Producer: Visions
Memory Required: 16K
Retail Price: £6.95
Language: Machine code
Author: Jon Dyte

You are stranded (for some obscure reason) on an alien planet where aliens attack from above and the sides, and the ground is full of holes. Lunar Jetman had to get out to fill them in, but technology has obviously advanced, and the makers of Moon Buggy have provided it with a sort of pogo stick underneath which bounces it 20 feet into the air to clear the potholes.

The guns fire straight ahead in the direction of travel as well as straight up. Up above, crowds of aliens jiggle and waft about, dropping bombs in a constant rain, while from either side various weapons cruise just above the planet's surface in your direction.

Should you get hit by an alien or bomb, or fall into a hole, the buggy doesn't explode, but does something more original - a wheel flies off! With each screen cleared, more and varied aliens appear. Also the position of the holes in the ground alters.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/P jump left/right, A to ENTER=fire, alternate keys on the bottom row for left and right
Joystick: none
Keyboard play: responsive
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: smooth and very detailed, good explosions and plenty of variety
Sound: continuous, average
Skill levels: 1
Lives: 5
Screens: 8

A good game with quite good graphics, especially the buggy and the aliens. The colour is very well used, with the ground changing colour on each screen. One problem with the instructions - it says LOAD "" when it should say LOAD "" CODE. Quite playable and medium addictive.

The game has a good use of colour with smooth and very detailed graphics. It can become very frustrating when you are almost on the point of clearing a screen and something goes wrong. It is an original idea, but in the end it is lacking something in content.

Pity about the incorrect LOADing instructions. The game is very playable, with sensible control keys which are responsive. The moon buggy is well drawn and the variety and animation of the aliens is very good. The flying aliens have a knack of staying near the edge of the screen where you are under more threat from the ground huggers. Moon Buggy also boasts one of the best hi-score facilities I've ever seen. However, it fails to be completely addictive and remains a good original sort of shoot 'em up.

You've been sent to an alien world where you will be attacked by spacecraft from above and missiles. To overcome all this you have an armed moon buggy, whose only refinement is a sort of pogo stick that helps you jump across craters.

Mark: This has some of the best graphics I've seen for some time. It's a pity there's hardly any sound, but the game's very playable, and worth looking out for in the shops. HIT

Johnathan: It's a good copy of the arcade version, with small, smooth and very detailed graphics and a high-score table that's not too difficult to get into. The idea's fun. MISS

George: Well, aliens with three arms and hands might be able to handle the buggy with ease, but I as a human being found it virtually impossible. It's quite good fun. HIT

Memory: Any Spectrum
Price: £6.95
Joystick: Kempston

Mosquito-like aliens swirl above your armoured car as you bounce your way across the pitted surface of some distant moon. Armour-piercing missiles home-in from the sides and all you can do is to keep firing and drive with the utmost care in Moon Buggy for any Spectrum. The game will be familiar to high-scoring arcade aces as a tough variant of the shoot-'em-up space games.

The buggy is meant to be a slow tracked vehicle fitted with gizmos which will hurl the machine into the air, enabling it to avoid the craters and cracks. If the tank falls into a hole the wheels will fall off and you have lost one of your five lives. For protection the buggy fires shots up and sideways. The aliens become progressively smarter and there are 16 types to contend with on eight screens.

The sprite graphics are smooth, well-designed, with brilliant colours. Action is fast and edgy, timing being very important once the player attempts to drive away.

It makes sense to find a wide, flat place to stop and fight it out, risking driving only when there are few aliens remaining.

A good score can be run up in that way, whereas travelling is extremely difficult and hazardous. The cassette instructions are clear but the trouble is they are incorrect. To load you must LOAD "" CODE and that all-important instruction has been bungled on the insert. That is a pity, as Moon Buggy is an exciting game, though the format remains fundamentally the same throughout. If you are an arcade freak you will enjoy the Visions program even if you curse because of falling into too many craters.

MACHINE: Spectrum 16/48K
JOYSTICK: Kempston, Optional
SUPPLIER: Visions
PRICE: £6.95

Nothing like Ultimate's Lunar Jetman. Simply another shoot-'em-up in which you get your buggy to fire simultaneously at missiles on either side of you and aliens about you. And you escape trouble by making it leap over craters. Good choice of control keys.

Not all bad for 16K.