Producer: Mikro-Gen
Retail Price: £9.95
Author: Chris Hinsley

Arch rebel Zoltar's quest for galactic domination has caused him to attack a universe containing five planetary systems. A group of young superhumans pit their craft, Phoenix, against Zoltar's Spectran forces. Only the G-Force and their ship Phoenix can prevent Zoltar from destroying all life in the universe under attack.

You control Phoenix. Chasing and destroying enemy ships in space, you also have to fight it out on the surface of planets when Spectran landing craft start eliminating citizens. Once on a civilised world it's possible to refuel, repair and reequip Phoenix by docking with fuel and repair ships. Zoltar's forces only land when your ship is in the same spacetime as them, so the amount of mayhem they cause is limited to some extent!

The Phoenix is equipped with two weapon systems: laser cannons and neutron torpedos. The laser cannons tend to overheat and stop working if they are used continuously, and there's a finite quantity of energy in the laser cells. Phoenix begins with ten torpedos and fully charged laser cells, and must refuel and repair when armaments run low.

Warpgates allow travel between planet systems - find one, drive into it and a map of the universe pulls into view. The five systems are numbered, and a quick tap on the appropriate number key warps the Phoenix to your destination.

Status information can be called up into a window at the bottom left of the display, where information on your main power unit, shields, torpedo stocks, laser system and the neighbouring planet can be called up. Learning to flick through the displays is important if you are to monitor the state of play during the mission.

The main area of the screen acts as a cockpit view over which a long range scanner system is imposed. A three dimensional view of space as seen from the ship's bridge employs vector graphics to display planets and enemy craft, with stars moving towards you at a rate governed by your ship's velocity. Two sights are provided: the square neutron torpedo sight remains static in the centre of the screen, while a mobile sight is used to target lasers and steer the ship. Icons representing enemy craft, warp gates and planets are overlayed onto the cockpit view - covering an icon with the mobile sight allows you to drive towards the object it represents. The icon disappears when the corresponding ship, gate or planet appears on the main viewscreen.

Some of the enemy craft can be despatched with a few laser hits while others need a couple of torpedos to reduce them to scrap. When you're close to an aggressor your shields take a hammering a hit on an unshielded section of the hull spells instant death.

While you are in the vicinity of a planet, a request for Planet Data reveals the number of enemy landers that are on the surface and the status of the population. If your ship is in the area when a planet's population is eliminated, you die too, so looking after the citizens is more than a noble aim.

To land on a planet, simply head straight for it, and you arrive on autopilot. The view of a planet's surface is presented with a line-drawn horizon that scrolls left and right as you move. Lines parallel to the horizon move towards you to indicate forward motion and speed. The landers are squat, tank like machines which shoot at you while you shoot at them. Fuel and repair ships are represented by spanner and fuel-can icons until you get close, when they become revolving geometric shapes. To dock with a maintenance ship, just drive into it.

You've only go one life to play with in space, so drive carefully!

COMMENTS

Control keys: O/P, U/I left/right, Q-T up, A-G down, B-SPACE fire, 1-5 select scanner, K/J increase/decrease speed, Z-V fire torpedo
Joystick: Kempston, Cursor
Keyboard play: responsive, but can get tricky
Use of colour: colourful display windows
Graphics: fairly speedy wire frame 3D
Sound: opening tune, then firing noises
Skill levels: one
Screens: five planet systems to defend

I was an avid fan of the BOW series, and I think I'm going to be a fan of the computer game. I'm glad the game doesn't use the ill-fated Mikro Plus, because the higher price would surely have devastated its chances of success. The game is similar to Elite and Station graphically, but doesn't seem to have the scope of either of those. It's good if you want a blast 'em up with minimal Intelligence required, and the game is good fun in a general sense, though I wouldn't recommend you rush out and get a copy right now.

Battle of the Planets is a sort of Elite without all the hard work of thinking and planning out your strategy. The presentation of the game is very slick and it contains lots of colour without the clashes. The game is nothing like the T.V. series and gets quite boring after a while because it is so easy to stay alive. The long range scanner is thoughtfully arranged and very useful because it is 'on screen' all the time which makes locating Zoltar and his chums quite easy. Both sequences (planet and space) tend to lock up when lots of things appear on the screen, meaning a constant speed is hard to maintain. I thought that the planet sequence was a bit too like 3D Tank Duel - not a very good copy at that. Given the simplicity of the game, I feel it's a bit overpriced.

I started getting a bit fed up with this game as I read the 'operating manual' while it loaded. The instructions are unclear and potter into gibberish every so often. The onscreen instructions were difficult to read and only give 'Z' as the torpedo fire key. Z-V works fine! Then it was out into space to do battle. Somehow, I just couldn't get the hang of controlling the game with the keys, and firing the torpedos accurately while steering the ship with a joystick had me beaten. The action can get a bit frantic at times, with all the controls that you need to fiddle with - it wouldn't be so bad if the Phoenix had a crew, but you're on a solo mission... still, it's not a bad shoot em up.

Mikro-Gen
£9.95

As you've no doubt gathered from the title, we're deep in space for this game and if you're looking for a quick comparison, Elite is the nearest.

As captain of the good ship Phoenix, it's your unenviable task to quash the evil Zoltar who's declared war on the five planetary systems in your universe. No problem... If you've got a joystick that is - without one, the keyboard controls turn into a nightmare that'll tie your fingers in knots! With five status screens to keep your eye on, planets to land on and alien spaceships to dodge and destroy, you've got your work cut out.

The idea of the game is to put up such a good fight against the invading aliens that they take the hint and find some other universe to destroy. But there's oh so much more to it than that! This is not your average 'zap 'em up' game. The alien craft all have different characteristics, and judging a spaceship's speed as you home in for the kill is something you'll get the hang of only after much experience. And something else that'll take time is landing the Phoenix on a planet's surface, plus negotiating the hyperspace gates... but it's all good fun and if you've got a spare couple of hours to practise, very rewarding.

The graphics are fast and extremely well-constructed. The screen format looks a bit confusing at first but, like the keyboard controls, all becomes familiar after a few games. Just don't panic if you don't stay alive too long on your first time out behind the wheel... it'll all come together if you hang on in there.

Publisher: Mikro-Gen
Programmer: Chris Hinsley
Price: £9.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair

Mikro-Gen is breaking into space to escape from the Wally family. Battle of the Planets is about protection and high speed laser-blasting matches. Join the G-Force and defeat the evil Zoltar who's invading your galaxy!

Unlike the marvellous, colourful, Wally screens, Battle of the Planets uses wireframe graphics, like so many space games before it. It resembles in style both Starion and Elite, though the game is not as complex as either.

Your aim is simple enough: defeat Zoltar. Putting that into practice is another matter. With five planets to patrol and numerous enemy craft, your work is cut out.

To help, Mikro-Gen has provided comprehensive status screens, enabling you to tell at a glance the condition of your shields, fuel, rocket and laser power, together with data on each planet you land on - namely how many of the enemy have got there before you and what damage they have inflicted on the population.

There are two small windows at the bottom of the screen. The left hand one contains the five status screens described above and those can be accessed by pressing keys one to five. The right hand window displays symbols for each of the status screens, for instance a rocket or shield, and those flash from green through amber to red as they run out and reach danger level. That gives you the chance to dock on a planet to refuel or make the necessary repairs.

Now for the game... You find yourself hurtling through space and the object is to knock out the symbols representing the bad guys. Centre the cross-hairs of your laser sights over an enemy symbol and fire while flying towards it. Within a few seconds you should see the enemy, a small dot in the distance, sweeping towards you.

Now comes the tricky bit. Your laser sights double as a navigational cursor. Do not let the enemy craft get away. If it shoots off the bottom of the screen, follow with the cursor and hopefully that should bring it back into view. By this time it should be large enough to present you with an easy target.

However, on one screen in particular, the enemy craft dodge and twist so violently that it is almost impossible to centre the cross-hairs long enough to take a shot. Not only that, most of the craft need more than one direct hit before they blow up.

While you're playing tag with the enemy they're shooting at you so it is a good idea to flick to the relevant status screens to check your shields and fuel. If they are low you must dock to make repairs. That also gives the opportunity to check the planet's status for enemy landers.

Look for the planet symbol on the screen, centre the cursor over it and fly towards it. You'll soon notice a small round object coming into view. Try to keep it in the centre and as it threatens to engulf the screen, you'll fly through a tunnel to dock with it.

Once on the planet, make your repairs and refuel by flying towards the spanner and fuel tank symbols. Those will turn into huge, revolving, many faceted balls, and when you get close close enough a message appears to say you have docked.

Landers can be a problem. They destroy the life on the planet and your shields if they get the chance. Check on the status screen to see if any are around. A second cursor which remains stationary at the centre of the screen is for the rockets. Just press the Z key and a rocket will wing its way slowly to the target. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to keep the lander in the target area long enough for the rocket to make contact. However, it's a damned sight easier than using the rockets on the space screen.

To get off the planet, just press the joystick forward and increase your thrust. Within a few moments you'll be back in space. Maybe it's time to take a trip to one of the other solar systems. Move towards the hyperspace gate symbol and as it swirls and twirls into the screen, try to keep it in view.

The effect of leaping into hyperspace is excellent, just like the Star Wars films, the stars rush towards you in a blur as your speed is increased a hundred-fold. A map of the planets and their solar systems appears on screen. Press a key to choose which to visit.

Instantly, you will be in a similar situation as before, but the symbols and aliens depicted in a different colour. The aliens also change on each screen, some easier to hit, others harder, some move fast, others slow. In each case you must keep checking your shields and fuel. You have only one life, and though it is simple enough to get the repairs done, it is also easy to forget and find the aliens have taken over the planets or destroyed your ship.

Battle of the Planets is by no means a simple game. A fair amount of strategy is needed and a thorough knowledge of the status screens. For instance, if you increase your thrust to take off from a planet and forget to decrease, the engine temperature will shoot into danger level and eventually finish you off.

The wireframe graphics are impressive and fast. The effect of speeding over the planet's surface is realistic, especially when you increase your thrust. It takes a while to get used to the symbols and what they represent, but once you have, it's plain shooting all the way.

A lot of work has gone into the game. It's packed with detail, though the five planets and their solar systems and aliens become repetitive after a while. Nevertheless, congratulations to Chris Hinsley, who programmed it.

On the whole, though, I'm not a space games freak. I'd say bring back the Wallys any week.

MACHINE: Spectrum
SUPPLIER: Mikro-Gen
PRICE: £9.95

Don't expect to see any of the G-Force stars of the TV cartoon series Battle of the Planers once you've loaded in Mikro-Gen's latest release. What you can expect is an addictive and action packed space shoot-'emup in the Elite tradition.

The G-Force maybe conspicuous by their absence - but what you get are some really fast and smooth vector graphics, exciting action and a touch of strategy to spice things up.

Zoltar's space invasion fleets surround each planet and are beaming down lenders which will eventually destroy the planets - unless you can get to them first.

You have to clear the skies around each planet of alien craft and then zap down to the planet's surface - via Star Wars style space stations - where you'll find the heavily armed lander-tanks waiting to do battle.

Destroy them. Rendezvous with repair and fuel craft on the surface and then it's back to space to find a stargate and a quick trip onto the next planet.

The G-Force ship is equipped with long range indicators which flash up icons on your view screen. These show alien craft, space stations and stargates. Learn which is which - quickly! - and you are half way to a big score.

The icons also show the position of these various objects - so you'll soon learn how to reach them. Your ship also has various equipment when you can check on by calling up status reports which appear in a window at the left hand side of the screen. On the right is a readout of your score - plus an indicator which tells you which key to press to call up the status reports.

Your ship is armed with a limited supply of neutron torpedoes and a laser. The laser can overheat if you use it too much and will cut out on you if you're not careful. Some of the enemy craft - in space and on the surface - can take varying amounts of punishment before they are destroyed. Some also can avoid your torpedoes. Replenish torpedoes at repair ships.

The graphics are the fastest and smoothest vector style yet to be seen on the Spectrum. No jerky movements as the alien craft or lenders move across the screen.

One minor criticism. The explosions are a bit wimpish. The craft detonate into a bubble which makes a silly popping noise! Apart from that little gripe the game is pretty good.

Elite fans who want to give up trading for a while and have a decent zapping session should grab a copy of Battle of the Planets today!

Anyone who enjoys fast space shoot outs can't fail to like Mikro Gen's first venture into arcade action - a mixture of Elite and 3D Tank Battle.

Take off after it.