Producer: Atlantis
Retail Price: £1.99

Hidden in the black nothingness of space, a Star Wars killer satellite lies in wait. Suddenly it unleashes a devastating energy ray on another satellite - and the world realises the weapon is under unauthorised control. Terrorists, perhaps. Every two hours, this deadly hardware and the two satellites it controls are destroying one of the other satellites that make up the protective space-umbrella.

Disaster is close. It can only be avoided by some technical tampering - by entering companies' computer systems, via phone lines, and breaking a series of number and colour codes.

At the start of Satcom you have a single telephone number, for a company called Global Atmospherics UK. And though the fine denies all connection with the orbital shenanigans, their number provides you with a valuable starting point.

Through a brief phone link-up, you can acquire valuable information from companies and institutions. This information is examined in the program's logic analyser and passed on to the data screen.

The data screen displays the first half of a six-digit number - a company code - and the sum of the following three digits. It also says whether each of those three digits is odd or even, and which is the biggest and which the smallest.

It's therefore possible to narrow the thousand possible three-digit numbers down to lust a few, and so complete the company code. With this you can get deeper into the system and access further information.

Ultimately you have to reach the satellite-control system itself, and trigger the rogue satellite's self-destruct mechanism. But don't forget the time screen, which shows the precious moments running out ... or the phone bill.

COMMENTS

Joysticks: none
Graphics: mostly text
Sound: spot FX
Options: control by icon menu

Pencil and paper at the ready - you'll need it for this game! Satcom is well-written and well-presented; even the occasional graphics are pleasing to the eye. And the sound is reasonable, with special FX for telephones and beeps when you get a code wrong. This is very similar to the Hacker games, and at this price it's a must for brain-banging freaks!
NICK [76%]

If you approach this game as a follow-up to Supercom (CRASH Issue 28), you'll find some major improvements. Most of the important information changes each time you load the game, and there's no BASIC to hack into and find out all the codes. The simple input techniques have been replaced by a much more intelligent method, and there are some decent icons to speed things along. The presentation is informative and involving. You could say that this hacking game gets boring very easily... but then so does the real thing! (Oh! Don't look forward to a great ending; it's extremely disappointing.)
PAUL [53%]

Since the original Hacker - which was indeed original, well-thought-out, and enjoyable - I've become more and more bored with this sort of game. And tedium is an integral part of Satcom. If it were speeded up a little, and the process of finding telephone numbers were made a bit less dull after the first go, then Satcom might have some potential as a young child's logic game. But as it stands, it's far too easy: the difficult part isn't finding the brains to get anywhere, it's keeping awake long enough to see the pathetic congratulatory message that greets you at the end of your display of endurance. A cure for insomniacs.
MIKE [21%]

Atlantis
£1.99

This looks like a job for the Star Cops. (As long as we can keep Justin Hayward out of this please. ED) A rogue megacomputer, out to do a bit of dirty, has plugged into a US laser-armed satellite and has been taking the odd potshot at passing friendly satellites. This is rightly upsetting a few groundsiders on Earth and the call has gone out for someone to trigger the auto-destruct mechanism inside the computer. But how? Computer hackers are the answer, and as you are the best you decide to help out a bit. Armed with a single telephone number you dial into the action.

Yes, Satcom is another game designed to inspire no confidence whatsoever in Pres Raygun's 'Star Wars' programme, but the basic game's about hacking and number guessing. Satcom is really just a cleaned-up version of Supercom, also from Atlantic, but it plays faster, there are snappy icons instead of text, and it's nowhere near as hard. The basic is to work out the secret codes via your data anaylser and a little guess work. The codes are not given in full, but you do get clues such as whether the figures are odd or even, and it's up to you to work out which they are. There's also a bit of guesswork needed when you're using or finding the telephone numbers and other bits of info. Overall, though, nothing too tricky this time round.

Graphics and response are adequate although the game's still a little slow for my liking. It should appeal to younger gamestars - and could help children with their number identification powers - but older hackers should enjoy it as well (I did?). Satcom is a good value little number with much addictiveness if you can stick with it, but if you already have Supercom you may not want another.

Label: Atlantis
Author: In-house
Price: £1.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Tony Dillon

Satcom is a really rather neat adventure simulating hacking into various government and defence establishment computer systems.

Someone has taken control of a laser-armed satellite and is using it to wipe out other satellites and to stop them you've got to 'hack' into the computer controlling the satellite and start its self-destruct mechanism.

All you are armed with in the beginning is a computerised communications set-up and a single phone number of Global Atmospherics UK, a company involved in weather satellites.

The FBI has been continually drawing a blank in their investigations of the company and now it's up to you.

The process of cracking the codes is very interesting. Having connected with your target computer, you can hang up the phone and stick the squeaks and whistles through your analyser which, for reasons that are not exactly crystal clear, is then able to hint at the computer's access codes. These hints take the form of the first three digits of the code followed by some considerably more vague information about the final three digits.

The screen layout is very, urn, orderly, bearing very few frills. You flick through the icons using the space-bar and select them with the Enter key. Some of the frills which have been included tend to become a little irritating after the first few games. The way in which the screen draws itself up, for example, is fairly interesting the first time you see it, though if you have returned to the menu as a result of a silly mis-dial, it's a trifle annoying.

Nevertheless it's an excellent budget game with surprising depth it should keep even the most competent hacker amused for a day or three.