the player's ship seems to have gone into the game. Planetoids costs £5.95.

Artic Computing seems to be the only company to have produced a version of Galaxians for the ZX-81. ZX-Galaxians looks like Space Invaders but the invaders are 'V'-shaped and are supposed to be inter-galactic birds. The birds swoop from formation and bomb the player's laser base. ZX-Galaxian is slow in action but can still be a very addictive game. It costs £4.95.

Defender is still a much-sought-after game in the arcades and Artic Computing took advantage of that early by producing a version for the ZX-81. The graphics are not particularly interesting and the spaceship which the player flies across the landscape is made up of a series of blocks which look only slightly like a ship.

Despite those criticisms, the original idea behind the game is still there and the Artic version can be exciting, as you see the enemy ships rushing at you from the other side of the screen.

With the arrival of the Spectrum, many manufacturers found an interest in the arcade game Scramble. The best and fastest version so far is from Mikro-Gen. In the game you have to go through caves which become smaller and smaller as it progresses.

The game becomes progressively more difficult and can be run in slow, normal and fast modes. It costs £3.95.

Silversoft has a Scramble-type game called Ground Attack. It works on the same principles as the Mikro-Gen game but is much slower. There is a good deal of blank screen between game rounds and the average waiting time between rounds is 15 seconds. Ground Attack costs £5.95.

The range of arcade-type games on Sinclair machines is always increasing. Manufacturers seem to feel safe in producing standard arcade games such as Space Invaders and Scramble. Those games, especially for the Spectrum, are becoming more imaginative and the graphics and sound more impressive.

Manufacturers have to be careful about copying ideas from other games but with the imagination of some of the firms in the Sinclair market, children and many adults will be kept happy with arcade-type games on the ZX-81 and Spectrum for a long time.

Space Invaders games have now been overtaken by Pacman in popularity.

Bug-Byte, 98-100 The Albany, Old Hall Street, Liverpool L3 9EP.

Quicksilva, 92 Northam Road, Southampton SO2 0PB.

Artic Computing, 396 James Reckitt Avenue, Hull, North Humberside.

Sinclair Research, Stanhope Road, Camberley, Surrey GU15 3PS.

Mikro-Gen, 24 Agar Crescent, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 2BK.

Silversoft, 20 Orange Street, London WC2H 7ED.

STORMING METEORS

The meteors are rushing thick and fast in the new Quicksilva version of Meteor Storm for the Spectrum.

The player has three ships with which to wreak havoc on the screen. There are three types of asteroid to avoid or crash into, depending on how the feeling takes you. Once hit, the asteroids break into smaller versions of themselves and can still be dangerous. Two types of enemy saucer fly across the screen at odd intervals, giving the space pilot even more about which to worry.

The game is similar to the one produced by Quicksilva for the ZX-81 some months ago. The difference is that the screen display is in high-resolution graphics and the player's ship can move around the screen and go into hyperspace if it is in trouble.

As with the other Quicksilva game for the Spectrum, Space Intruders, Meteor Storm has an attract mode which informs the player of the points system and the play keys. It also provides a sample game to get the player used to the display.

Another interesting feature of this game is its capability for speech. This is from the Spectrum speaker during the game. It is not really loud enough to be intelligible.

Meteor Storm is produced by Quicksilva, 92 Northam Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO2 0PB, and costs £5.95.

Meteor Storm is a close copy of arcade asteroids for the Sinclair Spectrum.

The asteroids were represented as geometrical-line drawings drifting weightlessly towards your ship.

The game displayed clear instructions on the screen and also showed you the value of the various asteroids and flying saucers on the screen.

The game kept a running total of the high score and also allowed you to enter the initials of the top 10 high scores of the session on a hall of fame chart - in true arcade style.

You are also provided with a keyboard overlay which, although it seems just like a gimmick, is actually quite useful in Asteroids where you have five controls to concentrate on.

A most playable and authentic version of the hit arcade game.

The game runs on the Spectrum and is available from Quicksilva at £4.95.