Alternative Software
£1.99

DH Lawrence lived before computer games and his symbol was the Phoenix. He didn't think people should go to school, so no doubt he would've approved of Alternative Software's Pheenix, spelt in true non-skool attender's style.

At £1.99 a flight I'd be chary to criticise this game as feather brained. Indeed it's all hot-blooded action in true Lawrentian style and after all at that price you'd normally be content for the thing to load.

The Pheenix concept goes back to the original Space Invaders - though the emphasis isn't so much astral aviation as avaries. You're in control of a space ship that's besieged by squadrons of feathered aliens, nay, positive gaggles of the things. Your aim is in true Space Invader's style - blast as many as possible from the firmament.

The first screen is fairly simple - you can usually avoid the enemy as long as you don't get stuck in a corner. Get stuck and your five lives will start ticking off, no matter how famed the Phoenix may be at coming back from the dead. Thing start hotting up on screen two 'cos you've got to zap the eggs before they hatch out into beastly birds that take great pleasure in dropping things on you from a great height. I'll be generous and assume that they're actually eggs but it did inspire a sense of relief at the though that cows can't fly. Screen three is blab the mothership time though it certainly ain't easy.

The five skill levels are based entirely on speed, and oh boy, I can assure you that level five really does motor. As punk is to Bryan Ferry, this is to all those nice laid back shoot 'em ups you've seen before. What you lose in namby pamby graphics, loony tunes and pseudo Star Wars posing you make up for with 100 percent playability and a completely orgiastic surfeit of gratuitous destruction. Yup, ol' DH would've loved it.

ONE OF THE CLASSICS - PHEENIX BY MEGADODO

Pheenix is 99% accurate as a copy of the arcade original, and includes 5 screens with 5 skill levels. The entry skill level can be chosen by the player (level 1 is slowish, level 5 is very, very fast). A demo mode will run if the keyboard is left alone for a short time. There are no instructions on playing the game, so watch this demo very carefully.

Once the various options have been chosen the game begins with a tuneful melody - just like the arcade original; even the scrolling stars have not been forgotten. In screen 1 (your craft appears at the bottom of course) very colourful birds form up on the screen, one or two breaking formation to attack you. For defence a laser cannon is supplied and an electro force field comes as standard.

Screen 2 is very much like the first but the birds are a different colour (flapping wings as well) and they attack you more frequently, but you can shoot more quickly now. On screen 3 you will get a surprise when you start to shoot the weaving eggs - they split open with the points awarded inside, the two halves of the egg shooting off to either side of the screen just as in the original. After three passes of the eggs over the screen, the birds inside hatch out, flapping creatures, each with a mind of its own. Now the force field comes into its own, saving you from the deadly bombs and their kamikaze attacks. One thing though, the barrier can only be active for a certain length of time before it needs recharging. These birds certainly don't like you, and will sacrifice their lives for yours if necessary.

Screen 4 is a copy of the third screen except for the colour difference. There are the eggs again, but the resulting birds are even more lethal for it. On both this screen and screen 3, giving a bird an indirect hit causes it to yelp - great!!

Screen 5, and on to the Mothership. The object is to shoot away the protection barrier beneath the ship and kill the mother bird inside. Of course, she isn't going to let you get away with this, so she throws loads of cluster bombs at you. The Mothership is also protected by highly dangerous birds, which not only swoop at you, dropping as many as twelve bombs at a time but they'll also kamikaze you if the bombs don't kill you off. Screen 5 is very difficult to complete, but if you do, then a tuneful display congratulates you and you return to screen 1 with the game speeded up.

All the details of the original have been included and I was very impressed with the way the birds flapped their wings and with the explosions. The sound appears to have been faithfully reproduced and the Spectrum has been pushed a long way with this game - and what's so appealing is that it has all been fitted into 16K. If you haven't got it, definitely a game to add to your collection.

Matthew Uffindell

Phoenix is produced by Megadodo for the 16K Spectrum, priced £5.50 it may me played with a Kempston or AGF joystick.

Producer: Megadodo, 16K
£5.50

We've been very remiss in leaving this game out of the Guide. Megadodo's Phoenix is a very close copy of the arcade original and has, for some time, been one of the most popular versions around. It features a laser base with force field for protection (no shooting when it's in its timed operation), eggs, various flapping birds and a very large Mothership, the underside of which must be worn away in traditional style before making it vulnerable to your fire. There are 5 screens and 5 skill levels (speeds). The graphics are very smooth and quite large. Sound is inventive and continuous. The game can actually be easier to play at the higher speeds. If you like shoot em ups, this is a must for your collection and very good value at the price. 100% machine code, sensible keys and Kempston joystick.

Label: Alternative Software
Author: Martin Ward
Price: £1.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Reviewer: Jim Douglas

Pheenix is a very old game indeed. It became moderately popular during the post Galaxian swirly twirly shoot-out "boom". The concept of these games is to wipe out the alien horde before they do allkindzabadstuff to the Earth.

In fact, Pheenix was just a form of Space-Invaders although the little blighters refused to stand in easy-to-kill lines. They zoomed around a bit and disguised themselves as large blue birds.

Indeed, there is a large blue bird on the cover artwork. Unfortunately it is very poorly drawn and gives the casual on looker little if any idea what on earth the game is about. (Why do software companies use the name of a well known game - presumably for easy identification and thus increased sales - and then use a largely confusing piece of artwork? Discuss)

Anyway, that's all by the by. Now, were we living in a romantic world, this is the point where I'd be able to say "But despite my initial feelings about the game, it's really great!" Unfortunately we don't, I can't and it's not.

Moving left and right and firing and using your shield (sometimes) may have been satisfactory a few years ago but it no longer holds the slightest interest. The gameplay is predictable, the graphics are uninspiring and the whole thing is very disappointing indeed.

And hold on to your horses all you "Ah yes, but it's a conversion of the arcade game and therefore the graphics remain faithful" crowd. It won't wash!

Pheenix is a load of hogwash if - he says, nervously avoiding an entirely damning review - you really want a version of this tired old fogey, it may be worth a look.

Pheenix for the 16 or 48K Spectrum, is a reproduction of the arcade favourite Phoenix.

Pheenix is a space invader type of game in which you must destroy the aliens to enter the next phase of the game. You control your spaceship which is equipped with left, right, fire and barrier controls.

The barrier protects your ship from oncoming blasts of alien fire. Like the arcade game, your barrier only protects yours ship for 3 seconds, you must then wait a further 3 seconds before using your barrier again.

I found the barrier most useful in the first and fast phases of the game.

In each phase you will have to destroy:

PHASE 1 - Purple birds worth 25 points.
PHASE 2 - Green birds worth 25 points.
PHASE 3 Large blue birds worth 100 to 250 points.
PHASE 4 - Large purple birds worth 100 to 250 points.
PHASE 5 - Alien spaceship worth 4000 to 6000.

You are awarded 100 points on phases 4 and 3 if you destroy a bird while it is still an egg, but you gain 150 to 250 points if you destroy it after it has hatched. At 10,000 points you gain a life and if you clear all 5 phases, the game returns to the beginning.

The graphics were very good and similar to the arcade version and were moving smoothly across the screen. Sound was also good but not enough sound was given when your ship was destroyed.

Pheenix is written in Machine Code and costs £5.50 from Megadodo Software. It is undoubtedly the best Phoenix game available for the ZX Spectrum.