Rescate Atlantida
by Deborah, Gina, Gustavo Tallon, Jose Antonio Martin Tello, Jose Luis Correa Munoz, Juan Carlos Jaramago, Juan Carlos Naranjo, Pablo Ariza Molina, Ruben, Enrique Ventura
Dinamic Software
1989

Summit
£3.99
0977 797777
Reviewer: Jon Pillar

Atlantis. The very word conjures up images of mystery. Sunken cities, missing civilizations, Patrick Duffy's haircut - all things beyond mortal comprehension. Spook, eh?

Well, enough of this idle banter and on with the review. It seems that the fabled city of Atlantis is being used as a base by some nasty ol' aliens. Cunning bounders that they are, they've secreted their spaceship, HQ and in fact the whole sunken city TARDIS-like within a wrecked sailing ship. (Look, it's a Spanish game okay?) The Earth defence council are having none of this, so they call on their best agent to destroy the HQ and save the world. Unfortunately she gets eaten by a squid, so they have to send you instead.

There are three parts to Rescue From Atlantis. In the first you whizz around the scrolling seascape in your electric bathysphere, occasionally nipping outside to squeeze down a suspicious tunnel. The idea is to find something large and pointy in order to help you bash a hole in the ships keel, thus skipping inside the aliens' HQ. Having done a bit of aquatic breaking and entering, you go on to Level Two. Here, you have to explore the sunken city, eventually coming face to face with a top alien bod. Zap him, and you can get into the alien ship on Level Three. This is a state-of-the-art, beautifully designed interstellar cruiser which you have to utterly destroy. There are loads of computery bits to blow up, shiny robots to avoid and vital equipment to boot repeatedly. Finally you have to make a run for it before the star cruiser explodes gratuitously. Another mission complete. Hurrah!

GLUB GLUB

I have to admit at this point that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get past Level One. This plays like a cross between the classic Scuba Dive and Ultimate's ancient hit Cyberun - which is no bad thing. It's fast and tricky, with a huge playing area. There's plenty to do, what with the belligerent undersea wildlife, a bathysphere with leaky fuel tanks and a diving suit with dodgy oxygen cylinders. Also, you can only carry three objects at a time, with the bathysphere able to hold nine. This leads to a lot of juggling of objects as you try to fathom the best combination of doodahs to go a-jogging around with. Do you take the jet pack and the laser pistol? What if you come across two vital objects? What do you leave behind? And just where did you leave that blimmin' bathysphere? Good stuff indeed. Alas there are problems. Most seriously, the odds are stacked against you far too heavily. The nasties appear at random and skitter along unpredictably, meaning that it's extremely tricky to get them in your line of fire.

The energy system doesn't help either - you bob along, ignoring all and sundry until suddenly you're dead. Panic not though, for Atlantis is jolly good fun. The objects you need are scattered far and wide, and there's plenty of head-scratching to be done in between the shooty bits. It's just that the gameplay is unnecessarily frustrating. Just as you think you're getting somewhere, you run out of power. As an overall/to sum up/at the end of the day kind of comment, I'd say that the game is best suited to quick-fingered shoot-'em-up fans with a special fondness for cartography.

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REVIEW BY: Jon Pillar

Blurb: GO FISHING THE YS WAY! 1. Look the part. Make sure you have (a) the long rubber wellies, (b) a green plastic jacket and (c) a felt hat with an unidentifiable feather in it. 2. Don't waste money buying a fishing rod. A perfectly serviceable rod can be obtained by using a tree branch and several pieces of string. Simply knot the string together, tie it to the branch, and attach a bent pin to the end of the string. Then lie in wait for a professionally-kilted fisherman to pass. Jump out and block his path, then say, "Give me your fishing rod or I will hit you with this bent pin attached to a tree branch with knotted string." 3. Pick your spot well. The best spot on a riverbank is that really nice one in the shade of a big oak tree. There is no best spot on a motorway. If you want to go fishing, you should not be standing on a motorway. 4. Learn to cast. The best way to do this is to join an amateur theatre group, and specialise. 5. Respect the fish. Remove the hook from your rod, cast your line and see if you can catch the fish by telling them exciting stories about the big city. You will not succeed, but will feel happy with yourself in the morning.

Blurb: BLIM! The world's smallest submarine was "The Incredibly Little Midget," built by the Lomax Brothers for the US Government during World War II. Although completed, it was never used. Nobody knows why.

Blurb: BEAT IT SAVE FUEL THE YS WAY Instead of powering along the sea bed, just land your bathysphere on the side of a hill and let it slide down. Ta-daa!