Producer: Activision
Retail Price: £7.99
Author: Lucasfilm (original game) conversion by Program Techniques

Far flung into the future is a world whose main pastime is spectatorship of a sport kown as Sal/blazer. This computer simulation duplicates as closely as possible the thrills, spills, rules and regulations of the famous future sport. Activision market it and it is imaginatively called Ballblazer. Relying heavily upon the technology of the day, each player is strapped within a ground craft called a rotofoil, a machine that land travels over the grid where the action takes place. On an extremely simple level Ballblazer can be described as football on a green and white chessboard.

Here are two goals on the grid, one at each edge of the field, and the overall aim is to blast a floating footy, (the plasmorb) through your opponent's goalmouth. Your Rotofoil is like a great big foot that can kick and dribble the ball over the green and white terrain using a carefully controlled magnetic field that surrounds it. When the plasmorb is in proximity of a rotofoil's field it contorts to surround the object and then becomes the possesion of that player. The trouble with having an enveloped plasmorb is that it saps energy from your main supply, maximum speed becomes slightly less than it previously was. That's dribbling - kicking is a different matter. Placing a sweaty thumb upon the fire button inverts the rotofoil's bumpfield. The previously enveloped orb now rapidly whines off to the horizon as the bumpfield whiplashes. That's kicking, it's disadvantage is that since every action has a reaction (you ask any scientist called Newton) you and your rotofoil react by flying away in the opposite direction.

To make finding the plasmorb on the very large grid easier, a little box of circuitry always orientates the rotofoil to point as closely as it can to the ball. The rotofoil has its restrictions though and one of them is that it's only able to face in one of four directions, the same directions that you can move over the grid. Still, the black box performs the best comprise it can given the limitations superimposed upon it. When ball is in possession the same little directional computer points the 'foil straight at the appropriate goal.

That explains Ballblazer with only one competitor but two are supposed to take part, be it human against human or human against droid. With two players the main problem is for the person without the plasmorb to get it and this is done by a combination of dodgem caring and field inverting. Even without a plasmorb, the burnfield can be activated and used as a sort of fist. Punch the ball into the open grid out of the opponent's magnetic embrace and it becomes property of the first player to reach it - the equivalent of a tackle.

A split screen is provided, showing each player's point of view through the rotofoil's windscreen. The grid runs off into the horizon in perspective and as the rotofoil is moved around the grid behaves as it should do in real life. The plasmorb and opposing'foil are both shown in proper perspective and relative size respective to how close you are to them.

Between the two views is a score line showing time left to the end of the bout (a standard game is three minutes long) and each opponents' score. At the end of the three minutes the player who has dominated the most of the line is winner. A goal produces a score and the amount depends upon how far away the posts were the ball struck true. For an over the horizon shot three points are awarded.

COMMENTS

Control keys: player one/player two: UP Q/P, DOWN A/L, LEFT Z/N, RIGHT MIX, FIRE C/Sym Shift. S to start
Joystick: Kempston, Interface 2, Cursor
Keyboard play: no problems
Use of colour: pretty, but lots of clashes
Graphics: neat scrolling, but a bit glitchy
Sound: a bit buzzy, but nice
Skill levels: 9
Screens: scrolling playfield

Oh well I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything as cod as the Atari version, but at least I thought it would be quite good. Lucasfilms' first try out on the Spectrum is not a complete success, they seem to have thrown caution to the wind and just made it look nice and pretty - unfortunately they forgot about the gameplay and achieved a very simplified version. Through the translation I realised that there wasn't too much to the game to start with. The sound is pretty appalling with a wry low tune which vibrates the Spectrum speaker terribly. The way the ball swings around in front of you is very good but doesn't make up for the screen glitches. The speed of the game is very slow and I didn't swing in my chair at all, which means something big has been missed out. I couldn't honestly recommend you to buy it.

Ballblazer doesn't exactly strike me as the most competitive sport in the known universe as it's hardly mega-brill; I've heard a lot about the Atari and Commodore versions, and in comparison, the Spectrum version seems to be a bit of a letdown. The colour is lavishly used, at the expense of the whole screen changing colour at times. Things happen quickly, and on the higher levels, it gets pretty hectic. It isn't such a bad game, but not so great either.

I first saw Ballblazer on the Atari yonks ago and it was about the best Atari game around then. Sadly, I can't really say that it has survived the conversion onto the Spectrum. Most of the original's good points, sound etc, have been left behind for obvious reasons, now all that remains is a fairly average, speedy arcade game with a rough tune and dubious graphics. On my first few goes I was sure that something really special would come to light which would make this game doubly playable, unfortunately it didn't. The effect of the ground moving is very good even though it is a little garish at times, but, as with most games with fast graphics, all the characters flicker horribly. I wasn't really compelled to carry on playing this one as it gets fairly monotonous after a while.

Activision
£7.99

Funny, but the Ed's got me to review all the games with balls in this month. So what's Ballblazer got, apart from a load of balls? Ballderdash or Burrilliant? Well, the blurb goes on about it being an intergalactic sporting occasion beyond even the Freight Rover's Cup - mega-hype, yup, but its a mega-game, even if it is basically hi-tec 3D hockey.

Essentially you're on a grid (bound to be a Roto-foil!) with a goal at each end - it's curved so the goals are out of sight for starters. A ball, or plasmorb, is squirted into the centre in a kind of cosmic bully off. First off just go forward and you'll automatically catch the ball in your pullfield. Dribble round the droids and use the pushfield (fire button to you drongos) to score a goal in your attempt to become Masterblazer, no that's not Masterblaster!

Simple eh? Not so fast. For a start the goals shrink so you have to start with long shots (three points for a below the horizon shot. two points for a long one and one for Arsenal-type goal-hanging) if you're going to have at least a sniff at winning. But what makes it dead tricky is Mr Newton and his apples (and we're not talking Cox's pippins now) - 'cos every time you expend energy - especially when shooting - there's an equal reaction that'll leave you spinning like a pair of 501's in the cosmic laundromat. Not only will you be totally disoriented but it'll give your opponent whether, a humanoid or one of nine computer droids, the chance to blaze balls of their own. And brother, defending is a whole new ball game in its own right.

If that isn't whizzo enough for you the whole game is presented on a screen better split than a banana. It's a function I've not seen so profitably employed before. Each screen gives the individual antagonist's viewpoint. If you're a cross-eyed chameleon with a squint and Dennis Taylor's glasses you might just be able to view both simultaneously to locate yourself, opponent and goals on the grid. But, better still, when you're playing shoulder-to-shoulder two-up it gives a superb sense of cock-pit and dog-fight simulation.

So, though there are suggestions of other games and game types, there's nothing quite like Ballblazer. Go for it, and them. Those intergalactic balls of fire.

Publisher: Activision
Programmer: Lucasfilm Games
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston, cursor, Interface II

Welcome, fans, to the 3097 Ballblazer championships and... hang on, am I the Sport Correspondent or not?

After Summer and Winter Games is seems the latest craze is Future Games. Only last month I was playing psychotic squash in the shape of Bounces. Now it's Ballblazer and... well, wait and see.

Lucasfilm Games insisted on the highest standards when it came to this conversion of an Atari classic. Was their perfectionism misguided? Ballblazer's closest contemporary is probably ice hockey, though it's played between two people, or droids, sitting in high velocity skimmers called Rotofoils.

The game has you blasting round a curved pitch which enforces an artificially close horizon, in search of the Plasmorb which hovers at head height and has to be blasted between two Goalbeams of pure energy.

As you might expect there's a lot of hi-tech jargon surrounding the game - everything apart from the 3097 equivalent of 'sick as a parrot, Ron' - so the best thing is to sit back and watch a sample game. Problem is that just pressing 'N', as suggested in the instructions, doesn't work. But fear not - the answer's quite simple, just use the selection system, which it must be admitted is a little clumsy at first, and set one droid against another then press 'S' to start. A word of warning though - Ballblazer make them both low Grade I droids if you want to follow the action. For mere spectator thrills though, set two Droid 9s against each other - they are fast.

Don't set yourself too high a challenge at first but go for a Droid 1, unless you're leaping straight into play a human opponent, and swot up on a few tactics.

Seated in your pyramidal Rotofoil you have a split view - one for each opponent. It's the ideal way to cope with a two-player game and even against the computer could give you a chance to guess what the enemy has in mind - if you can snatch a second to look away from your own screen. Controls are simple, merely directions and fire, so with a not-too-taxing three minute bout chosen (nine, the maximum, would exhaust most mortal beginners) it's time for the kick off.

The rules of Ballblazer, possession and goal scoring, are easy - play isn't! You'll see the orb come shooting into the centre of your viewscreen but if you're not quick off the mark that may be your last time for a while. Race forward and at this level you'll probably take it. As the forcefield surrounding your foil captures it, the ball turns to your game colour. Don't dawdle for too long though - your opponent will already be gunning for you.

The foil snaps to face the direction of the goal-end, which is useful because the close horizon stops you seeing it immediately. Thrust in that direction. As you swerve the orb sways in front of you and this can be used to blast the ball off at an angle. At 60 metres, which is 16 squares on the checkerboard pitch, the goals suddenly come into view. Don't fire till you see the white of the posts but remember, the further back you are, the more you score. The price for success is one to three points but also a smaller goal next time.

Suddenly the orb will be snatched away from you and looking down you'll find that once again it's changed colour and is bobbing along in front of your opponent. Your best tackle is probably to swoop down trying to intercept from the side then giving a burst from your blaster to knock the ball free. If you're quick you should be able to recapture it. but for how long?

The other defence is blocking which includes acting as goalkeeper but it's an uncertain last resort and it's best to keep the other player away from the beams.

The winner is, not surprisingly, the highest scorer at full time, though it's a walkover - or 'shut out' - if one player scores all ten points. The most excitement I had was in a well balanced match (no, I won't say which level of Droid, other than it wasn't 9!) where we drew.

In this situation the game continues, the first to score again being the winner. We thrashed it out for a further five minutes at least - it seemed like five hours - until, after several near misses which I thought had cost me the game, I slammed it home. I almost did a lap of honour round the room, it was such a kick.

With other advanced techniques to learn such as dribbling and well judged skill levels this holds up very well as a game. There's a robotic sounding theme which could quickly become annoying but it can be switched off. Other than that the sound is mainly for information, such as the countdown beeps during the last seconds or the change in buzzing as you near an opponent ready to blast the orb away.

Graphically it's simple and, though there are odd attribute problems at times, the whole thing moves so fast through the two widescreen windows that it doesn't matter.

In fact it's all so fast that any visual shortcomings seem purely incidental. What really matters is that it is extremely addictive and immensely playable. Possibly the best, most convincing sport simulation on the market, even if there's nothing real to simulate.

Activision
£7.99

I'd played the original Atari version of Ballblazer and. as soon as the rules were explained to me I was hooked. I was hopeless mind, and the computer controlled droids walked all over me but I was hooked nonetheless. Now that it's available on the Spectrum Ballblazer is only marginally less fast and furious and still very addictive.

Ballblazer is the name of a futuristic sport somewhat like rugby or football, played in the 31st century by the inhabitants of many worlds. You represent the planet Terra in the finals of the Interstellar Ballblazer Championship in the year 3097.

Strapped into the seat of your rotofoil the view screen in front of you shows both your own view of the huge chessboard-like playing field and the view that your opponent has. Your view occupies the upper half of the screen, and your opponent's the lower, with a small area that shows the score separating the two views. Your rotofoil is a small one-man space craft that zooms around the field in pursuit of the Plasmorb, a small ball of energy which you can control with your rotofoil's own energy field. The purpose of the game is simply to blast the Plasmorb through your opponent's goal before he, she or it does the same to you.

It sounds fairly simple I know, but the excitement of the game comes from the speed at which it all happens and the skill required to control both the Plasmorb and rotofoil. David Levine, creator of the original version of Ballblazer, has said that the game is a true simulation of the physics involved in such a game. This might sound a bit high-faluting but what it means is that the programmers have tried to create the same speed and sensation that you would experience if you were strapped into one of the high-speed rotofoils. The amount of maths involved in all this is a bit much for the Speccy's little Z80 chip and it can't process it all as quickly as the more powerful machine that Ballblazer was originally written on, with the result that the Spectrum version is marginally slower and the graphics not quite as smooth as on the Atari. Even so, this version is still action packed and the skill levels varied enough to challenge even the most hardened arcade addict.

It's a game that might be a bit tricky to get the hang of at first simply because it does move so quickly, and the droid opponents that the computer offers don't hang around waiting for you to work out which way is up - they just grab the ball, zoom past you and blast it into the goal while you're still spinning around dizzily. still, there is a two (human) player option and this is the sort of game that probably works best if you play it with a friend and should liven up a few rainy afternoons.